Tim Worstall

President Sarkozy yesterday threatened to wreck the London summit if France’s demands for tougher financial regulation are not met. France will not accept a G20 that produces a “false success with language that sounds good but contains no commitments”, his advisers said. Asked if this meant a possible walk-out, Xavier Musca, Mr Sarkozy’s deputy chief [...]

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Others will now come under unaccustomed scrutiny. Let this be a warning to all public officials, quangos, councils, NHS officials, sports authorities or anyone holding even minor power. Something has snapped. If public trust was always low, it has fallen down a crevasse in this financial crisis. Historians will see why: people feel a grand [...]

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Finally, some sense: In his speech, Obama appeared to prepare the ground for bankruptcy, saying that a chapter 11 filing for either GM or Chrysler would "make it easier to clear away old debts weighing them down," and that it need not involve years of court procedures. Yes, that´s the way to go and it [...]

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Trademark applications have fallen 30pc from their peak, indicating the decline in business activity and new product launches. Just a hunch, something in the back of my mind. Didn´t the law on trademarks change a few years back, meaning that everyone had to reapply? If so, a decline from that peak isn´t a sign of [...]

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They must return "honesty and fairness" to the financial industries and not put greed and short-term gratification before long-term benefit, he will warn. Right, so we shouldn´t put short term falls in output ahead of the long term health of the public financies? We shouldn´t borrow our children´s inheritances to deal with a hiccup in [...]

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All those who say that a mutually owned banking system won´t produce crashes and insolvencies like a shareholder owned one. The building society racked up more than £800 million of high-risk loans and assets at the height of the market, including £650million of commercial property, the value of which has since crashed. Oh yes?

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Here.

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Dick’s waiting for me in Redditch, Get me there driver soon I want to lie in his strong arms And go into a swoon I want to collect his DNA For my own database I want to open my bursting blouse And thrust them in his face On Friday night when I got home My [...]

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OK, so we all know that maternity leave….that career gap to bear and raise a child,…is a major determinant of the gender pay gap. Concluding that it was time that "policy-making enabled men to play an equal part in parenting", the EHRC proposes that the first 26 weeks of a baby’s life would remain dedicated [...]

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Ok, this is a good idea. The call comes from the Government’s Environment Agency under a policy that amounts to ‘rationing by price’. The introduction of smart meters could see families charged more for water in the summer months in order to stop them filling up paddling pools or washing their cars. The agency argues [...]

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How are we supposed to trust the government with data protection if the Home Secretary can’t even keep the fact that her husband has been watching porn secret?

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We had the power all in the wrong place – too concentrated, too many bankers with monopoly power. Sunder Katwala, Fabian Society. There wasn’t a monopoly in banking. Far from it. And how can "too many people" have monopoly power anyway?

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At the ASI. Long term growth and the hiccups in the capitalist system.

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Eight years later, Mitchell is on the warpath again. "Tax competition leads to low tax rates and increased prosperity," he told the Observer from his office in Washington. "Sovereign entities have the right to secure tax privileges. Even if the US government does not like it." Well, he’s right. That is what sovereignty means. Insisting [...]

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Which benefits? The chancellor is preparing to channel cash to poorer families in his budget as part of a mini-fiscal stimulus to kick-start the economy and protect the vulnerable. Senior cabinet figures are backing a campaign by more than 110 Labour MPs, including some ministerial aides, to top up benefits or the tax credits paid [...]

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All sorts of poeple are calling for simple retail banks, divorced from the problems of past loans and the excesses of capital markets. Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket, will open bank branches in 30 of its stores by the end of 2009 as part of a massive assault on the financial services sector. So no [...]

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The publication the full expenses claimed by all MPs in 2007-08 will include a detailed breakdown of family travel expenses, a House of Commons spokeswoman confirmed. MPs’ spouses and children under 18 are entitled to 30 single trips – or 15 return journeys – every year between their constituencies and London. Eh?

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Labour should simply announce an emergency cap on top pay. Anything over the prime minister’s £200,000 should be temporarily taxed at 90%. No bonuses, no fiddles. The golden geese will fly away to Dubai, Mumbai, Shanghai? Unlikely, but if a few go, who cares? Well, it depends upon how many do go. The money should [...]

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Robert Reich. As a result of increasing global competition and technological advancements, the US and other post-industrial nations have seen declining median incomes…. So, is this true? _____________________________________________________________________________ Number Median income Mean income with ______________________ ______________________ Region income Current 2007 Current 2007 and year (thous.) dollars dollars dollars dollars _____________________________________________________________________________ UNITED STATES 2007 210,019 $26,625 [...]

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Major banks have been nationalised by governments around the world, providing a perfect opportunity for ministers to steer lenders in a new direction. Private money needs to be siphoned into a sustainable future through more forward-looking banks and finance houses. These key institutions need to abandon their sole focus on short-term profit maximisation in favour [...]

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