Just the beginning of this great post is every word worth sharing. As I read it, I wondered to what extent New Zealand might have the same fate without of course all the tax revenue.
Quotes:
The classical colonial model was geographic, in that a colonial power occupied a territory, extracted its resources, and shipped the value home.
Then the next post-colonial model got rid of the occupation (no boots on the ground in the colony) but kept the structure. In this model, the power outsourced the extraction to corporations. And in this way, the British Empire became British Petroleum, just as the Dutch East India Company became Royal Dutch Shell; the value still flowed back to the colonizer
Today, Ireland represents the third and latest model: extraction without even leaving the country! No armies, no pipelines, no ships, and nothing physical crossing a border at all. In fact, hilariously, Ireland does not go to the wealth; the wealth comes to Ireland!
Why? Because Ireland offers the one thing a globalized digital economy values above all else: a favorable tax jurisdiction
"Ireland found a way to be rich without ever needing to develop itself, believing that “tax revenue” meant “prosperity”. The farmers on O’Connell Bridge and the nurse emigrating to Melbourne are both living inside the consequences."
A must read from Sinéad O’Sullivan
https://www.butthistime.com/p/mind-the-gap