Some recent headlines and commentary seem to suggest that the Irish economy has all but collapsed. It hasn't, and it doesn't have to.

Ireland has had a property bubble and crash, a regulatory failure, a banking disaster, and a fiscal crisis. Now, Ireland is caught up in the great macroeconomic issues of our times: how deep and how fast to cut debt; what will promote sustainable growth; the governance of the euro and its monetary policy; how to fix banks and who should pay; bond investors' attitudes...