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Err, really?

We would never describe deposits with a bank as a threat to its viability and something that they must urgently pay back or limit in amount. So, in that case, why on earth are we saying that about this national savings bank?

Isn’t, umm, that the definition of whether a bank is bust or not? That it can, or cannot, pay back the deposits? That is, this is the very thing we do worry about with banks?

That’s only because we know that, like all savings accounts, the person depositing the money can at some time ask for it back. But we don’t say banks are in debt because they also owe the money saved with them back to depositors. So why do we do that in the case of governments?

Actually, we do, yes. Deposits are liabilities on bank balance sheets. They’re what the bank owes to other people. This is the basic point of double entry bookkeeping for banks.

To put it another way, almost everything politicians say about the economy is made up of convenient myths that they create that have not a single element of truth within them.

Snigger. Physician, heal thyself.

Sour grapes

The former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s much touted sit-down with Vladimir Putin was many things.

It was damaging to global democracy, giving ammunition to the craven congressional Republicans who want to do Putin’s bidding by denying aid to Ukraine. It was boring, particularly given the Russian president’s long discourse, early in the two-hour slog, on his version of the history of the region.

And it was a priceless propaganda gift, helping Putin in every possible way with his messaging – internally in Russia, and externally to the world – about Ukraine. That started with Carlson’s introductory video message, recorded after the interview, urging his viewers on X (formerly Twitter) to see Putin above all as “sincere”.

If Putin had offered the interview to Margaret Sullivan – but of course he wouldn;t to one so inconsequential – then she’d have leapt at it.

That she wasn’t offered it is what grates, that as a print journo she’s just not important enough. Never, ever, underestimate the egos of American print journalists. They’re the real thing you know, Masters degrees in journalism and all.

Aha, aha, aha

Is Jill Biden secretly running America?
With the US president’s cognitive abilities under increasing scrutiny, many believe his wife is the one steering the ship

A D Ed running America?

That would explain a lot, yes.

But no serious observer of American politics thinks that’s true in any significant manner. Rather more speculation that this is the third Obama admin, no?

I believes in free speech I does, open conversation and discussion

You now need to pre-register to be allowed into the troll banning system:

There is, however, in all this a problem for any new commentator who has a genuine desire to post a serious comment on the blog. If you wish to warn me of your intent to do so, please do get in touch. My contact details are on the blog. Tell me who you are, what email address you will be using and give me some serious evidence that you are a real human being. You can still use a short name to post if you wish, but please tell me what that is as well. That will increase the probability of your post getting on.

But be warned that I am well aware that some trolls try to appear to be reasonable people for three or four comments and then reveal their true selves. Anyone playing that game will end up being treated as spam just as much as those who reveal themselves on their first posting end up being treated that way.

Ho Hum.

I do, very much, like this:

The trend is, however, significant and exposes the hypocrisy inherent in what many of these commentators like to claim, which is that my work is completely irrelevant. If it was, they would not be commenting in such numbers.

People disagreeing with me shows that I’m right! And, AND, important!

Sigh

France’s current fertility rate is 1.7 children per woman, but a close look at polling on people’s aspirations is revealing: the vast majority think the ideal family configuration is to have two children. And more people would prefer to have three than one. So we can tell that people would like to have more children than they currently have; there is no proof that they are not doing so because of their fertility levels.

Their fertility level is the number of children they have.

Sigh.

Do bugger off love

Sometimes a conversation on a vital topic can be the hardest one to have. The publication of the Misogyny in Music report by the women and equalities committee has opened such an important conversation.

We might predict that the word problematic will turn up. Not that I’m going to read any more to find out.

Boilerplate trash.

You can spot the US part of The Guardian

Equally important is the means by which the bill establishes transgender people as “separate”. The bill mandates that transgender people be given unique identifiers on their birth certificates, outing them as transgender. Anyone born in Iowa who wishes to change their birth certificate after obtaining gender-affirming care would be forced to have both gender markers on their birth certificates, making their transgender identity obvious any time they use their birth certificate. This raises the question: why is it so important for the state to readily identify transgender people?

A badly written article – it dives into the weeds and details far too early, without actually explaining what is being whined about – on an issue of little importance – birth certificates will record natal observation – and so on. But it’s about trans, by trans.

Yep, that’s the US edition of The Guardian. The UK one is far more robust on this matter these days. Freddie complained, around the time he gave birth, that the appearance of an article in The Guardian by someone not wholly supporting trans demands made him fear for his very life. Freddie has “moved on” from The Guardian.

Strange as it may seem the London end of the paper is odd, wrong, deluded etc, but not actively mad. They might want to get more of a grip on the editorial line of the US end.

Just a thought

Yes, of course, new speshul rules would be an outrage.

Sue Gray, the senior civil servant who now works as an adviser to Sir Keir, had a pension worth £1.9m as of March 31 last year, according to government accounts.

Meanwhile, Nick Joicey, a senior civil servant and husband of the shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, had a pension approaching the old limit, worth £967,000, as of March 31 2022.

