@Shop-et-al wrote:
@maverick1 wrote:
Coming back from the island. The Emerald Isle...
Bet it was wonderful!
Wonderful:
The local food and drink; Irish beef stew, fish and chips, soda bread, Guinness, etc.
The kind people, many with blue eyes, naturally.
The history; we toured mountains and Kilkenny. Even passed by Hollywood (you'll have to look that up).
Went "back to college"...Trinity College. Book of Kells.
Spent a day walking the cliffs and fishing village on Howth.
Generally good, clean public transit with free WiFi. (We bought a weekly pass making on/off easy)
Very well manicured and planted public parks.
Not so Wonderful:
Typical urban city with some of the same policy invoked side effects of homelessness, graffiti, disrepair and pan-handling. The religious division. Prices are elevated on everything. We witnessed several people getting on a bus through the exit doors during high traffic time. We witnessed what I believe was shoplifting at a small store as several young males ran out with employees yelling after them. Virtually everything has some form of tax. In history, the English taxed buildings with windows. It was nicknamed, "the daylight tax." A few large historic buildings were built without windows. It prices people out of the economy. On the positive side of this, I believe it was a finance minister who recently encouraged tech and pharmaceutical companies to come to Ireland with a tax break. As a result, Ireland has the highest GDP growth now in Western Europe.
If US citizens would just remember why/how the American colonies got started. A want for less taxation and independence including freedom of religion.