I wonder if they have banks gone wild?

The Story of Ireland’s Economic and Social Growth - New York Times: Seems a lot has changed since my grandfather hopped the ship at Londonderry about a century ago. There may be lessons to be gleaned from the Irish. Should we chalk a lot of it up to literacy and schooling?

"A rote list of statistics is more effective than pallid drama. Consider: The gross national product of Ireland grew 400 percent between 1986 and 2004, according to the documentary. The work force has doubled. Only Japan is now home to a higher proportion of scientists and engineers.

Church attendance in Ireland has halved in the same period. The average number of children per family has fallen from to two from five. Google, Intel, Wyeth, Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Apple now have substantial Irish divisions. Finally, 20 percent of American foreign investment is now committed to Ireland. That’s amazing. "