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Tim Worstall

Tim Worstall - Author Archive

They’re still wrong about Global Footprint Day

ONCE again we’ve the screaming about how we’re using everything up and soon ht planet will be nothing but a bare ball spiralling through space:
Humans have used up the natural … (read more)

Posted: 4th, September 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Politicians are just too damn cheap to bribe, hire and lobby

A LITTLE story from across the pond explaining why people bother to bribe and lobby politicians (to the extent that there is actually and difference between the two acts).

So, there’s … (read more)

Posted: 4th, September 2013 | In: Money, Politicians | Comment

Why Zuckerberg wants everyone to have the Internet as a ‘human right’

MARK Zuckerberg, the billionaire behind Facebook, has just announced that he’s joining forces with other tech firms in order to try and bring the internet to everyone. One the grounds … (read more)

Posted: 4th, September 2013 | In: Technology | Comment

Economists are better at prediction than the weathermen

OK, so this isn’t going to be an argument about stunning accuracy in anything. But we’ve two massive chaotic systems: the weather and the economy. Chaotic systems, especially massive ones, … (read more)

Posted: 4th, September 2013 | In: Money | Comment

MP Mary McLeod entirely misunderstands the gender pay gap shocker!

MARY Macleod MP has just shown that she’s got absolutely no clue at all about the gender pay gap:
“The gender pay gap should not exist. But it does, as we … (read more)

Posted: 4th, September 2013 | In: Money, Politicians | Comment

You can’t have safer banks and more spending at the same time

ONE of those little conundrums of life, that you can’t have two desirable things at the same time.

I think we’d all agree that we’d like to have safer banks. You … (read more)

Posted: 4th, September 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Sex sells! seriously, who knew?

ONE of the less surprising findings from Forbes magazine this year is that the top earning author in the world is EL James. You know, Shades of Grey stuff:
Then there’s … (read more)

Posted: 4th, September 2013 | In: Books, Money | Comment

This’ll annoy The Greenies: India needs supermarkets

IT’S a general theme here in the UK that supermarkets just ruin everything. You know the drill, you should buy your food from the local butcher and baker, patronise the … (read more)

Posted: 4th, September 2013 | In: Money, The Consumer | Comment

Why Vodafone won’t pay any tax on the Verizon sale

AS Robert Peston at the BBC reports:
That said, the profit for Vodafone looks to be many tens of billions of dollars.

Which of course begs the question how much capital gains … (read more)

Posted: 4th, September 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Microsoft buys out Nokia’s handset business: market freezes

SO. Microsoft has taken the plunge and bought out Nokia’s handset business. They didn’t pay that much for it, under £5 billion all in, which is a good insight into … (read more)

Posted: 3rd, September 2013 | In: Money, Technology | Comment

What the Co Op bank tells us about the financial crash

SO it looks like the Co Op Banks has only just managed to avoid going tits up:
The Co-operative Group has plunged to a £559m first-half loss as bad debts in … (read more)

Posted: 2nd, September 2013 | In: Money | Comments (2)

Fast food workers protest is the most stupid strike in history

IN the  US fast food workers went on strike to demand a $15 an hour pay settlement. Up from the current $8 or so they get.

The Guardian rolled out one … (read more)

Posted: 2nd, September 2013 | In: Money | Comments (2)

Isn’t this a surprise! Greece will need another bailout!

LOOKS like the Germans are finally waking up to reality here, admitting that Greece will need another bailout.
Ms Merkel’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, admitted last month that Greece will need … (read more)

Posted: 29th, August 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Italian smuggles his factory to Poland

I REALLY do like this story. Bloke in Italy, company’s not making any money. And it’s Italy, so he can’t fire anybody or lower wages or anything. So, over the … (read more)

Posted: 23rd, August 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Have more sex: you’ll earn more money!

HAVE more sex to earn more money. That’s what seems to be the message of this new economics paper. People who have more sex earn more money than those who … (read more)

Posted: 19th, August 2013 | In: Money | Comment (1)

BT’s really screwing up this broadband, isn’t it?

THE Guardian is ranting and railing about how appallingly BT is rolling out fast broadband around the countryside. There’s a useful economic point to be made about this:
Given that everyone … (read more)

Posted: 14th, August 2013 | In: Money, Technology | Comment (1)

Maths offers absolute proof that Zombies don’t exist

AN interesting little piece of mathematics here which should be, but isn’t, used to show that zombies cannot possibly exist. The point being that they show that there’s no stable … (read more)

Posted: 14th, August 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Neoliberal globalisation is making those exploited foreigners richer than us

MAKING people rich that is, that’s the justification for all this neoliberal globalisation stuff. And it works too: it’s just not us that are getting rich.
Nearly 1.7 billion people planet-wide … (read more)

Posted: 14th, August 2013 | In: Money | Comment

How can we tax Amazon’s Profits if Amazon doesn’t make any profits?

YOU’LL have seen all the furore about how Amazon are such bastards for not paying any taxes on their vast profits made by selling us stuff for cheap. You know, … (read more)

Posted: 7th, August 2013 | In: Money | Comments (2)

Real Madrid and Barcelona: Buying Spurs Gareth Bale and other stars is part of a tax scam?

THIS tax story is really getting out of hand: they’re insisting that Real Madrid and Barca are tax scams now:
Those four are Real Madrid and Barcelona, who also take around … (read more)

Posted: 7th, August 2013 | In: Money, Sports | Comment

How cutting bankers’ bonuses buggers up bankers’ pay

ONE of the odder parts of the furore over the banks, greed, financial crashes and what causes them is this idea that if we cut bankers’ bonuses then everything will … (read more)

Posted: 6th, August 2013 | In: Money | Comments (3)

Revealed: The real cause of the great Twitter row, bomb threats and insults

THERE is currently mass outrage at how people are acting on Twitter. How could these gormless oiks be so rude and crude as to scream obscenities at Mary Beard and … (read more)

Posted: 5th, August 2013 | In: Reviews, Technology | Comment

Fracking madness: In what way is a higher than normal tax rate a tax break?

I HAVE to admit that there are certain minds that I just cannot worm my way into. Just cannot grasp what is going on in the minds of people who … (read more)

Posted: 4th, August 2013 | In: Money | Comment

Apple’s still being complete bastards to the Chinese workers

APPLE’S being complete bastards to Chinese workers. Well, so says a new report out today from China Labor Watch: Apple’s still being entirely bastardly towards the workers in China that … (read more)

Posted: 4th, August 2013 | In: Money, Technology | Comment

Facebook mobile results lead to stock soaring 17%

THE big thing no one was really sure about with Facebook was how it was going to deal with the move to mobile. The recent results give us some insight … (read more)

Posted: 2nd, August 2013 | In: Money | Comment

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