Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 26th July)

$21trillion (£13tn) worth of assets 'hidden' by tax dodging global super-rich 
A global super-rich elite had at least $21 trillion hidden in secret tax havens by the end of 2010, according to a major study by a former chief economist at the consultancy McKinsey. BBC NEWS

(Taxmen around the world want to know where it's hidden - and so do some former spouses)

UK economy on its knees as shock growth figures show disastrous 0.7% plunge in output
Figures fuel criticism that Chancellor George Osborne's austerity measures are choking off the recovery. The UK's economy is 0.3 per cent smaller than when the coalition came to power in the second quarter of 2010 DAILY MAIL
(We can't afford to see another job lost. Well, maybe one, Mr Osborne)

Four in ten Britons will cut back on food
In the coming months four in ten Britons will be forced to cut their food budget as households experience the tightest squeeze in living standards since the 1920s, says Which? TELEGRAPH

Payday lenders agree new rules, but they are only voluntary
Four trade bodies - representing 90% of the lenders - have committed to make fees and charges clearer and to give more protection to those in difficulty. But the rules are only voluntary, and one consumer group has described the new code as merely rebranding. BBC NEWS
(Meanwhile in some wonderful parallel universe somewhere they've made the repayment of gouging loans voluntary too.)

Renewable energy: Onshore wind subsidy to be cut by 10%
The Treasury is thought to have favoured a larger 25% cut in the taxpayer subsidy of green energy investment. BBC NEWS

(If you are a tree-hugging leftie, the cut is bad news. But a cut in the cut is good news! Yay! Or is it? Confused? The Big Six energy cartel isn't: they'll continue making whopping profits while the taxpayer (subsidy) or the customer (higher bills) bear all the risk and costs of green investment.)

First annual results of Measuring National Wellbeing Programme show teenagers and pensioners have key to happiness 
This is part of the government's attempts to develop an alternative measure of national performance to GDP. The Office for National Statistics published its first report on how happiness and anxiety levels vary according to factors including sex and ethnic group. Ministers deny it's a sneaky way to take people's minds off poor GDP performance. GUARDIAN
(What's the key, we asked the teenagers and pensioners? It's the pleasure of haranguing the rest of us for wrecking the economy and making them pay for it)

Paying a plumber cash in hand morally wrong, says Tory minister Gauke

Cameron, Clegg and Boris Johnson all admit paying tradesmen cash in hand. If it’s proven you’re doing it to dodge the VAT you can be prosecuted. But David Gauke, exchequer secretary, denied having paid cash himself to a tradesman to gain a discount. "I've never said to a tradesman: 'If I pay you cash, can I get a discount?'" he told BBC's Newsnight. GUARDIAN

("...I prefer to use hand signals instead" he added)

Trade minister and former HSBC boss Lord Green admits 'regret' over HSBC being caught by US Senate laundering money for rogue states, terrorists and drug lords.
But he refused to provide details of his involvement. DAILY MAIL

'Lack of evidence' that popular sports products work

Review of Lucozade Sport: "the quality of the evidence is poor, the size of the effect is often miniscule and it certainly doesn't apply to the population at large who are buying these products."

Review of Maxnutrition food supplement: "absolutely fringe evidence and I think that that is almost totally irrelevant, even at the top level of athletics". BBC NEWS
("But we recognise the psychological boost it gives to companies that take real pleasure in selling this rubbish to us")