Author Archives: Tim Worstall

Oct212019

Posted in Ragging on Ritchie

Price fixing always works so well, doesn’t it?

By Comments:24 Comments

It’s called a Green New Deal, of course.

Start insulating houses in these places. Create jobs.

Build the infrastructure for the growing home holiday market we are going to have to have whilst we’re at it. That’s improved public transport. And facilities.

And at the same time regulate this debt: better fix the price that can be paid.

And we’re going to do really, really, well when politicians get to pay for things by increasing the base money supply and can only control the resultant inflation by raising taxes.

Those holding bonds with a fixed rate of interest are going to do really, really, well under that set of incentives, aren’t they?

Oct212019

Posted in Finance

There are stupid forms of greed too

By Comments:16 Comments

Mark Denning departed Capital Group five days after the asset manager was approached with claims that he had used a “secretive fund” to personally invest in some of the same businesses supported by funds he helped to manage on behalf of clients, according to a documentary to be screened tonight.

The claims, which suggest ordinary investors were exposed to serious conflicts of interest, are the latest blow to the fund management industry, which is under close scrutiny after the scandal surrounding Neil Woodford, the former star stockpicker.

The BBC’s Panorama alleged Mr Denning, 61, used a fund based in Liechtenstein, called Morebath Fund Global Opportunities, to buy the shares. The fund appeared to be named after the village of Morebath in Devon, where he owns a nine-bedroom house, Panorama said.

Front running your book is a bad idea in the first place. But to then provide such obvious evidence linking you to it is just stupid.

Oct212019

Posted in Celebrities

Meghan seems particularly dim

By Comments:28 Comments

Spectacularly dim even:

The Duchess of Sussex has revealed she was warned before her marriage to Prince Harry that the British tabloids would “destroy” her life, as she spoke of struggling to cope with the reality of being part of the royal family.

In an interview for the ITV documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, she said the last year had been “hard” and that she had had “no idea” of what she would face.

You’ve just told us you were warned…..

Oct212019

Posted in European Union

Yep, quite right

By Comments:21 Comments

Mervyn King, the former Governor of the Bank of England, warned today that Brexit has dragged on “far too long” and was preventing Government from addressing underlying issues within the UK economy.

Speaking as City traders braced themselves for yet more volatility on the markets after MPs on Saturday delayed approval of Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, Lord King said he thought most people now have the view “just do it”.

As Mark Carney has also been saying. It’s the uncertainty itself which is now doing more damage to the economy than whatever action might actually be taken. We’re at that piss or get off the pot moment. Past it actually.

Oct212019

Posted in Feminism

Seriously Honey, get a grip

By Comments:8 Comments

Duchess of Sussex: I’m struggling to ‘thrive and feel happy’ in the royal family

It’s a duty you’re performing there…..

The Duchess of Sussex has spoken of the unbearable pressure of life in the spotlight as a member of the Royal Family, saying it is no longer enough for her to “just survive” it.

The Duchess, who has a five-month-old son, said it is essential for her to “thrive” and “feel happy”, warning that simply enduring with unwanted scrutiny is “not the point of life”.

Privilege does come with the occasional down side you know?

Oct202019

Posted in Feminism

A thing about trans athletes

By Comments:37 Comments

As I understand it, anyone who transitions knows that they’re going to have to give up a number of things. But the results of transitioning are going to be worth it.

Hmm. OK. So, that’s like every other choice any of us makes in life then. Opportunity costs are, after all, real.

So, perhaps everyone just has to put up with the fact that transitioning means no more competitive sport for you.

??

Oct202019

Posted in Business

Seriously, no, corporate law doesn’t work that way

By Comments:2 Comments

While the split in SoftBank’s contribution between equity and debt is still being negotiated, its investment could make it the majority owner of WeWork. Were this to translate to formal voting control for SoftBank, it could force it to consolidate the loss-making company on its balance sheet, the sources said.

This in turn could result in SoftBank assuming WeWork’s liabilities, which include long-term leases for office space that it refurbishes and rents out under short-term contracts, according to the sources.

No, just because you’ve got to consolidate the subsidiary doesn’t mean you’re now responsible for the subsidiaries debts.

You still have limited liability at that level of the subsidiary.

