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toughkardinal

Listed below are comments made by toughkardinal between Saturday, 4th October 2008 and Thursday, 26th November 2009.

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Winners and losers 00:30am on 26 Nov 2009 The problem with this so-called 'free banking' model is that it isn't free at all - it's subsidised by those who pay overdraft fees, who are often among the poor and those who have difficulties in making ends meet.

But it's fine that those who are worse off subsidise banking services for the rest of us, eh?
Not so special? 2:42pm on 24 Sep 2009 "'Europe represents, more or less, what Switzerland means to France. A peripheral neighbour that is rich, cultivated but not terribly important.'
The man who said that is an idiot. Nobody of intelligence would suggest that Europe has no influence or power; indeed, what worries many American politicians is that Europe may have more power than they are comfortable with. "

Actually, it's a pretty correct assessment. In terms of economics, Europe has a lot of clout. In terms of politics, European countries are too busy squabbling with each other like kids in a sandbox to wield much clout in the world stage.

So while economically Europe may have 'more power than they are comfortable with', politically Europeans are pygmies. And that won't end until Europe becomes more united politicially - which may or may not happen.
Will T'Orange be good for shoppers? 11:13am on 10 Sep 2009 I would question the premise behind the argument that the UK is seeing 'cut-throat' competition.

What I see is operators coming with a flurry of offers for customers, each with different benefits and drawbacks, and each with different combinations of 'free' minutes and text messages (which aren't really free, but pre-paid), different times of the day for those said 'free' minutes and so on.

It's mind-boggling complexity aimed at making it harder for the customer to actually compare the deals. Why not compete on the 'cost per minute' premise? Because that would actually cut costs. Competing with all these fancy offers doesn't actually cut costs for customers a lot of the time, and almost always binds them for one or two year long deals.

Safe, steady revenue for the operators.

The UK mobile phone market isn't seeing cut-throat competition. It's a cartel.

And taking one member away from the cartel will just make it easier to control. The only exceptions are Three and the MVNOs, but the latter depend on access to the networks of Vodafone, O2 and T'Orange (if the deal goes through).
Ahead of the curve 5:25pm on 11 Mar 2009 You say confidently that the Bank of England is ahead of the curve - which presumably means you know where the curve is, since you know the BoE is ahead of it.

In which case would you be so kind as to tell the rest of us where the 'curve' is?
Markets call time on Iceland 3:21pm on 04 Oct 2008 I'm a little at unease about Peston's reasoning here.

In particular, he seems to be implying Iceland's central bank has been keeping interest rates high to attract capital. In fact, the reason interest rates have been high is that Iceland has a high rate of inflation. The real interest rates achieved in Iceland have not been particularly high.

If a knock on effect has been for people to engage in carry trades by borrowing in countries with low interest rates and invest in those with high interest rates, that's hardly the fault of the Icelandic government or central bank.

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