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Tim Worstall

Tim Worstall - Author Archive

The Glorious Bolivarian Socialist Revolution: country runs out of toilet paper

THERE are economic cock ups and then there are economic cock ups. OK, so allowing half the banks to go bust in 2008 doesn’t make neoliberalism look all that good, … (read more)

Posted: 12th, June 2013 | In: Money | Comment

We’ve probably got enough government now they’re rationing chips

WE’VE definitely got enough government when they can nick £30 million off us to fund people to tell us to order fewer chips with our meals.
Restaurant customers ought to order … (read more)

Posted: 12th, June 2013 | In: Money | Comments (3)

So is Thames Water tax dodging or not?

THERE are a few alarm bells ringing about this story. Here’s the Mail’s take:
Britain’s biggest water company paid no corporation tax last year despite imposing inflation-busting price rises on millions … (read more)

Posted: 11th, June 2013 | In: Money | Comment

The rich get richer but absolute poverty is being beaten

WE’RE regularly told that rising inequality is a great social evil: that it’s far better if places are more equal, that people are more equal, whatever the level of actual … (read more)

Posted: 10th, June 2013 | In: Money | Comment

London’s Green Belt is simply a subsidy to land owners

YES, yes, I know, it’s absolutely lovely that people can’t build over Surrey and Sussex and Hampshire: not that anyone would care of they did Essex. And that’s what the … (read more)

Posted: 6th, June 2013 | In: Money | Comment

So this has been Amazon’s plan all along, eh? France gets it wrong, as ever

WHAT is Amazon’s big plan? We know now:
France’s culture minister has attacked Amazon, the online retailer, for deliberately undercutting traditional rivals to create a “quasi-monopoly”, in the latest assault by … (read more)

Posted: 4th, June 2013 | In: Money | Comment

What? Food Banks Show The Government Must Do More!

THIS is a very strange argument being used here ion regard to food banks.

There is poverty: yes. There are people who cannot afford, for some reason, lots of lovely food. … (read more)

Posted: 3rd, June 2013 | In: Money | Comment (1)

Greed is good – Jason Trigg proves it

IF you were thinking about how you might make the world a better place your career options might include joining an NGO or charity. Going and digging wells in Kenya … (read more)

Posted: 3rd, June 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Does Margaret, Lady Hodge, know anything about payday loans? Not much

DOES Margaret Hodge know what she’s talking about?
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has accused the watchdog of failing to properly regulate or even understand the burgeoning market. The OFT has … (read more)

Posted: 3rd, June 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Investors worry that the market has reached Peak Facebook?

THIS might not be good news for people who (follishly) invested in Facebook stock at the IPO. There’s a distinct possibility that we’ve already reached peak Facebook and that it’s … (read more)

Posted: 30th, May 2013 | In: Money, Technology | Comment

We’ve reached peak farmland! Millions of humans will die (maybe)

EEK! We’ve reached peak farmland: we’ll not expand the fields ever again. That, of course, spells doom for all of us human beans, as there will be ever less food … (read more)

Posted: 30th, May 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Bureaucracy will kill Bitcoin

BITCOIN’S this shiny new form of money that has hal the geeks and the libertarians shouting for joy. There’s no government involvement, it’s all entirely produced by code, there’s no … (read more)

Posted: 30th, May 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Lorra Laughs: Comedians are making even more than footballers

ARE comics making more cash than footballers? Yes. So we’re told:
Laughing all the way to the bank: The comics who are earning a fortune and even overtaking Premier League footballers.

Peter Kay … (read more)

Posted: 28th, May 2013 | In: Celebrities, Money, Sports | Comment

Structural change not shopping is killing the High Street

THIS is an interesting little piece of news from Marks and Spencer:
Marks & Spencer is to stop opening new general stores in the UK amid a shift to internet shopping.

The … (read more)

Posted: 24th, May 2013 | In: Money | Comment (1)

African coins find does not mean we have to rewrite the history of Australia

THE Mail’s got itself all in a tither about a find of African money off the coast of Australia. Apparently this means that the entire history of the place has … (read more)

Posted: 24th, May 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Global warming will boiled us all to death, say Manhattan experts

THIS is a fascinating little example of how the debate of climate change gets very skewed. In fact, the report is more interesting for what it says about that than … (read more)

Posted: 20th, May 2013 | In: Money, Reviews | Comments (2)

The elite are manipulating petrol prices

AFTER the inquiry into the crud oil prices is announced we’ve got the AA leaping in and insisting that there’s another group conspiring and manipulating to make the petrol made … (read more)

Posted: 19th, May 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Why the case for HS2 is falling apart

HS2 is, as you know, this idea that we should build a great big train set to go through the middle of England. Politicians love train sets so all the … (read more)

Posted: 16th, May 2013 | In: Money | Comment

This is how those sods at the BBC are dodging all their taxes

DO you recall a year or so back when we were all having a lovely time shouting at the BBC stars who were all avoiding tax by being paid into … (read more)

Posted: 15th, May 2013 | In: Money | Comment

The entirely insane new tax in France on smartphones, laptops, TVs and tablets

THE French have decided it would be a good idea to tax all the smartphones, TVs, tablets and the rest in order to subsidise the creation of French movies n’ … (read more)

Posted: 15th, May 2013 | In: Money, Technology | Comment (1)

Hurrah! Britain is the world’s best at manufacturing something!

ISNT this just wonderful?
Britain is the world’s leading exporter of power generators, as they are seen as manufacturers of the “best quality and are the most reliable”, according to latest … (read more)

Posted: 15th, May 2013 | In: Money | Comment

A hearty well done to the European Union for boosting unemployment to Sub-Saharan levels

THE skill with which the EU has been managing the wider economy is shown delightfully in these new figures from Greece:
Overall unemployment has risen to an all-time high of 27 … (read more)

Posted: 13th, May 2013 | In: Money | Comments (3)

The silly idea of an international minimum wage

MUHAMMAD Yunus has done some pretty good things in his life: the founding of the Grameen Bank led to a Nobel Prize for example. Yet this really does have to … (read more)

Posted: 13th, May 2013 | In: Money | Comment

You can’t regulate the banking system just by regulating the banks

THOSE Big Bad Bankies, screwed up the entire world economic system and impoverished us all. Of course, what should happen is much greater regulation of what the banksters are doing … (read more)

Posted: 9th, May 2013 | In: Money | Comment

MPs are greedy bastards aren’t they? They want us to pay for their booze

WE all know, or at least we should all know, that the browsing and sluicing of MPs is subsidised by the rest of us. Costs us about £5 million a … (read more)

Posted: 7th, May 2013 | In: Money | Comment (1)

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