Posts tagged…Subsidies
Now it’s a competition
Wed, Jan 21 2009"The French government said on Tuesday that it would earmark up to euro;6bn ($7.8bn, pound;5.5bn) to a rescue plan for its car industry hit by plunging demand, the credit crunch and a decline in competitiveness."nbsp;nbsp;from: Financial Times
Every new bailout devalues the last by increasing production of cars that need taxpayer funding.
Mandarin or doublespeak?
Tue, Dec 23 2008
OK. Here's a little Christmas Quiz. Not hard, I promise
First, read this inspiring quote from our Great Helmsman as he rouses the unions with some hearty advice and a lovely big cheque for $180m of your money. He's giving the money to them because… well, it's a Great Australian Tradition to give big chunks of money to the motor vehicle industry when they ask for it and, after all, it's only a tiny…
Read more…EC cooling on Global Warming?
Tue, Dec 16 2008"Each of the 35,000 solar jobs in Germany, for instance, is subsidized to the tune of €130,000. According to estimates by the Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research, green subsidies will cost German electricity consumers nearly €27 billion in the next two years." extract from: Benny Peiser in the WSJ
Weaning and whining
Sat, Aug 16 2008
I know one story about an import-competing, near-basket-case, industry that turned-around with the help of government support and a re-structuring plan, to become globally competitive and an export success story.
It's not motor vehicles.
Once upon a time —in the mid-1990s—I was the CEO of the Australian Dairy Industry Council. Farmers and the processing companies they own (Murray Goulburn…
Insiders advise against car subsidies
Thu, Jul 31 2008Fighting over the remaining ten-percent tariff is pointless in the current—and medium-term—market conditions. The strong exchange rate, the strength of our terms-of-trade vis-a-vis manufactures and the remarkable competitiveness of China makes an import tax of five or even ten percent utterly irrelevant.
The real economic debate is over the size of the proposed subsidies to capital that the Labour…
McCain and Obama on ethanol subsidies and tariffs
Mon, Jun 23 2008Where is this going? I'm with McCain on this, so far. But it's always worrying to see political candidates engaging on fuel subsidies. The moral danger alert swings to the farthest end of the spectrum.
"'We made a series of mistakes by not adopting a sustainable energy policy, one of which is the subsidies for corn ethanol, which I warned in Iowa were going to destroy the market” and contribute to…
High food prices accelerate structural change in Europe
Wed, May 28 2008Thirty years on, the Common Agricultural Policy—or, rather, most of the CAP's market intervention but not the payments to farmers—is being dismantled faster than planned due to high food prices that have seen both border barriers and 'intervention' buying dropped.
"The €45bn-a-year common agricultural policy has been blamed for dumping subsidised food on to poor country markets, displacing…
David Brooks: The Farm Bill
Wed, May 21 2008"My colleagues on The Times's editorial page called the bill 'disgraceful.' My former colleagues at The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page ripped it as a 'scam.' Yet such is the logic of collective action; the bill is certain to become law…" extract from: Talking Versus Doing - David Brooks - New York Times…