When I grow up, I wouldn't object to being an incredibly rich, disgraced, highly influential, not-proven-guilty-of-fraud Wall Street figure and would-be press baron. However, unlike Henry Blodget, I don't think I'd devote a day's worth of output to slating other financial commentators for being insufficiently productive, hard-working, etc. Worrying about the productivity of people who … Continue reading Financeblogger playground spat
Category: Financial arcana
In explaining how he avoided falling into the common liberal trap of supporting the Iraq war, Dan Davies listed the maxim "Good ideas do not need lots of lies told about them in order to gain public acceptance". The fact that all the main proponents of the Iraq war were lying like rugs about WMDs … Continue reading Feared by the banks, loved by the gullible
Over at Bystander's, some sanctimonious caants are talking a load of sanctimonious cant about one of the financial services community's finer comedians, Bernie Madoff, and why he's a Very Bad Man Indeed. They pointed me to this document, which is absolutely superb - the self-pitying ramblings of people who, having grown used to receiving copious … Continue reading Obvious ‘Madoff with the money’ gag
Just sent this letter to the Observer's readers editor: Re: 'Light-touch' reforms raise fears of new bank disaster This article from Sunday 12 June has one of the most inaccurate sentences I've ever seen anywhere: "Critics point out that it was a subsidiary of Northern Rock, Granite, that contained the liabilities that led to the … Continue reading We write letters
Let's assume you're an excellent journalist (yes, I know for most bloggers this would be a bit of a heroic assumption, but never mind). You spend 15 years working your way up through various jobs until you're editor of a national title. You do the job very well. Then the chairman of the large media … Continue reading Nobody who gets anything wrong should ever be allowed to do anything again
What the ignorant paranoiac says: The threat [of Terribly Bad Things if the Tories don't abolish all public services, taxes, etc] is abstract, but needs to be made real. What this means: There isn't actually a disastrous crisis that means we'll need to abolish all public services, taxes, etc, but if we lie that there … Continue reading Longer Fraser Nelson
As far as I can make out with reference to the Grauniad/Barclays tax evasion dossier: 1) Barclays has done nothing illegal 2) Barclays hasn't receieved any aid from the UK taxpayer. ...so this isn't an issue. Should Barclays request aid from the UK taxpayer at any point, its activities should, obviously, be taken into account … Continue reading Barclayery
RBS: As part of our implementation of FSA guidelines around Anti-Money Laundering activities, we introduced questions on Politically Exposed Persons as part of our account opening procedures. Genius financial columnist Nelson: what on earth is a Politically Exposed Person? The FSA anti-money-laundering guidelines, which have been in force for three years: customers who, by virtue … Continue reading Fraser Nelson: ignorance and paranoia, in one simple package
No. Or: Britain is not Iceland. Iceland is the size of Coventry. Britain is the fifth-largest economy in the world (although it also has the third-largest current account deficit). The pound is still a reserve currency that people want to buy, despite the efforts of the speculators. We are bankrupt only in the sense that … Continue reading Is Britain really going bankrupt?
OK, so we appear to be in the early stages of a major recession, which may well go on for years. A whole load of people may well lose their jobs, pay rises will be a thing of the past for people who keep them, and overall incomes from working will fall substantially. Meanwhile, inflation … Continue reading Anyone who proposes a worse policy wins a prize