Just a thought. Spudmonster insists that MOAR TAX is a good thing. Also that this is a big international question which must be dealt with.
The new Sec of State for the US looks like being Rex Tillerson. Who has been running the world’s largest taxpayer these past years, Exxon Mobil.
I look forward to Spud’s approval of the appointment.
I am no great spudologist but a keen amateur observer and I think that the prof only approves of people who agree with a proposition which he has (or claims he has) initiated, formulated or refined.
If it’s someone else’s idea to begin with, then he won’t approve until he has ‘reworked’ or ‘improved’ it – and then only grudgingly.
If the party then resiles from a proposition which had once received professorial approval (see previous thread on France and Count
ryby CountryReporting), this is tantamount to apostasy and histionics ensue.What is the origin of this Spud nickname?
The dreadful racism of us English about the Irish, no more and no less. Despite Murphy’s connection with Ireland being akin to my own (we both have the right to the passport) and Squander here is even married into the Spud community. Racism, that’s all it is.
oil industry boo hiss bad pantimime villains lack of transparency boo hiss operate in third world countries boo hiss corruption nasty pollution boo hiss billions of dollars of investment boo hiss wicked pension fund dividends? tax evoiders boo hiss marginal tax rates of 90%? not enough boo hiss MOAR TAX YAY!
If he has been running the world’s largest tax payer, he can’t be very good at his job.
He should take some time off, go to LA, and learn from Hollywood how to evaporate your tax obligations while remaining in the good books of the Left – a beneficiary of tax breaks even.
They are both in common parlance synonyms for the tuberous vegetable.
JJ
Spud is an old English word for potato. The Irish used to eat a lot of potatoes, so potatoes were known also as Murphys which is a comm9n Irish name. Hence…
Tim
“The dreadful racism of us English about the Irish…”
Except the Irish are not a race, of course…
More wisdom – culled from the OED – which gives four entirely relevant and useful definitions:
It’s rather sad that definition 1 is deemed obsolete since it is so apposite but to compensate, to Murphy, (see definition 4) as a verb is still available to the non-pendant.
Off topic, but witness his shameless fishing for “Person of the Year”.
I had a feeling that was where Spud came from. Since it felt like a waste of time finding out avoiding using the term sounded like a good idea.
The Tillerson pick fails under the expert pick dilemma IMHO. As I don’t have any basis for judgement I choose to be cautiously optimistic. At least the man has the experience making international trade deals to correctly identify problems.
“Except the Irish are not a race, of course…”
You might as well say that the Human Race is not a race. The ways in which “race” is and has been used in ordinary English means that it’s perfectly legit to refer to the Irish race. Or the Bavarian race. Or lots of other examples.