On the new clothes of the Spanish economy, where’s a child to tell the truth when you need it?

Hobbes, what Spain needs now, is the child in the crowd that that the emperor is walking down the street fully naked, and tells the truth. But they do not listen.
Today, it was the turn of the FT.com (Spain’s recession: After the fiesta). Paul Preston is considered one of the top specialists in the Spanish [...]

On talking about the weather and the hell we are going through

February 2, 2009. What a day to remember. It was a Monday, right after… a Sunday.
Freezing weather from the East brought us the “biggest snowstorms in 18 years!”
No trains in or out of London, no buses in the city, curiously even the underground underground services cancelled… the great ex-Imperial capital brought to its knees by [...]

On governments guaranteeing savings to avert panic, what’s at the end of the road?

Hobbes, we seem to be in another space race. But this time around fuelled by the EU’s free capital movement.
FT.com reports that the German government has joined Ireland’s in fully guaranteeing the savers deposits in national banks (€400bn for the Irish). For the layman, that means that the average German taxpayer will guarantee through their [...]

On the rise of the cost of living and the ones who really carry the can

Going back to how to spend it you have plenty [On billionaires spoiling artists and the hard life of the super-rich, May 26], from 2000 to 2007 the super-rich (dwellers of the 95th percentile of the income distribution) saw their real wages increase about 9% compared to an average 3% for the rest of mortals. [...]

On billionaires spoiling artists and the hard life of the super-rich

Do you remember rule number one of the courteous traveller? Ask for permission before taking someone’s picture. Some people are not very keen on being the star of your holidays in a forgotten corner of the world. Some even fear losing their soul to the flash.
I wonder what Sue Tilley’s thoughts are on the matter. [...]

On the cost of living extremely well

Going back to how to spend it you have plenty [On billionaires spoiling artists and the hard life of the super-rich, May 26],from 2000 to 2007, the super-rich (dwellers of the 95th percentile of the income distribution) saw their real wages increase about 9% compared to an average 3% for the rest of mortals.
This field [...]

The second LwH Prize goes to… John Paulson

The ranking for the 2007 highest-paid hedge fund managers came our and we found out that John Paulson, founder of New York-based Paulson & Co, was paid an estimated $3.7b last year. The 52-year old New Yorker, beat George Soros and 2006’s top earner James Simons. Soros ranked second, earning about $2.9 billion. Simons was [...]

On executive pay and trade union nonsense

Hobbes, this time around the target is Bob Diamond, from Barclays. After 12 years with the bank, he reportedly took home £21m ($42m) in pay and bonuses last year.
The figure includes a miser £250,000 basic salary, plus shares worth up to £14.4m and a £6.5m cash bonus.
The figure includes his basic salary of £250,000, plus [...]

What do you prefer? Employee or overpaid executive?

Hobbes, I have been thinking about the executive pay issue and after much inner talk, let me ask you something:
If presented with the two following salary packages, which one would you go for?

Workload: 100-120h per week. Salary: None. Relocation needed: Yes, 4-5h flight from you home town with worldwide travel involved 3 weeks per month. [...]

When ‘excessive pay’ for many is not ‘excessive pay’

Hobbes, what really angers me is the utter hypocrisy of our governments. They set up a committee to stamp on three CEOs who reportedly (made too much money by who? clearly not the companies’ executive pay committees or their stockholders) when the housing bubble started to melt down. If they created the situation, that [...]