Tim Worstall

Former Secretary of State John Denham yesterday accused ministers of spending too much time “cosying up” to foreign firms like Google, at the expense of home-grown companies. Instead, they should quiz Mr Lynch on “why it is so difficult to get the long-term finance they need… to become global leaders themselves,” rather than selling to [...]

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Economists had pinned their hopes on improvements in the all-important services sector, which accounts for three quarters of the national output, but were let down by the embattled banking industry. Output in financial and insurance services contracted by 0.8pc to fall back to levels not seen since 2005. No, that’s not the only cause of [...]

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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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Hmm. So you think you’re having a hard time, what with the cuts and the scrapping of public services and those threats of losing your job? Well, I bring good news. The austerity we’ve heard so much time about – this historic, unparalleled slashing of spending – is all made up. David Cameron is simply [...]

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Facebook shares were expected to soar on Friday, but they shares finished just 0.6pc above their $38 offer price. Today’s 12pc fall implies bankers got the flotation price wrong. The company, the extant shareholders and the bankers got 12 pc more money for their shares on Friday than they were worth on Monday. In what [...]

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The Serious Fraud Office warned Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz that a high-profile investigation into their activities could drag on for “five to 10 years” if they didn’t come to a financial settlement. As a purely personal opinion it wouldn’t surprise me at all to find that there had been something “interesting” bout the financing of [...]

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In France, the authorities are racing to avoid having to rescue Caisse Centrale du Credit Immobilier (3CIF) after Moody’s downgraded the mortgage lender last week, warning it could become totally reliant on taxpayer support within months. The lender is one of France’s largest mortgage providers and is owned by a collection of local authorities and [...]

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So, anyone else having uneasy feelings about Last Minute’s float?

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Bondholders, who were forced to accept losses of around 75pc on their debt two months ago or lose everything, hired lawyers to claim they were “fraudulently misled” after Athens repaid €435m to debtors who resisted the restructuring. The bondholders who got paid out in full were the people holding English law bonds, not Greek law [...]

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Moody’s downgraded 26 Italian lenders on Monday night saying the slump itself is the killer, joining a chorus of voices warning that too much austerity may be self-defeating. “Banks are vulnerable to the renewed recession in Italy, given their already elevated levels of problem loans and weakened profitability,” it said. Moody’s expects the economy to [...]

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I’m coming over rather Dean Baker today. For it is he who has been pointing out that no, the great crash did not come about because of “toxic derivatives”. And in the UK it was not a result of the mixing of investment and retail banking. Nor even was it too big to fail banks. [...]

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Chuka Umunna, the shadow Business Secretary, told The Daily Telegraph Wonga’s move was “a damning indictment” of the British banking system and the failures of the coalition Government to get cash to successful firms. “Look at the rates of interest Wonga is charging. This is not cheap money,” he said. “It is such a damning [...]

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And I respond in the comments: The way credit unions operate goes against the orthodoxies of finance. Well, not so much. Actually, it’s pretty much the basics of banking and has been for a number of centuries. Lend money at interest to those you think will pay it back. Borrow the money at a lower [...]

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Trillium Asset Management, LLC is the oldest independent investment advisor devoted exclusively to sustainable and responsible investing. With over $1 billion in assets under management, Trillium has been managing equity and fixed income investments for high net worth individuals, foundations, endowments, religious institutions, and other nonprofits, since 1982. A leader in shareholder advocacy and public [...]

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“From the start of the crisis, central banks provided emergency loans but these amounted to little more than holding a sheet in front of the emperor to conceal the nakedness of the banks. They didn’t solve the underlying problem – banks needed not loans but injections of shareholders’ capital in order to be able to [...]

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Shouldn’t you read up on these things first? In this respect it corresponds to other global powers. Despite its trumpeted reforms, the International Monetary Fund remains under the control of the United States and the former colonial powers. All constitutional matters still require an 85% share of the vote. By an inexplicable oversight, the United [...]

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“In a way bankers are Marx’s dream, it’s the workers getting the fruits of their labours. It’s funny that the left is usually angry at shareholders, for taking money out of companies and thereby bringing down workers’ salaries. Yet with the banks they want shareholders to press the banks to do exactly that, and curb [...]

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The London arm of the great vampire squid paid only £4.1m in corporation tax to the Treasury last year. Despite pocketing £1.9bn in pre-tax profits. Lord Blankfein’s investment bank received a tax bill of £422.3m for 2011 but has put off paying 99pc of it until next year. Umm, isn’t corporation tax always paid in [...]

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This is rather amusing really: The current estimate of the eventual loss that taxpayers will be left with from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is $60bn, according to a report from the watchdog for the programme. “It is a widely held misconception that TARP will make a profit,” said Christy Romero, the inspector general [...]

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The extraordinary story of how a former cashier at a Wickes DIY store became governor of a Nigerian state and embezzled £50 million to live “like royalty” was set out before a packed courtroom today. No doubt the usual suspects will be telling us how this shows we must crack down on offshore as he [...]

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