People make economic predictions that do not always turn out to be valid. I used to think economists made the predictions because they were not accountable but I suppose journalists are put in the same category in the sense that they can also make them. On 16 November 2001 Jane Suiter and Mark Brennock, two respected journalists with The Irish Times, stated in an article: "For the first time since the Rainbow Coalition was in office in 1997, the Government will have little choice but to resort to borrowing as declining growth, rising unemployment and falling tax revenues take their toll on Exchequer revenue in the run-in to the general election". Furthermore, they stated: "Mr McCreevy insisted the Government should not spend money it did not have, although he said some new spending projects would be announced in the Budget on December 5th". However, in the same article Fine Gael is quoted as having warned the Government that it would have to borrow as much as €1 billion, the largest amount since 1987. As we all know, there was a surplus of €95 million last year. Even as far back as September, there was much speculation among economic commentators that the Government would not reach spending targets by the end of the year.