You might have to show them on your balance sheet, sure, that’s what consolidation means. But still not responsible for them.

Oct202019

Posted in Sex

Insane

By Comments:15 Comments

The maker of Always sanitary pads has given in to claims of discrimination by transgender men and removed the ‘Venus’ symbol of the female sex from the wrapping.

Menstruation is – as with the inverse, pregnancy – rather the definition of the feminine.

A trans activist using the pseudonym ‘Melly Boom’ had tweeted in July asking Always why it was ‘imperative’ to have the sign on their sanitary products.

The tweet said: ‘There are non-binary and trans folks who still need to use your products too you know!’

Time to end care in the community, no?

Oct202019

Posted in Ragging on Ritchie

How does this work then?

By Comments:16 Comments

The choice is now between the NHS and US health care.

What portion of EU law means we must have the NHS and not US style health care?

Worker rights or US-style employment arrangements.

All EU derived workers’ rights – many of which we overperform on anyway – are already transposed into British law.

Care for the environment or no future at all.

The EU is the only fount of care for the environment?

Concern for the whole country or the interest of tiny minority, some of whom control too many of our newspapers.

The interests of that plurality that voted to leave?

One person had a good day. Keir Starmer shone out from the Labour benches. He was reasoned, considerate, fair to all sides of the House, and tore to shreds the Tory claims – which, despite his invitation that they do so, they did not defend. You could just say it was a lawyer’s speech. It was more than that. It was excellent politics. I admit that for the first time I am persuaded that he is the leader Labour now needs.

Gimmie Vermine!

BTW, has he told the SNP he’s agin Scots independence yet?

This parliament has to build on that. And he has to be completely defeated – by the people of this country as a whole – to ensure that he and those he represents never again get the chance to ruin the four countries within our Union. I am sincerely hoping they are up to the task.

Does Snippa even realise it yet?

Oct202019

Posted in European Union

Well, yes Willy

By Comments:25 Comments

Looking back, not only to the referendum but to the years before, it’s clear that the greatest weakness of the pro-EU cause has been an inability to find ways of fighting Europhobic faith with passionately argued reason.

Why?

That is the great question. Other than the EU being, well, you know, our sort of things among wet upper middle class types, why?

Give us an actual reason other than guff about playing nice with Johnny Foreigner.

Oct202019

Posted in Politics

Amusing

By Comments:47 Comments

Boris Johnson has told the EU that he is “not asking” for a “deeply corrosive” delay to Brexit, as he ordered a senior diplomat to send an unsigned photocopy of the request drawn up by MPs asking Brussels for an extension.

The Prime Minister phoned European leaders on Saturday night to declare that the letter MPs had forced the Government to send to Donald Tusk “is Parliament’s letter, not my letter”. A senior No 10 source said he was asking them to “invite Parliament to reconsider”, on the basis that “the best thing for the UK and Europe” is for Brexit to take place on Oct 31.

Obeying the letter of the law……fnarr, fnarr.

Oct202019

Posted in Uncategorized

Dear God, the stupidity

By Comments:8 Comments

But if you look at productivity statistics, you see that it has fallen, almost catastrophically, across the board in the last decade. There is no story about automation that’s consistent with output per hour falling precipitously. It’s literally the reverse of what you would expect.

That links to this.

Where it is stated that productivity is growing more slowly than it used to. But not that produxctivity is actually falling.

Acceleration and velocity are not the same thing.

Oct192019

Posted in Newspaper Watch

How does this work?

By Comments:16 Comments

“We need to guarantee that we adequately fund public media so that it is not kept economically weak and vulnerable to political and commercial pressures.”

If the politicians control the paying for it then how can it be free of politics?

Oct192019

Posted in Politics

OK, boilerplate nonsense

By Comments:13 Comments

This climate injustice is only one manifestation of the inequalities and injustices built into the capitalist powers’ imperial exploitation of the “under-developed” world. In the late Immanuel Wallerstein’s framework, the core capitalist powers compete with each other for dominance in exploiting the resources of the underdeveloped periphery nations.

Consequently, each of the capitalist powers is loathe to weaken its competitive position vis à vis the other capitalist economies. In a capitalist world, each economic unit must act to protect what it deems its own interests. The only counterweight comes from the public sector.

