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Scott Gibson

@scottgibson.bsky.social

🇮🇪/🇫🇷Reluctant computer knower. Cork, Ireland.

1186 Posts245 Follower218 Folgt
John Burn-Murdoch@jburnmurdoch.ft.com · 3d ago

What’s the evidence on rent control? I charted the findings from 112 studies: Great for rent-controlled tenants ✅ But: Pushes up rents for other people ❌ Pushes down new housing construction ❌ Pushes down building quality ❌

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Peter Thal Larsen@petertl.bsky.social · 4d ago

In this weekend’s newsletter: while others debate whether Man City should be stripped of their trophies or relegated to League Two, I argue that what happens to the club’s directors and auditors is just as important - perhaps even more so.

Imagine a widget maker is sold to a new owner. Eager to expand, the ambitious proprietor splashes out on state-of-the-art machinery. The company’s improved widgets attract widespread praise and win many awards. However, sales do not keep up with the investment and the business suffers heavy losses. Embarrassed by the red ink, the owner asks friendly business partners for help. Perhaps they could boost his sales by buying some products? The partners want to be supportive but cannot justify paying such high prices. So the owner gives them the necessary cash. The widget maker enjoys a boost to sales and reduced losses. Over almost a decade, these sham contracts bring in £831 million in additional revenue. This, in a nutshell, is the case against Manchester City Football Club, as outlined in the eye-popping conclusions of an independent commission appointed by England’s Premier League and released this week. In this case, the widgets are Manchester City’s performances on the soccer pitch, while the sham payments were disguised as sponsorship and other commercial contracts.The question now is what punishment the club should face. Unsurprisingly, the debate has focused on possible sporting penalties for flouting English and European rules governing financial fair play. These include fines, the deduction of points, relegation to the lower divisions of English soccer, the cancellation of past trophies, and even a forced sale by Manchester City’s ultimate owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. But the same behaviour merits business sanctions, too. The directors of a humdrum widget maker that engaged in such deception could expect civil or even criminal charges, while the auditors who waved it through would also face censure. Manchester City, one of the most high-profile businesses in Britain, should be held to at least the same standard. The club says it is innocent and has a “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence” to support its case, which is ongoing. Apologists might argue that, as the £831 million started and ended with the same owner, the deception was cosmetic. Manchester City’s sporting rivals, who for years were outgunned in the competition for star players, disagree. The private equity firm Silver Lake, which invested $500 million in the club at a $4.8 billion valuation in 2019, may also take a different view. Besides, the unnamed commercial partners presumably engaged in some financial sleight-of-hand to facilitate the money-go-round. Self-declared realists will maintain that capital-starved Britain cannot afford to alienate deep-pocketed investors like the United Arab Emirates. It’s also true that the Premier League has long tolerated the dubious motives of wealthy owners from the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and elsewhere in its quest for a bigger worldwide audience. Yet the scale, audacity and duration of the scheme revealed this week demands a tougher response. At stake is not just the sporting fairness of the Premier League. As Liam Proud writes, the scandal is also a test of Britain’s legal, financial …
Rena Netjes@renanetjes.bsky.social · 4d ago

2/ New shops are popping up almost daily here in Damascus. Talked to the owners of this 5-week-old kiosk (an Idlib & Damascus duo). Older shopkeepers tell me business is way better post-Assad, the end of crushing import bans has broken their reliance on the smuggling economy.

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CoverDrive@coverdrive12.bsky.social · 5d ago

🚨 Tesla Production Update Tesla produced 464,391 in Q3. Production volume unchanged in 4 years. GF3 in Shanghai, now at full capacity, accounted for about 60% of these. Tesla's other 3 factories operate at about 50% capacity. Additionally, Tesla delivered 22k cars from inventory. $TSLA #Tesla

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ceej@ceej.online · 2y ago

I do not like when the nerds who post graphs on here are all going "oof" and "jesus christ" at the same time

Dan Neidle@danneidle.bsky.social · 6d ago

Manchester City cheated Premier League rules, the Commission found. Did it also cheat HMRC? We've examined the decision and leaked Mancini documents. We think City likely failed to pay £12m in tax. There should be a criminal investigation. Thread:

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Karl Bode@karlbode.com · last wk.

again, like the TikTok ban, the Chinese can just buy oodles of behavioral and driving and location and browsing data from unregulated data brokers because America is a corrupt shitshow that endlessly priortizes money over public welfare they don't even need to use their own tech