McWilliams wrong on French Election

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Duke of Marmalade

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Written only 70 days ago this typical piece by McWilliams has been exposed for the hubris it was.

Ok He was careful not actually to predict a Le Pen victory but we can be quite sure that if such had happened He would be very quick to tell us that He warned us. See how in the piece He has twisted what was merely a similar rant about a potential Trump win into how prescient He was to predict that outcome. Similarly on Brexit. In fact one is left with the impression, which I am sure He actually harbours, that He foresaw all of recent political developments just as He foresaw the housing bust 6 years ahead of everyone else. I do hope that no one followed His advice and printed those punts.

Anyway, good to see the good guys winning for a change and it is even sweeter that the Duke had a little punt at 10/1 against Macron exceeding 65% of the vote:)
 
Delboy said:
Who are the good guys?
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I'm not sure what you are getting at here, Delboy. I accept that the term "good guy" is entirely subjective, jayz millions thought Adolf was a good guy! I thought from the context you would have spotted that the Duke counts Macron as a good guy. Possibly you are interested in a more complete list of the Duke's good guys. I am flattered. Purple's suggestion certainly fits but if you want me to be more specific, whilst sticking to the political arena here is just a sample:

World: O'Bama (now Macron)
Europe: Angela (now Macron)
England: Tony
Historic NI: John Hume
Current NI: Alas no one springs to mind
Historic RoI: Garret the Good
Current RoI: Michael McGrath of FF

On a separate note did you read how Angela tweeted her congrats and , God help us, Henda also tweeted congrats. Are we heading towards World summits being hosted on Twitter?:mad:
 
Well it good to see that the Great Crash of 2008 has been consigned to history and that international bankers are no longer considered bogeymen. And that being rabidly pro-European is now also back in fashion.
You are all very christian in your attitudes :)
 
Delboy said:
Well it is good to see that the Great Crash of 2008 has been consigned to history
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It certainly is and even I could not have predicted such a turn around. I guess those "anti austerity burn the bondholders" brigade are really smarting that the end of the World has been averted.
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
I guess those "anti austerity burn the bondholders" brigade are really smarting that the end of the World has been averted.
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Unfortunately many of them continue in their delusion that we'd all be much better off if we had taken a different course.
 
Leo said:
Unfortunately many of them continue in their delusion that we'd all be much better off if we had taken a different course.
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It's very hard to change the opinions of those whose views are formed by ideology rather than actuality.
 
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Yes indeed 'Allez les Bleus'!
Macron's Presidential policy document explicitly referenced Ireland and Apple and how he wants to tackle that issue. He also wants to reduce France's corporation tax rate.

Be careful what you cheer for!
 
I'm with Delboy on this. It is indeed a worrying sign of the times when the two biggest recent national elections were between two pairs of candidates, not one of which is easy to warm to. Absolutely I'm happy that LePen did not get in but I'm not cheering from the rooftops that there is a former investment banker in charge of France now. I'll reserve judgement on him for now but I wouldn't call it a great result!
 
Delboy said:
Yes indeed 'Allez les Bleus'!
Macron's Presidential policy document explicitly referenced Ireland and Apple and how he wants to tackle that issue.
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And by one of those weird paradoxes he is absolutely at one with our own looney left on that.
 
At the risk of being told that as I am not an expert I have no right to comment I would like to dip my toe into the Apple Irish tax rates matter.

Anyone with better information please feel free to correct me, (I know you will anyway)

Fact (as I understand it): The EU court has issued a preliminary ruling that Irelands tax deal with Apple was a company specific deal for Apple and not available to other taxpayers, and as such breached EU law, not tax law but laws prohibiting public subsidies.

Opinion (my own): Its absolutely right that company specific tax deals are prohibited. The Apple letter of comfort looks like a company specific deal.

Many other EU states think that Ireland attracts foreign investment with sweetheart tax deals and they are unhappy about this. We are perfectly entitled under EU law to charge whatever tax rates we like, we are not entitled to then cooperate with foreign investors to help them pay less that the applicable tax rate.

Its not just the looney left that think we should enforce our own laws.
 
cremeegg you are not an expert on this and so have no right to comment. Same goes for me but like you before me I am not going to let that stop me.:rolleyes:

The Revenue issues lots of individual rulings to their customers (yes that's what they are called these days) setting out their interpretation of the tax regime in the specific circumstances. One could argue that these are all special deals, but I am sure the Irish defence will be that the same interpretations would have been given to any one in the same situation. In other words if Pear had asked for the same interpretation as Apple in identical circumstances they would have got it.

The fact is that the economic value on which the Commission wishes Ireland to extract €13bn tax was not earned in Ireland. As has been pointed out before the gaps are with US tax legislation.
 
Tax harmonisation is an existential threat to the Irish economy and the Irish State in its present form.
There is no circumstance in which we should agree ti it.
 
Purple said:
Tax harmonisation is an existential threat to the Irish economy and the Irish State in its present form.
There is no circumstance in which we should agree ti it.
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Exactly, there are very good reasons the US doesn't have tax harmonisation across all states.
 
Purple said:
Tax harmonisation is an existential threat to the Irish economy and the Irish State in its present form.
There is no circumstance in which we should agree ti it.
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Better tell that to the 'good guys' so....or is it ok as long as he's not a 'racist xenohobe'!
http://www.newstalk.com/Macron-to-push-for-tax-harmonisation-among-eurozone-states
A senior policy adviser for French presidential candidate, Emmanuel Macron has told Newstalk that if elected, Macron will push for a harmonised tax base for all eurozone member states.
“If we share a currency and economic integration then we have to share rules ... Including harmonisation” Clement Beaune, Macron’s economic policy advisor told Newstalk.
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Delboy said:
Better tell that to the 'good guys' so....or is it ok as long as he's not a 'racist xenohobe'!
http://www.newstalk.com/Macron-to-push-for-tax-harmonisation-among-eurozone-states
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He's acting in his countries national interest. We must do the same. The rules say that taxation is a matter for each country and that this can only change with unanimous agreement. In other words it can't change unless we change it. There is no circumstance in which we should agree to that. We have all the control in this matter. We need to remember that.
 
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