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The Good Room by McWilliams David (2013-06-25) Paperback Paperback

by David McWilliams (Author)

4.3 50 ratings

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A forensic, entertaining polemic from the author of "The Pope's Children". Ireland is deeply in debt, beholden to the IMF, the EU and the bond markets. Its economy is frozen, and years of austerity are ahead. It didn't have to be this way - and it doesn't have to be this way. In "The Good Room", David McWilliams, who spotted the dangers of the Irish property bubble and imbalances within the eurozone at a time when other commentators were cheerleading the boom, explains the bizarre economics behind Ireland's current predicament, and illuminates a different path for the country. He illustrates the consequences of debt and austerity for ordinary Irish people and explains why austerity can't work. And he shows that history offers numerous useful models for Irish recovery - provided we open our eyes to them. Economics is about people like you. "The Pope's Children" was the book that connected the dots between economics and daily life in Ireland during the boom years. "The Good Room" does the same for the Ireland of the bust, and is - in its call for a completely different approach - an even more urgent and necessary work. David McWilliams is Ireland's leading popular economist, and a columnist for the "Irish Independent" and the "Sunday Business Post". He is the author of the bestsellers "The Pope's Children", "The Generation Game", and "Follow the Money".

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ASIN ‏ : ‎ B012YT87O0

Best Sellers Rank: #12,448,028 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.3 50 ratings

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4.3 out of 5

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Jedwardian

Great Insight

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2012

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David McWilliams book: The Good Room is a well researched and well written book. This is the latest in a series of books which McWilliams has written about Ireland's fiscal plight. It explores the origin of Ireland's economic problems, the effects they are having on mortgage holders and how Ireland could work it's way out of the control of the Troika and back into the international bond markets. In his earlier books, McWilliams accurately predicted the Irish property market crash and the effects it would have on Irish society. I would heartily recommend The Good Room. I find McWilliams to be an astute and perceptive analyst whose writing style is easily understood.

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Liam Boyle

Informative and entertaining

Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2013

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I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it. I have not read any of his previous books, and I only know him as a media commentator. I thought I would gain something from it, but it was much more analytic and interesting than I expected. The little excursions into fiction, while embarrassing at times, did help to humanise the impact of decisions which abstract analysis of deficits and debt can sometimes obscure. Well worth reading.

Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2013

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Excellent analysis of how the Irish economy is being killed to save German and French banks and other irresponsible and corrupt bondholders.

Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2013

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Good overview of some of the problems with the Irish Economy spliced with a personal story of a school teacher and young mother.

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Mopo1963

... however the story is either a story or a good insight into the economic meltdown of Ireland

Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2014

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David writes very well however the story is either a story or a good insight into the economic meltdown of Ireland. I preferred God's Children but still he is largely ignored by the establishment as a economist which is strange to me since he was the one predicting this meltdown before it happened. We actually need him more than he needs us and I wish him continued success.

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Shane Carton

Entertaining and informative

Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2014

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Another entertaining and brilliantly simple explanation of some very complex issues. David McWilliams is always worth listening to (and reading).

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Mairead

One great read

Reviewed in Germany on March 10, 2013

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A brilliant read, regardless of where your heart and your interests are- you just have to turn the pages to read what is written.

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fealebees

The Good Room - David McWilliams

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 26, 2012

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A great read and one that matters. David McWilliams manages to combine a light-read novel with providing insights into the current economic crisis in Ireland and the rest of Europe. The two of them are cleverly intertwined, emphasizing the so obvious but often forgotten fact that economy is about real people. We meet Olivia Veckers, a young, popular history teacher. She loves her job but doesn't agree with the Leaving Cert system, encouraging her students to think for themselves rather than regurgitate textbook lines. We follow her all through her pregnancy of her second child, meeting many colourful relatives, friends and colleagues on the way. Like so many others, she's struggling with her mortgage of her house in Wicklow, bought during the boom. Her husband lost his job, her own working hours are reduced and their mortgage interest has gone up, all in all resulting in their outgoings being much larger than their income. Olivia and Sean talk to the bank to try and negotiate a deal but to no avail. A lawyer-friend offers to help them and together they decide to take on the banks in court.
`The Good Room' was a room many ordinary Irish people used to have, used only when very important people - the doctor, the priest - came to visit. In the good room, everyone pretended. The ordinary people pretended to be more posh than they were, the posh people played along. The Good Room is becoming rare, but its spirit lives on, according to DMW: Irish negotiators in Europe behave like his granny facing the local doctor in her Good Room, `adopting a subservient position desperately clinging on to a notion of respectability. Are we more concerned with the perception of respectability than with reality? Why, when evidently bust, didn't we call it like the Icelanders and tell the creditors where to go?'
DMW doesn't pretend to have all the answers, but he does make it clear that the behaviour of Irish negotiators in Europe affect the likes of Olivia and Sean, her family and friends - us. He points out that convential wisdom, mainstream thought, isn't always right - in fact, is quite often wrong. Will the judge rule in Olivia and Sean's favour, because the bank failed in their duty of care, by recklessly lending them more than 3.5 times their income during the boom? We won't know, not until a real-life Olivia and Sean - and there are plenty around - will take up the legal challenge in a real court.

5 people found this helpful

CARL GAHAN

Four Stars

Reviewed in Australia on March 17, 2015

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Good read

Kindle Customer

Enjoyed the read, not so sure of the theories

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 20, 2013

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I've given it four stars because it's fun to read and up-to-the-minute and a bit controversial.
I'm not so sure I enjoy his economic suggestions. They seem to be so against the mainstream that I am doubtful about them. He seems to favour action which will "avoid hitting the ordinary man-in-the-street" unlike the Irish government's apparent attempt to spread the pain. But if we hit the so-called wealthy in their savings investment vehicles then surely we are truly hitting the ordinary people who have their pensions, savings plans etc invested in these very schemes?
A good read and very illuminating.

2 people found this helpful

JOHN DUNNE

Good Book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 20, 2018

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Well worth a read. True to life story, very relatable. Looking forward to the next book by the author. Always enjoyable.

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