Friday 2 November 2007

Is Bono a hypocrite?



Or has Gombeen Man got him all wrong? It seems that he treats his workers very well, as five employees of U2 Ltd "shared almost €18 million in wages last year, the firm's accounts show" (Irish Times).

Wait. Five employees? It couldn't be messrs Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen and Paul McGuinness? We'll never know, as it seems that the accounts don't name the employees. But let's just take the leap anyway, and make that assumption.

Not that Gombeen Man has a problem with jaded rock stars banking money out of proportion to the merits of their artistic endeavors - that's Rock 'n' Roll, after all.

What he does have a problem with is the shameless, continuing, sanctimonious posturing of Bono on the theme of eradicating world poverty and telling us how our taxes should paid. Especially as U2 took their recording and publishing business to the Netherlands when there was a cap put on the Republic's tax exemption for 'artists' - which meant that Bono and Co. did not pay a penny of tax on the millions they got from royalties. No wonder they wanted the media to lay off Charlie Haughey, who introduced the exemption.

It's amazing that this vertically challenged clown gets such an easy ride from the same media and the gullible Irish public.

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