Brian Cowen spoke at the Dublin Chamber of Commerce dinner tonight. Last year we were awash with Obama in an off the cuff speech. This year is all “we’re in this together” – storm – perfect storm – innovation – let’s stone the naysaying sayers kinda speech. Now, where’s my Nespresso as I spot the contradictions!

We can decide if we want to emphasize the negative and talk about the problems as if there is no solution or we can decide that we must build a platform for prosperity from the strengths that are inherently in our economy as we speak. And that’s going to require a change in mindset, a mindset that says, “yes we are going out there to compete in this new world and we are going to get investment and jobs for our people because that’s our job.”

And there are businesses – we are going to do whatever’s necessary to compete against those – against whom we are competing whether home or abroad.

That last bit had me scratching. What? He continues:

It’s that Can Do, that We Will attitude is what we need now more than before now. Not to wonder whether we can come through this, because we are going to come through it.

Recessions end.

The question is, are we going to be in the best position be in to pick up or are we going to prolong the recession and defer opportunity, because we weren’t prepared to take the decisions that we know in our heart of hearts we have to take now based on the figures that’s in front of us.

And to do so on the basis of maintaining some sense of values, that we are one community. We help those that are worse off and we ask those best able to take the hit, to take the hit in the wider interest. And also to ensure at the end of the day, we can say to our kids – “yes, we were a generation that benefited at a time of great prosperity but when challenged we looked to the future, looked beyond our own self-interest and said yes, here’s a country worth working for and building and one we can say in 2016 when we get to O’Connell Street and look up to those men and women of idealism, who’ve given us the chance to be the country we are – yes, we didn’t fail our children, but most importantly we didn’t fail our country either.”

Cowen is scheduled to speak at the Cork Chamber tomorrow. More of the same? Shall we be treated to Dr Doug instead?

Update – Video via Fianna Fáil

Part 1 of the video

Part 2 of the video

Listen back here

Thanks to Dublin Chamber for the audio and nods to Suzy for the storming inspiration!

Isolated reports of a fireball over Ireland have surfaced this evening on Twitter and lo footage pops up on Twitter within minutes of a meteorite over Meath that later is revealed as FAKE pops up on Youtube.

Have any video or pictures of the meteorite yourself?

The Irish Connection

Two Irish animated movies have been nominated for this year’s Oscars.

“Granny O’ Grimm: Sleeping Beauty” was nominated in Best Animated Short Film category. The “Secret of Kells” starring Glenroe heartthrob Mick Lally is facing tough competition up against Up in the Best Animated Feature Film.

A third Irish nomination appears on the horizon. “The Door” directed by Juanita Wilson has been nominated in Best Live Action Short.

Updates as they come

Watch the full-length video of “Granny O’Grimm: Sleeping Beauty”

Juanita Wilson accepting the IFTA nom for Best Short for “The Door” last year

The Leaders

“Avatar” and “Hurt Locker” are tied with 9 nominations each, “Inglourious Basterds” has 8 with “Precious” and “Up in the Air” tied with 6.

Full list on the Oscar site.

Actress in a Supporting Role
Penélope Cruz in Nine
Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart
Diane Kruger in Inglourious Basterds
Mo’Nique in Precious

Actor in a Supporting Role
Christopher Plummer in The Last Station
Matt Damon in Invictus
Woody Harrelson in The Messengers
Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds

Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart
George Clooney in Up in the Air
Colin Firth in A Single Man
Morgan Freeman in Invictus
Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker

Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side
Helen Mirren in The Last Station
Carey Mulligan in An Education
Gabourey Sidibe in Precious
Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia in It’s Complicated

Animated Feature Film
Coraline (Henry Selick)
Fantastic Mr Fox (Wes Anderson)
Secret of Kells
The Princess and the Frog (Ron Clements and John Musker)
Up (Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)

Foreign Language Film
Ajami (Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, Israel)
A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, France)
The Milk of Sorrow (Claudia Llosa, Peru)
The Secret of Her Eyes (Juan Jose Campanella, Argentina)
The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, Germany)

Directing
Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
James Cameron (Avatar)
Lee Daniels (Precious)
Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)
Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
District 9 (Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell)
An Education (Nick Hornby)
In the Loop (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin and Tony Roche)
Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher)
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner)

Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
The Messenger (Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman)
A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen)
Up (Pete Docter and Bob Petersen)

