Government’s job is to shield UK taxpayers from Euro chaos May 15, 2012 WHEN a country’s president warns that its banks are in danger, and reveals that depositors are pulling out cash from their accounts at a record rate, it is time to dig out the tin hats and the cans of baked beans. Yet that was exactly what happened in Greece yesterday on another pivotal day for [...]
It’s austerity all right – but not of the kind we actually need May 14, 2012 IT has long been a theme of this column that the government and its critics alike have exaggerated the extent of the government’s belt-tightening. The coalition is doing this to try and reassure the bond markets while seeking to minimise the hit to the public sector; the opposition because it wants to blame the recession [...]
Grexit will happen much more quickly than politicians think May 13, 2012 CURRENCIES are social constructs. They are only worth something because everybody else believes them to be worth something. That was partly true even of traditional, commodity backed currencies – you can’t eat gold – but it is undoubtedly the case of today’s paper money. We accept notes and coins – or digital claims to them [...]
US shareholders have slashed CEO pay by 38pc since 2000 May 10, 2012 IT is often said that the problem with the pay of UK CEOs is that they are becoming too much like their American counterparts. The argument is that – supposedly – US bosses have seen their pay spiral out of control, especially in recent years, and that their British counterparts are now following suit. But [...]
Coalition behaving as if we were in normal economic times May 9, 2012 IT was impossible not to be reminded of Roman history yesterday, as Britain’s politicians argued over the Queen’s speech, fiddling while the economy burnt. Cameron, like a modern version of the ill-fated Roman emperor Nero himself, was busy discussing his plan to set up another five or so quangos, including one to police supermarkets, and [...]
Coalition behaving as if we were in normal economic times May 9, 2012 IT was impossible not to be reminded of Roman history yesterday, as Britain’s politicians argued over the Queen’s speech, fiddling while the economy burnt. Cameron, like a modern version of the ill-fated Roman emperor Nero himself, was busy discussing his plan to set up another five or so quangos, including one to police supermarkets, and [...]
It sometimes appears as if the euro was designed to fail May 8, 2012 REMEMBER those debates about whether the Eurozone was an optimal currency zone? Everybody knew it wasn’t when the euro was launched, yet the EU’s politicians disregarded the economics and went for it anyway. They then compounded their recklessness by expanding the Eurozone’s size, bringing together increasingly disparate economies under the European Central Bank’s one size [...]
Eurozone elections will precipitate Greek exit May 7, 2012 A FRESH Eurozone crisis was always inevitable – the question was over its timing. At least now we have some clarity. What angry voters in France and Greece have done is to precipitate the next stage of the slow unravelling of Europe’s flawed structures. Greece would have gone bust and quit the euro regardless of [...]
Eurozone elections will precipitate Greek exit May 7, 2012 A FRESH Eurozone crisis was always inevitable – the question was over its timing. At least now we have some clarity. What angry voters in France and Greece have done is to precipitate the next stage of the slow unravelling of Europe’s flawed structures. Greece would have gone bust and quit the euro regardless of [...]
City pay revolt: Long live this most capitalist of revolutions May 3, 2012 OFF with their heads: the message from shareholders is becoming louder and angrier by the day. “Listen to us”, they are rightly telling company boards, “you work for us. We pay you. Stop behaving as if you own the place.” And that’s exactly the point: CEOs are merely shareholders’ paid hands. The real capitalists are [...]