Government playing a dangerous game

The low paid were not at fault for the slump, but they're being left to pick up the bill, writes Gene Kerrigan

It's not that they're stupid or uncaring, but Brian Cowen and his ministers don't get it. Nor do the bankers or the builders, or the pillars of society proudly announcing their voluntary pay cuts and urging everyone to "share the pain". They don't get it, and as a consequence they're playing with fire.

This is dangerous. It's so fundamentally unfair, and clearly understood to be unfair, that it risks disaffection and alienation on a scale never before seen in this country.