Thursday Music Link
There's only one possible song for this week, but ...
at least it's not the original Status Quo version
I feel bad about that. Here's a much better song.
(NB: As I've mentioned earlier, I do think SQ are in many ways underrated, but "Pictures of Matchstick Men" is just not a very good song).
You missed a fine opportunity for a Rickroll there...
ReplyDeleteFirst band I ever went to see, Status Quo. 13 February 1981, Hammersmith Odeon as it then was. I think I can still remember the seat number and all.
ReplyDeleteWe live and learn.
hey, is everyone else getting "an error happened" on any Youtube music video?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've been having weirdness with Blogger, YouTube and other Google-owned stuff (in Chrome).
ReplyDeleteUnrelated: given that Diageo is putting aside 2.5m casks of scotch to deal with its pension plan deficit, any chance of revisiting the Malt Whisky Yield Curve, here or at CT?
They're apparently transferring a book-value £500m of new-make spirit and expecting a return of £25m p.a. over 15 years through the exercise of options on the matured spirit, which is pretty close to your original estimate, if I'm not completely bollocksing the calculations.
(Were you advising them?)
Hey that's fantastic! So it's a 5% yield, net of angels' share. That's actually quite a high rate of return if it was purely capitalised interest - I'd love to see the actual model.
ReplyDeleteDid you see the chocolate company that's raising funds by borrowing from its customers? Essentially what they're offering is a debenture with the coupon denominated in chocolates. You front up the money, and they keep sending you chocolate every month for the life of the bond.
ReplyDeleteI think they missed a trick, though. If it's an investment, then presumably the chocolates are interest, and therefore taxable income. If you called it a subscription service, surely that would just be a sale and (at a 5% return tax exempt!) quite attractive.
If you called it a subscription service, surely that would just be a sale and (at a 5% return tax exempt!) quite attractive.
ReplyDeleteNah, annual payments of goods with money's worth would probably be caught under what used to be called Schedule D VI (the catch all category). The possible exemptions in s727-s729 ITTOIA 2005 don't look like they'd apply.
(Boring morning at work? Whatever do you mean?)
Another dd prediction that came, up to a reasonable paraphrase, literally true: from the Aug 2002 archive:
ReplyDelete"Yeah, yeah, laughing boy, but what happens when the housing bubble bursts then?"
Which is a damn good question to ask, particularly since the official policy of the Federal Reserve appears to be "hmmm yeh, never thought of that, I suppose we'd be kind of fucked". Looks like it falls to me to come to their aid, with a solution that smacks of genius.
I mean, that and "oh dear, hadn't thought of that" is pretty closely what Alan Greenspan actually said.
...sorry, couldn't be arsed to see whether this had been covered already.
Dear Mr Squared,
ReplyDeleteThere's a book my publisher would like to send you (rueful comedy of ideas about the planned economy) but you present a smooth, shiny, hermetically-sealed surface to the world, probably not by accident, and they can't work out how to contact you. If this seems like an appealing idea, please nominate a North London tree for them to leave it under, or similar. Otherwise apologies for bothering you. I'm a reader of yours via Crooked Timber, briefly delurking, now relurking. Thanks. Francis Spufford
Aargh, a friggin' email address would help, wouldn't it: f.spufford@gold.ac.uk
ReplyDeleteIf it's "Red Plenty", I've just pre-ordered it on Amazon! This would never happen in a planned economy!
ReplyDeleteI've pre-ordered (another way of saying "paid for it") it some time ago, and I'm beginning to feel a certain resentment about this.
ReplyDeleteAh, the importance of luck and social advantage... Which ties into the bloody endless series of 'lets wind up the libertarian posts' on CT recently.
ReplyDelete(Not that they're not fun, and that they don't need the piss being taken out of them, but some variety would be nice.)
Actually, there's an even more brilliant idea lurking in this thread, which is to get subscribers to pay you to write a book that is as yet unwritten. Subscribers to get free copies, their names embossed etc.
ReplyDeleteNaturally you will run into all sorts of problems during its creation (expensive foreign trip required for research, company threatening to repossess computer) which would require the subscribers to divvy up even more cash if they wanted to see any return on what they'd spent already. Any resulting scandal would surely only add to the value of the book-to-be, creating publicity and hence more subscribers.
Oh dear, oh dear, it *is* (or probably more appropriately it *was*) Red Plenty. Let's see: one existing buyer baffled with the unnecessary offer of a review copy, another existing buyer pissed-off by the offer to the first one. Fabulous. I think my work here is done. I shall now creep away, possibly pulling some kind of bag over my head as I go. FS
ReplyDeleteThe solution is clearly to send the review copy to Alex, which has the added commercial advantage to your publisher that he might actually pull his finger out and do the 'king review on a reasonably timely basis.
ReplyDeleteI did buy it on the basis of the reviews it got on Brad DeLong's site though, so the overall marketing strategy is working.
Actually, there's an even more brilliant idea lurking in this thread, which is to get subscribers to pay you to write a book that is as yet unwritten.
ReplyDeleteRembrandt used to do this with paintings. Sitters would make a down payment and he would sign a promissory note. As delivery was far from certain, a secondary market in Rembrandt-derivatives grew up on the Amsterdam Bourse.
It's also how many Group Litigation Orders are funded. Certainly, you hear on the professional grapevine about Multinational X trying to set up a fighting fund in respect of Issue Y.
ReplyDeleteFrancis, do you fancy reviewing a book about Communism? (I was thinking, fair exchange...)
ReplyDeleteIt may be too late to say that I've got Red Plenty on my wishlist but have not yet actually ordered it, so if there are any review copies going spare...
ReplyDeleteI should add that I have previous on reviewing books of this type. So this isn't just a case of pure greed.
ReplyDelete