“Ireland today is the richest country in the European Union after Luxembourg”

How Ireland Became a Rich Country

Hat Tip to RealClearPolitics.com link to Thomas L. Friedman New York Times “The End of the Rainbow”
column June 29, 2005 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/29/opinion/29friedman.html?

“Ireland today is the richest country in the European Union after Luxembourg.”

- “has a per capita G.D.P. higher than that of Germany, France and Britain”
- Focus on education and an educated work force
- “slashing corporate taxes to 12.5 percent, far below the rest of Europe”
- “overall government tax receipts are way up”
- Dell Computer is “Ireland's largest exporter”
- “In 1990, Ireland's total work force was 1.1 million. This year it will hit two million, with no unemployment and 200,000 foreign workers (including 50,000 Chinese)”

“Ireland's advice is very simple: Make high school and college education free; make your corporate taxes low, simple and transparent; actively seek out global companies; open your economy to competition; speak English; keep your fiscal house in order; and build a consensus around the whole package with labor and management - then hang in there, because there will be bumps in the road - and you, too, can become one of the richest countries in Europe.”