Yet in a capitalist world, each public authority — local, state or national government — is constrained by the fear that pushing public interests too far will cause capital flight, thereby undermining its viability. And, of course, corporations and the wealthy dominate the shaping of public policy — nowhere more than in the US.

Sigh. But then this is some kid, right?

Ted Morgan is emeritus professor of political science at Lehigh University

Sigh.

Oct192019

Posted in Economics

Yes, of course they’re lying, why do you ask?

By Comments:2 Comments

It’s been known for people over here to do the same thing:

The eye-catching result here is they have consumption taxes being *sharply* regressive, e.g. 12% for the lowest income group. I’m not aware of any US state that has state + average local sales rates tax that high. And lots of goods are exempt from sales tax. So how do they get this? Well, suppose someone earns $1k in labor earnings and gets $9k in transfers, and consumes it all paying a 5% sales tax = $500 in tax. What sales tax rate have they paid (as a % of their income)? The method Treasury uses says 500/(1k+9k) = 5% (this is also what Auten-Splinter do). Saez-Zucman exclude transfers from the denominator, and thus say 500/1k = 50%. This is a matter of definition, so it’s hard to call it right or wrong, but it does seem misleading and yield some rather nonsensical implications. For example, it means that if welfare to the poor is increased, this will be measured as an increased tax rate.

Pikety, Saez and Zucman just aren’t even trying to do science. They’re just politics.

And get this:

As I noted the other day, excluding the EITC breaks from multiple standard tax-data reporting conventions including the treatment that the CBO has been using for the past 40 years. Zucman’s defenses of making this change amount to a tendentious argument that the credit — as a transfer — cannot be differentiated from other forms of public spending such as defense and health care. He therefore claims it is necessary to remove the EITC from consideration as a feature of the tax system

Yet on their new website, Saez and Zucman are all too eager to incorporate different aspects of health care into their total “tax” estimates — provided it further augments the patterns in their new data.

This practice may be seen through their bizarre treatment of private health insurance premiums as a component of taxation. A PowerPoint slideshow on the new website includes an Orwellian rebranding of private insurance payments as a “health insurance poll tax,” and Zucman has deployed similar language while defending this designation.

Tax credits aren’t part of the taxation system while health care insurance is?

Oct192019

Posted in Newspaper Watch

Guardian fun

By Comments:19 Comments

So Gary Younge says:

For along with Trump’s personal frailties is a series of political characteristics that underpins his anomie. He is a misogynist, a racist, a xenophobe and a nationalist. Those are not psychological descriptors but political ones, fortified by systems and ideology.

And:

This was not because people didn’t see those things, but because they either didn’t care, cared about other things more, preferred him to the alternative, or simply didn’t show up. As such, his victory marked a high point for the naked appeal of white supremacy in particular and rightwing populism in general, and a low point for the centre-left, neoliberal agenda.

Which gets changed by the subeditors, in the subheading, to:

To reduce his presidency to a frail mind is to ignore the fact he’s an emblem of free-market, white supremacist nationalism

Younge may be many things but he’s not stupid enough to add free market to Trump’s list of failings. Nor to think that free market is equal or part of white supremacy, nationalism and the rest.

The Guardian’s subeditors are that stupid.

Oct192019

Posted in Politics

Give over Honey, seriously?

By Comments:27 Comments

Hillary Clinton has said Russia, which interfered in the US election she lost in 2016, is “grooming” a Democratic candidate for a third-party run next year, signalling she believes congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard could fill the role.

The goal of this would essentially be to divide the US electorate and help Donald Trump win re-election, Clinton said. In the interview, Clinton also said she believes Russia had compromising information, or kompromat, on Trump.

“I’m not making any predictions but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who’s currently in the Democratic primary, and they’re grooming her to be the third-party candidate,” the former secretary of state told David Plouffe in his “Campaign HQ” podcast without providing evidence.

“She’s the favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far.”

You lost because not enough people wanted to vote for you. There was no grand conspiracy.

But you’re going to use that accusation to try to continue to run the Democratic Party. Retiring gently to the farm like Cincinnatus would benefit the Republic rather more.