Tim Worstall

Well, at least I agree with his basic analysis: And these new industries need to raise the growth rate from the historic 2% to over 3% in order to deliver jobs to stave off an employment crisis and sustain a sufficient tax base to support our existing public services. Growth is the way out. But [...]

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Are we choosing a Prime Minister – or a primate? In life and in politics now, we are judging women on how they look and men on who they mate ….given that everyone’s saying much the same thing, that the policy diffferences are 1% of spending here, £100 off taxes a year there, we’re left [...]

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The records of 800,000 people were affected by an error that meant their wishes about the use of their organs after death were wrongly recorded. And they want to put everything about us onto computer databases do they?

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At the ASI. Solar power just keeps getting cheaper and cheaper.

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When Mr. Reagan told the country that “government is the problem,” the intellectual handmaidens of the corporate and financial elite were right there to explain in exhaustive detail why that was so.The result, in addition to the terrible consequences of Iraq and Afghanistan and the damage to America’s standing in the world,…. Using Iraq and [...]

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One of the arguments against bailing out the banks, or of creating an insurance fund or levy to do so if needed in the future, is that of moral hazard. By promising to do so if needed in the future we make the necessity of doing so greater for it’s a heads I win tails [...]

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So, ratings agencies screwed up. Now they’re being nasty about government borrowing. Therefore: The creation of public agencies for corporate debt, and UN-based agencies for government debt should also be considered. We’re going to have the UN determine credit ratings for government debt? Anyone see the problem with that? You know, a credit rating being [...]

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Cable, the public’s current choice for chancellor, according to polls, said it was highly plausible that as many as 120,000 public sector jobs would have to be lost, and suggested that voters were “in for a nasty shock”. Gosh, that is a shock isn’t it? If there are 6 million public sector workers (a little [...]

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Governments in developing countries have cut the budgets of their health ministries as a result of aid donations they receive for healthcare from wealthy nations, according to a study published today. Shrug. Money is fungible. What did anyone expect would happen? There’s two more things though. The overall effect rather depends upon where those budgetary [...]

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At the ASI. I’ve found a fascinating document. (Actually, Gawain sent it to me.) The Robind Hood Tax would be illegal under the Treaty of Rome. It’s therefore dead.

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They’re all at it. Self-proclaimed masters of the shadowy international scandium oligopoly (a.k.a. Tim Worstall) are doing it economically. Apparently he’s covering political blogging for the election. However, I can’t quite see where….

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So we start out with near irrelevant comparisons: More than 30 years ago the British Government started receiving significant tax revenues from North Sea oil and gas. This windfall has provided about £200 billion for successive governments, but as North Sea operations enter their final stages, the country has precious little to show for this [...]

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Some of our most successful private sector companies operate a pay multiple, meaning that the highest paid person doesn’t earn more than a certain multiple of the lowest paid. We will ask the review to consider how to introduce a pay multiple so that no public sector worker can earn over 20 times more than [...]

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A Conservative election victory would boost the British stock market, increase the value of the pound and help keep interest rates low, an investment bank has said. Oh aye? Gordon Brown has pledged to crack down on inflated bank bonuses Hmm. We’ll put that down as a Mandy Rice Davies moment shall we?

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Another email from a protectionist containing this gem of a line: Service industries do not produce wealth. No, seriously, they do believe this. They go on: There are a limited number of ways a society can become wealthy. 1. Hunting 2. Gathering 3. Fishing 4. Farming 5. Manufacturing (along with that go the exploitation of [...]

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Within minutes of the argument toppling over, Guardian editor Peter Mandelson was seen scrabbling over the smoking rubble and attempting to rebuild it while mumbling, ‘employers know nothing about employing people’ over and over again. Meanwhile Wayne Hayes, some arsehole from Stevenage, said: “I have been trying like a bastard to get my head round [...]

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Aquitaine: much the best part of France for of course it used to be part of England. Partage propulsé par Wikio

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No, I don’t know who he is/was either.

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Actually producing the stuff looks rather more fun than consuming it.

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