Tim Worstall

It is all obvious or trivial except…

 

 

Entries Tagged as 'European Union'

But why would there be a banking crisis if Greece leaves?

May 23rd, 2012 · 15 Comments

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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Tags: European Union · Finance

Right on Larry!

May 21st, 2012 · 18 Comments

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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Tags: European Union

Fiddling while Athens burns

May 18th, 2012 · 18 Comments

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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Tags: European Union

Grexit has begun

May 16th, 2012 · 6 Comments

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 Almost €1 billion (£795 million) has been withdrawn since the last elections on May 6.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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Tags: European Union

Why?

May 14th, 2012 · 33 Comments

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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Tags: European Union

Getting the message across on Europe Day

May 9th, 2012 · 5 Comments

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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Tags: European Union

A Message to our European Partners for Europe Day

May 9th, 2012 · 7 Comments

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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Tags: European Union

Seumas is just amazing, isn’t he?

May 9th, 2012 · 25 Comments

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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Good

May 8th, 2012 · 14 Comments

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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In which I agree with Brad Delong

May 4th, 2012 · 8 Comments

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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Tags: European Union

Cuntti di Tutti Cuntti

May 3rd, 2012 · 36 Comments

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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Tags: European Union

The European Commission is to defy austerity by demanding an EU budget increase of seven per cent meaning extra contributions from British taxpayers to Brussels of £900 million next year.

April 20th, 2012 · 9 Comments

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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The Nazis tried to destroy the City once before you know

April 13th, 2012 · 15 Comments

    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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Tags: European Union · Finance

Another idiot Lib Dim

March 28th, 2012 · 8 Comments

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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Tags: European Union · Finance

Two stories from the finance pages

March 26th, 2012 · 4 Comments

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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Ahhh, the explanation of the pasty tax

March 24th, 2012 · 6 Comments

Here. Good work there Richard.

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I’m almost tempted to support an FTT

March 24th, 2012 · 5 Comments

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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Cats and pigeons

February 29th, 2012 · 10 Comments

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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Tags: European Union

Err, no

January 31st, 2012 · 12 Comments

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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Tags: European Union

What a horrible statistic

January 30th, 2012 · 12 Comments

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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Tags: European Union