The wine collection of missing solicitor Michael Lynn, who used his position to rob more than €80 million in multiple mortgages, was recently auctioned off. Apparently it raised a paltry €3,000 but according to one report, clearly Mr Lynn, a keen wine collector, had made off with the really good stuff! 

Lynn’s robbery was illegal. But the basis for his actions is the rotten “get rich quick” ethos that is dominant in Irish official society and business, regardless of the consequences for ordinary people.

Inconvenient rules are bent or broken all the time, so profits can be maximised. When necessary, with a few words over dinner and some “personal political donations”, rules can be changed so robbery is legalised.

The policies of this government helped create the environment that encouraged the likes of Michael Lynn. They facilitated the manipulation of the property market so developers and banks could on the one hand bump up prices and then, similar to parasitic drug dealers, push huge amounts of credit/debt on to the backs of ordinary people. All for the sake of profit maximisation.

Locked into long, expensive mortgages, thousands are now dreading the possibility that losing their job could also mean losing their home. 

Tax breaks mean that 44% of the cost of the new private co-located hospitals will be paid for by ordinary people. Are there any victims of such subsidy of private profiteering, or should we say robbery of the public?

Seventy six-year-old Peg McEntee was forced to spend more than 60 hours on a trolley in the Mater hospital even though she had suffered a heart attack. She only got a bed because her family got publicity for her situation. Staff say her case was shocking but not unique.

These health and housing policies are not illegal but by any standards they are criminal. But like Michael Lynn, those who are responsible, government and big business will try to evade responsibility and justice.

Having robbed us blind for years in the boom years, these people will also try to insulate themselves from the ravages of economic decline. It has started with them saying they have no money for wage increases, despite 5% plus inflation. They will throw workers on the dole rather than invest. What does the future hold for the 12,000 workers who lost their jobs in March? These bosses are not concerned with the public need, they will slash and burn all around them in order to save themselves.

This is gangster capitalism of the worst kind. In their greed for profits however, they have created an economic time bomb. Massive credit is now massive debt. Even before the economy declines a new report says Ireland, alongside the likes of Romania and Kazakhstan, is facing a full-blown crisis in its financial system!

Workers and young people have no choice but to fight against Irish gangster capitalism!