Leprechaun Economics

Working in Ireland. Protestors outside the office each day. I tour the small, low-tech factory, where a young guy on the line rolls his eyes and makes faces with me. He’s hand-making laptops in a logistics hub. $270 billion in nonmaterial assets suddenly appear in Ireland, surpassing the value of all residential property in the country. $14 billion in fines and tax haven lawsuits for years. The Paradise Papers leak makes much of this public record. The small factory where I watch this guy screw together keyboards is important because it creates a manufacturing footprint. The physical object is contingent on the financial systems. There’s the object, the individual, the system. And press deciphering tension between all three. Accumulation of hundreds of years of political and religious propaganda is displayed on most streets where I take walks, like if it was repeated enough it would activate. Who was organizing the protests and what was the point.

Ireland, 2013

Image: Kendra Jones