Rick

September 2009 - Posts

• It’s a bit late to be “toughest in the world”.

  Suddenly, and somewhat belatedly, Gordon Brown is getting all macho with the banks. Apparently, he’s going to make the UK’s bank regulation the toughest in the world. That will certainly play well to the Labour faithful and a public heartily... Posted Sep 28 2009, 08:18 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• Be Chancellor of the Exchequer for an hour or so

  If you are stuck for something to do, you could have a go at the DIY spending review on the IFS website. It allows you to increase or cut public spending and then to allocate what you have left between the government departments. It also tells you whether... Posted Sep 27 2009, 04:47 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• Even Thatcher didn’t cut public spending like this

  David Cameron, talking about the Thatcher years earlier this week, remarked: We never in the 1980s actually managed to cut public spending. He’s right, of course. As this graph shows, public spending is one of the few things that can seemingly defy... Posted Sep 25 2009, 03:11 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• Financial fly-tipping

  George Monbiotdraws a parallel between unscruplulous firms that dump toxic waste on poor countries and banks that offload their toxic debt in a similar way. He refers to Barclays and its recent attempt shunt its CDOs and dodgy mortgage assets to a company... Posted Sep 23 2009, 08:08 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• Instant gratification, lap-dancing and City bonuses

  Heather McGregor has caught Harriet Harman talking rubbish yet again. Lap dancing, like any other form of corporate entertainment, is not tax deductable, so asking Alistair Darling to stop a tax break that doesn’t exist makes Harriet look pretty... Posted Sep 22 2009, 09:39 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• Cuts from April 2011 – whoever gets into power

  I couldn’t get excited about David Cameron’s discovery of the government’s ’secret plans’ to cut public spending. You only have to look at what the government has been doing, rather than what it has been saying, to realise... Posted Sep 19 2009, 12:41 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• Where your tax money goes

  Here’s a handy little graphic from the Guardian’s data blog. It shows central government spending by government department using different sized bubbles. Heres a link to the PDF: Public_spending_160909 Check out the 49,891% increase in spending... Posted Sep 18 2009, 03:25 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized

• The knives are out for the public sector

  Contestants on Dragons’ Den who don’t have a solid grasp of numbers are usually dismissed with contempt by the assembled business gurus. Theo Paphitis should perhaps show a bit more sympathy in future because the figures he quoted in his Daily... Posted Sep 04 2009, 05:40 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales Filed under: Uncategorized