Best Picture
Avatar (James Cameron – director; Brooke Breton , Laeta Kalogridis, Jon Landau, Josh McLaglen, Janace Tashjian, Peter M Tobyansen, Colin Wilson – producers)
District 9 (Neill Blomkamp – director, Bill Block, Philippa Boyens, Carolynne Cunningham, Elliot Ferwerda, Paul Hanson, Peter Jackson, Ken Kamins, Michael S Murphey – producers)
An Education (Lone Scherfig)
The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
Precious (Lee Daniels)
A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen)
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman)
The Blind Side (John Lee Hancock)
Up

(Secret of Kells pictured)

(Post 2009 figures are budgetary estimates!)

Barack Obama presented his $3.8 trillion budget yesterday to muted fanfares of fiscal responsibility and chagrin of NASA cuts. Obama’s budget seeks to rein in government spending while delicately attempting to revive the America’s flagging economy.

While the American press is hopping on the palitable story of how NASA’s Constellation program has been chopped off at the knees, the real meat. The real message of the budget is jobs, jobs, jobs.

The US jobless trend is scary. The past two years have seen the number of people seeking work double from 5% to almost 10%. These highs have not been seen since the early 1980′s.

Obama is addressing the weak employment numbers by applying over a $100B in stimulus programmes to staunch the flow of new jobless. Despite the announcement of the tax cuts for small businesses that hire employees, Obama’s budget forsees the percentage those out of work to drop ever slow slightly to average at 9.2%. Perhaps a nod to further economic weakness before Budget 11 comes into force on October 1st next?

The elephant in the room, however, is the US’s widening national debt now standing at over $12.2B. With the biggest deficit in history, can Obama’s reform pump the much needed stimulus in the US economy?

Budget 11 facts:

• $53B in tax cuts
• $30B in tax breaks to incentivise small business to hire new employees
• $6B for clean energy tech innovation
• $735M for full body scanners in airports
• $15.5B proposal aimed at IP from US firms being floated to international subsiduries in tax havens
• 3 year freeze on non-military and medical aid spending – aims to save $447B
• End to fossil fuel subsidies, raising $90B over next ten years
• 10 year old tax rates for the rich reinstated: 36% tax rate for single people earning $200k and over (up 3%), 36.9% for couples earning $250k and over (up 4.6%)
• New bipartisan fiscal commission composed of Democrats and Republicans
• Budget 11 kicks off Oct 1

Despite Obama’s tough love budget trying to balence the need to shave off unnecessary spending and apply the right sort of stimulus into the American economy, his stern hand on the tiller freezing Federal spending for three years might be too much for his Dem colleagues in the Congress. Pelosi has already been commenting that spending freezes should include Defence.

President Obama just delivered an address on today’s Budget 11. Some of the key takeaways of the speech:

• More than 6% increase to Education Dept
• Eliminate wasteful subsidy to banks that provide loans to college students
• A Goverment spending freeze for 3 years. MedicAid, MedicCare, Dept of Defence and veterans benefits go untouched.
• This year, $20B was cut from the budget. It’s a continuation of the $17B in cuts found last year.
• Examples of areas cut – mining cleaning program, forest service cuts, refurbishment of a facility belonging to the Dept of Energy
• Other cuts were more painful – eliminate a Government program to clean buildings. A $120m program to get earned income tax credit in advance, Obama said 80% of people didn’t comply with terms of program.
• Obama asked for asking Democrats and Republicans to look at the spending of programmes
• The SAVE programme that asked fed employees to suggest improvements taken into account.
• Even though Department of Defence is exempt from budget freeze, not exempt from sensible decision-making. Obama

• Cut to taxes for the Middle Class are up, but big earners e.g. individuals that earn over $250k a year an oil companies are not exempt from cuts.

Obama finished off his speech by proposing a bipartisan fiscal commission. He said the idea had strong bipartisan support citing a lot of Republican cosponsors for the initiative. Despite it getting voted down in the Senate, he said it was a needed if American had to go ahead and fully embrace to get it’s “arms around the budget”.

Obama continued by saying that politicians needed to readopt the Pay As Go rule, so if money is needed for programmes it must be found from other programmes. He said this approach lead to budget surpluses of the 1990s.

More details on Budget 11 on budget.gov.

More analysis to come