However, something different. You know how Spud says that pensions tax relief is in fact a tax subsidy, a break?

Under the old rules, any savings over the limit were taxed at 55pc if the money was taken as a lump sum, or 25pc plus the individual’s income tax rate if taken out gradually.

Richer people actually end up paying more tax by having a large pension. Over time they do at lesat. So that’s even more proof that pensions relief isn’t, in fact, a cdost at all. It’s a deferral – leading to higher, over time, tax revenues.

Which rather blows a hole in Spud’s complaint really.

The reason Joe won’t be prosecuted over the papers?

He said he was “pleased” that the Department of Justice had decided not to pursue him in the courts, but did not address the fact that one reason for the decision was that a jury would acquit him because they would think he was a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”.

That’s, erm, interesting, no?

That VP pick looks more and more important…..

Behind the scenes, there is discussion of Kamala Harris – his unpopular vice president – taking his place and running against Mr Trump in November.

That’s probably not a solution that will work to the benefit of the D party.

Newsom drafted in? What?

Can we find a grant for us?

So, there’s a webpage/service out there:

Find a grant
Find a grant is a service that allows you to search government grants.

Do we think it possible to cook up something that would be granted an, umm, grant?

Not sure whether the aim would be to do a Sokal or, if they’re giving our enough cash, simply to have fat salaries.

The necessity for a circular economy (reveal: not much) or anything else anyone wants to cook up?

Obvs, has to be a grant available where no one else has to put any cash up…..

Spudnomics II

This means that, in total, the Taxing Wealth Report 2024 now suggests that more than £200 billion per annum could be released into the economy as a consequence of relatively easy-to-deliver tax forms that would result in a much fairer UK taxation system.

Spud thinks that moving money around creates more money. Cute thought, no?

Spudnomics

And, let’s be clear, that abandoning this proposal is economically illiterate, as I suggested in the Guardian a few days ago. Not only would this plan pay for itself out of the economic multiplier effects that it would generate, which would give rise to significant further private sector investment and private spending, and so tax paid,

Apparently government spending has a high multiplier when the economy is already at full employment.

This is not one of those insistences empirically supported.

Piddling little matter

As the Guardian reports this morning:

Protesters who wear masks could face arrest, up to a month in jail and a £1,000 fine under proposed measures that human rights campaigners claim are pandering to “culture war nonsense”.

The Guardian adds:

Demonstrators will no longer be able to use the right to protest as a reasonable excuse if they commit public order offences such as serious disruption.

A change in the law. Maybe a good one, maybe a bad one, but a change in the law all the same.

When do we admit that we live in a state where the rule of law no longer applies?

This is the rule of law, obviously.

Right, OK

Women would need to work for an extra 19 years to retire with the same pension savings as men, according to data from the Pensions Policy Institute.

The research found women retiring at 67 – the new UK state pension age from 2026 – will have saved an average of £69,000, compared with £205,000 for men.

The data, published by the PPI and pensions provider Now: Pensions, suggests that under the current system, in order to close the “gender pension gap” a girl would need to start saving at three years old to retire with the same amount of money as working men.

Career gaps, caring responsibilities, childcare costs and lower earnings all contribute to the disparity.

And the problem with this is what?

If you defer less money from your working income over the years into that pension provision for your old age then you’ll have deferred less of your working income into your pension.

And?

Ooooh, this is good

Viagra may help to lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, study finds
Research by UCL, which examined medical records of 260,000 men with erectile dysfunction, has provided ‘food for thought’

So we’re more likely to remember why we’ve got a stiffie then?

This is getting a little French isn’t it?

The British countryside is a “racist colonial” white space, wildlife charities have claimed.

Wildlife and Countryside Link, a charity umbrella group whose members include the RSPCA, WWF and National Trust, made the claim in evidence provided to Parliament on racism and its influence on the natural world.

MPs in an all-party parliamentary group (APPG) were informed that the British countryside has been influenced by “racist colonial legacies” which have created an environment some fear is “dominated by white people”.

The country’s green spaces are governed by “white British cultural values”, the report argues, and the perception that the countryside is a “white space” prevents people from other ethnic backgrounds from enjoying the outdoors.

The Wildlife and Countryside Link report was submitted to MPs on the APPG for Race and Community, which had called for evidence on the links between “systemic racism” and climate change.

The British, pragmatic, manner is to see examples of summat then build a theory to explain those instances observed. As we all know, the French way is to devise the theory first and then complain if reality doesn’t turn up to confirm it.

Here, of course all know that everything is racist and colonialist. That there’s no actual evidence is not of any importance – we are in a French world now, it is reality that must accord with theory.

Yes? And?

Rishi Sunak must slash the benefits bill and get more people working instead of relying on immigration to reduce Britain’s debts, a senior official at the UK’s budget watchdog has said.

David Miles, an executive member of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), said waves of new migrants would not solve Britain’s fiscal crisis and were likely to pile pressure on public services.