Budget could be surprisingly radical March 18, 2012 MAYBE, just maybe, this Budget could end up being a big deal, a defining shift in direction for the coalition and the day George Osborne finally rediscovers his radical inner self. I certainly hope so, and there are growing signs that this may be the case – but instigating a revolution would require breaking away [...]
Osborne must be bold and cut taxes March 15, 2012 WILL he – or won’t he? There is mounting speculation today that George Osborne will slash the top 50p tax rate, either back to 40p or possibly to 45p. The move could be preannounced at next week’s Budget or happen as early as the coming tax year. The changes would be accompanied by an increase [...]
Rating blow must act as wake-up call March 14, 2012 FIRST it was Moody’s, now it is Fitch’s turn. Ahead of next week’s Budget, the decision by the credit rating agency to put the UK on negative credit watch last night is another blow to George Osborne, the chancellor, who had made retaining Britain’s AAA-rating a key priority. Fitch’s decision puts the chance of a [...]
Wall Street finally out of the woods March 14, 2012 WALL STREET’S financial crisis is almost over – or so the Federal Reserve would like us to believe. It rushed out the results of its stress tests of the 19 biggest US banks last night: just four failed – in all cases relatively narrowly – a test which gauged their ability to withstand a financial shock [...]
UK and Europe on a collision course March 12, 2012 IT is the elephant in the room, the issue nobody wants to talk about. But the growing, irreconcilable gulf between what UK voters and their continental counterparts want from European integration will eventually become as important a question as the fallout from the economic crisis. The scale of the challenge is laid bare by YouGov-Cambridge [...]
Economy is being knocked off course March 11, 2012 IT is not looking too good for George Osborne. The Budget is next week and the economy remains mired in stagnation. It is hard to know for sure what is happening, but all the indications are that growth so far this quarter has been weak. Industrial production actually fell in January, despite a rise in [...]
Greek deal won’t save the Eurozone March 8, 2012 IT was long a foregone conclusion that enough bondholders would sign up to the Greek plans. But it would be a terrible mistake to believe that as a result all of the Eurozone’s problems have gone away. They haven’t. Two issues have been kicked into the long grass; all the others remain. Greece will be [...]
Mortgage time-bomb UK’s top threat March 7, 2012 SOME time-bombs can be defused. Not this one. At some point – in a year, in two, or perhaps even in five – the cost of borrowing for consumers will climb back to the sorts of levels we were used to 15 years ago. Complacent borrowers addicted to rock-bottom interest rates – and for whom [...]
Industrial policies are doomed to fail March 6, 2012 SLOWLY but surely, the British establishment is forgetting the lessons of the past 35 years. We have seen the return of high taxes, a softer approach to inflation, talk of wealth taxes (eerily similar to those supported by the Labour party in 1979), the rationalisation of envy and now even a comeback for economic nationalism. [...]
Industrial policies are doomed to fail March 6, 2012 SLOWLY but surely, the British establishment is forgetting the lessons of the past 35 years. We have seen the return of high taxes, a softer approach to inflation, talk of wealth taxes (eerily similar to those supported by the Labour party in 1979), the rationalisation of envy and now even a comeback for economic nationalism. [...]