There was some good news in this timid Budget but we need a strategy for growth March 21, 2012 IT’S hard to work out where George Osborne draws his lines in the sand. But, in so far as he draws them anywhere, yesterday’s Budget indicates he doesn’t always draw them in the right places. So, while there were some welcome steps in taxation policy, it seems nearly impossible to detect a coherent strategy. Initially, [...]
Amazon’s gorilla warfare teaches a tactical lesson March 21, 2012 PUBLISHING is full of contradictions. Over the last decade, business book publishers have been full of advice they never followed themselves. The industry that brought us the handbook for the digital age, The Long Tail, didn’t attend to its prediction that mass markets would fragment into thousands of micro markets. Did You Spot The Gorilla, [...]
Romney’s rivals won’t quit as his lead grows March 21, 2012 DAYS before voters in Illinois went to the polls, Rick Santorum described November’s presidential election as “the most important since 1860.” Absurd historical analogies are usually more Newt Gingrich’s thing, but Santorum got one thing right. His candidacy for the presidency, like Abraham Lincoln’s over 150 years ago, is now history. Even with a victory [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 21, 2012 Red-handed Ken [Re: Ken Livingstone is blameless in his tax planning, yesterday] Doug Richard misses the point in his article regarding Ken Livingstone’s tax affairs. No criticism has been made of the practice of an individual setting themselves up as a business to regulate their income. All the condemnation of Livingstone stems from his past [...]
George Osborne’s plans for government-backed credit will be a terrible mistake March 20, 2012 TODAY is Budget day and I fear the chancellor is about to announce some really bad proposals to offer extra credit to house-buyers, small business owners and school-leavers. These are based on ideas spawned from the financial crisis’s original sin: the fallacy that what ails the economy is too much free-market capitalism, rather than too [...]
Ken Livingstone is blameless in his tax planning March 20, 2012 GEORGE Osborne will stand up today and announce a major clampdown on tax avoidance. Despite what some would have us believe, this should not target Ken Livingstone or people like him. I’ll be clear from the outset – I have no affection for Livingstone. I disagree with his policies, his personal views and the relationships [...]
Ideological companies are not the way to go March 20, 2012 APPLE has accumulated a “cash pile” of about $100bn. Until yesterday, when its chief executive, Tim Cook, announced a plan to pay out $45 billion in dividends, there was speculation about how the money might be spent. Some suggested philanthropy. Cook should be proud of resisting the temptation. “Corporate philanthropy” is one of those expressions [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 20, 2012 Land in sight [Re: Rebalancing taxes towards consumption will let our thwarted youth flourish, yesterday] VAT is not a tax on consumption – it is carried primarily by the producer, reducing economic activity. If a business can sell widgets at £10 and be profitable, but not at £12, that business is destroyed. Far better to [...]
Rebalancing taxes towards consumption will allow our thwarted youth to flourish March 19, 2012 THE REAL debate on tax strategy was started by Andrew Sentance in City A.M. last week. But too little has been said on the issue of incentives for younger people – and their opportunities to drive economic growth. We are faced with a situation in which the number of people over 65 is set to [...]
Crowdfunding is a fresh new way to back business March 19, 2012 THE emergence of crowdfunding, a new method of raising capital over the internet, is set to test how adept the coalition is at adorning London’s financial services crown with new jewels, particularly as attitudes to regulation turn from light touch to intensive interference. Crowdfunding is a web-driven means of raising money from the mass market. [...]