Tim Worstall

I’m not sure I quite understand this: That’s because the threat of a disorderly Greek default – which could still take place inside the euro – has the potential to trigger a cascade of bank runs and knock-on crises across the eurozone whose impact could dwarf the Lehmans crash of 2008. OK, it’s Seumas on [...]

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Blimey, an economics article in The Guardian where it is possible to agree with every word. Even the “and” and the “the”. The euro, in short, is ripe for what Joseph Schumpeter called creative destruction. Capitalism, according to Schumpeter, was the story of constant, normally gut-wrenching change, in which innovation put established firms out of [...]

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G8 summit: David Cameron’s plan for saving euro: make Germans pay Angela Merkel will come under pressure to use German taxpayers’ money to help rescue struggling European countries, including Greece and Spain, by underwriting their debts. I don’t think they understand. The bank runs have started. The Greek banking system is simply draining away at [...]

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Citing a secret government document, he said Greeks were already pulling £80 million a day out of the country’s banks. Almost €1 billion (£795 million) has been withdrawn since the last elections on May 6. That’s yer slow bank run for you. And the only place the Greek banks can get more money is the ECB, [...]

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We agree, however, that the single currency needs to survive and succeed That’s the bit that Ed Balls and the Slime Lord don’t explain. Why does the single currency need to survive?

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Latest UK News » Why the euro was a stupid idea The euro is doomed, because it was a stupid and unworkable idea in the first place, says Tim Worstall. 31 Comments

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Fuck off. You know, just. Right. Off. Lovely people, great continent, deliriously happy to cooperate as necessary, visit, trade, gorge and sluice: just not willing to share a system of governance with you, sorry.

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Greece, austerity, disaster, new thing needed then: It is now being challenged by parties of the left that reject a failing neoliberal system He’s still not got it , has he? The neoliberals have been screaming for years that the euro is a bad idea, that it shouldn’t exist and if it does Greece certainly [...]

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A bigger immediate threat is that a Greek exit from the euro – rated as a 50-75% probability by Citigroup – will have a domino effect on Portugal, Spain and Italy. Jason Conibear, director of foreign exchange firm Cambridge Mercantile, said the euro was currently as attractive to investors as a toxic derivative during the [...]

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We Are Resurrecting the Stupidest Man Alive Award for a Special Presentation Peter Mandelson: Britain should still consider joining the euro Words fail…

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The question we have to ask ourselves is whether these people’s gums bleed for a week each month. Without, you know, the saving grace of being enjoyable, servicable and of purpose the other three weeks? Ulrich Beck, Daniel Cohn-Bendit,Yuri Andrukhovych, Jerzy Baszynski, Zygmunt Bauman, Senta Berger, Patrice Chéreau, Rudolf Chmel, Jacques Delors, Gabor Demszky, Chris [...]

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If agreed at a Brussels summit in June, the Commission’s budget would mean that the annual tax burden for paying EU membership contributions would rise to £666 for every British household. Can we leave yet?

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    They didn’t succeed, as we know. But they’re having another go. Austrian centre-right MEP Othmar Karas has called for an end to massive bankers’ bonuses, which in some cases amount to 10 times the basic salary. “We are looking at a set limit,” Karas told the parliament’s economic affairs committee in Brussels on [...]

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Sharon Bowles, the UK Liberal Democrat MEP who chairs the EU parliament’s economic affairs committee, also proposed that “golden hellos” should be clawed back if performance fell short. Dear Lord, you’d think these people would be able to understand their own arguments, wouldn’t you? And the argument here is that a bonus encourages people to [...]

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Blame Brussels, not us, says FSA after Prudential attack The City watchdog has hit back at claims by Prudential that its policies are “ludicrous” and “horrendous”, insisting it is just the middle man between government, Europe and industry. Pension liabilities may double under EU rules Britain’s biggest companies may each see their pension liabilities more [...]

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Here. Good work there Richard.

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In a move that has astounded British MEPs, Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the EC, announced that the levy could halve European Union members’ contributions. Mr Barroso has proposed that countries keep a third of the proceeds of the levy themselves and give two-thirds of it to Brussels. Europe’s budget would become “self funding”, Mr [...]

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Ireland has shocked Europe with plans for a referendum on the EU’s fiscal treaty, a move that risks an unprecedented fragmentation of the eurozone and a major clash with Germany. Put on the popcorn!

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Germany to set the terms for saving the euro No. Germany’s set the terms for what it thinks will save the euro, what it hopes will save the euro. But whether it will save the euro isn’t in Germany’s, or any politicians’, hands. It’s all of us, in our interactions in hte markets, that will [...]

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An estimated 20 per cent of the British harvest is thrown away to comply with EU regulations. Yes, I know the rules on weirdly shaped veggies were relaxed a few years bak. But that’s an horrific number. And it stems from the way we allowed some anally retentive OCD types to gain power in the [...]

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