In order to clear the rubbish off the streets we must pay the teaching assistants more
We do think this is a sign of something having gone wrong. But then there are few who do think society is wholly and justly on exactly the right path at present.
Unilateral free trade is the only possible logical stance
So the mathematician asks the economist whether there’s actually anything at all in all of the social sciences that is not obvious nor trivial.
But will the Minister then draw the right conclusion?
As Paul Krugman pointed out productivity isn’t everything. But in the long run it’s almost everything.
Those subsidies from government often aren’t worth it
Sure and it’s lovely if someone walks in with a freebie cheque for you. But cheques very rarely stay freebie - there will be an insistence upon imposing some costs in return, obviously enough:
Sorry Mr. Stevenson, taxing the rich doesn’t work
Gary Stevenson, the tax the rich populist du jour, continually tells us that taxing the rich is easy. Because while the individual might move they’ve still got assets.
Stop taxing the poor so damn much
Given our greybeard status one of the things we’ve learnt is that bad policy, bad economics, keeps returning like the acid reflux after a bad curry.
What? Really? People change their behaviour because of taxes? Sirsly?
No, no, there must be some mistake here. We all know that people called upon to proffer up their mere fair share to the common weal don’t change their behaviour in order to dodge that righteous gifting.
Oh Dear - The Civil Service doesn’t grasp Parkinson
Every government tries to hack back at the Civil Service. Given that every government does try to hack back the Civil Service then, according to the media aimed at the Civil Service, this proves that hacking at the Civil Service doesn’t work:
It’s not the EU we’re against it’s the idea of the EU
Or, to be more exact and precise, this specific idea of the European Union that strikes us as wrong:
Are these people actively mad?
Could be, could be: Gatwick airport is preparing to reject government demands for it to guarantee that the majority of passengers using its proposed new runway will arrive by train.
Jason Hickel seems to think this is a criticism
Hickel writes: What's striking about capitalist civilization is that it has no real direction. There's no vision for social progress, no commitment to improving human welfare or ecology. All we get is the chaos of profit-oriented production and accumulation as the world burns around us.
All tax systems tend to the Laffer Peak - or over
This is not a proof, this is a musing. But we have a strong feeling that all tax systems tend to their Laffer Curve peak.