Leaked Pre-Budget Documents 2012

[C. Flower]

I'm making a sticky here for information on pre-budget leaks including the infamous Bundestag leaks.

These documents are in the hands of several news publications. If anyone would supply them to us, it would be most appreciated, as drip feed quotations are less useful than the full document.

The Bundestag documents -

http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2011/...daillibdoc.pdf


http://www.thejournal.ie/revealed-go...82556-Nov2011/

http://www.thejournal.ie/social-welf...82584-Nov2011/

Briefing indicates that the troika disagrees with the Governments projected savings from public sector job cuts by 300 million and thinks that unemployment will rise.

http://www.thejournal.ie/budget-leak...83254-Nov2011/

http://www.thejournal.ie/budget-leak...83243-Nov2011/

[Holly]

Such proposals to cut welfare, slap water charges on everyone, increase VAT to 23%, not increase income tax for the enormously wealthy TDs and professional class, selling state-owned enterprises to entrepreneurs without any investment in growth looks to be 100% Fine Gwael (indistinguishable from now small Fine Fáil) but where is the influence of the left-wing Labour Party? Had Labour remained in opposition, there would be a lot of hot-under-the-collar fuming from Gilmore and snide remarks passing for cutting wit from Rabbitte with endless moaning from Burton. Labour is mute, utterly subsumed into Fine Gwael.

[barrym]

CF, +1 on the idea, where they exist. However, almost everything that Holly refers to are leaked deliberately to journos as part of a softening up process. The VAT one (may have) escaped, but my cynicism knows no bounds.

[Baron von Biffo]

Briefing indicates that the troika disagrees with the Governments projected savings from public sector job cuts by 300 million and thinks that unemployment will rise.

There's a very simple fact that gets ignored again and again in discussions about the PS pay bill - The government isn't like any other employer.

When other employers reduce staff numbers they save the full gross cost of the wages and they immediately cease to have any further costs for the former staff. When the state lays off staff its savings are the gross pay less all the various taxes and charges, including spending taxes, those staff paid.

On top of that the staff who are laid off may then be competing for the few private sector jobs out there. That keeps the dole queues higher than they would be if the state didn't lay off staff.

In times of recession there's greater demand for public services. If we don't have enough public employees to provide the services we must turn to agencies or buy from the private sector. We've seen in the health sector how the ideological obsession with cutting PS staff numbers means we pay a lot more to nursing agencies to do the job.

It's not at all outlandish to imagine how the state could wind up losing money as a result of mass lay-offs.

[disability student]

Here is the leaked documents to the German parliament.

Link:http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2011/...daillibdoc.pdf

[ang]

TDs off to Berlin to discuss 2012 Budget leaks:-

White said he and the other members would also take their opportunity to discuss the controversy raised in November, when an updated draft of Ireland’s EU-IMF deal – including proposals for the 2012 and 2013 Budgets – was revealed in the Bundestag’s Budgetary committee.

http://www.thejournal.ie/tds-off-to-...36420-Jan2012/

[Dr. FIVE]

More of it

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...t-targets.html