There’s one economic policy the coalition has yet to try: Spend less to boost growth November 28, 2011 TODAY’S sound and fury around the chancellor’s autumn statement hides a remarkable consensus shared by government and opposition alike. Public spending needs to be cut, but not by very much. Increases in tax rates are a regrettable necessity, and any idea of actually cutting the tax burden on working people is out of the question. [...]
Five ways to get the UK economy back in the black November 28, 2011 IT’S time for the UK to get real. The country is deeply in debt. The coalition made deficit reduction the prime aim of its governing agreement. It was a great idea then. It is a great idea now. It needs delivery. First, let’s be bold with the banks. The UK private sector needs easier access [...]
If only the neoliberals were really in charge November 28, 2011 IT IS common to hear about the ascendancy of “neoliberal” economics. Many on the left use it as an explanation for the deregulation that they blame for causing the financial crisis. And some argue that it is the dominant school of thought within the economics profession. These are myths, and I want to challenge some [...]
RAPID RESPONSES November 28, 2011 Driven too far Osborne has always got money to throw at euro bailouts and other pet causes like high speed rail and increasing overseas aid. He is tempting fate if he introduces road tolls to pay for infrastructure, as drivers have already been paying many times over for road investment that hasn’t been made. There [...]
Anti-capitalist slogans have real costs: Don’t put down a goose that lays golden eggs November 27, 2011 A COTTAGER and his wife had a hen that laid a golden egg every day. They supposed that the hen must contain a great lump of gold in its inside, and in order to get the gold they killed it.” The protesters in the City understand Aesop’s fable as a warning against the greed of [...]
Back to basics is not the way to resolve high pay November 27, 2011 EXECUTIVE Pay is out of control – official. That’s the message from last week’s High Pay Commission report, which claims that “excessive top pay is deeply damaging to the UK as a whole, and action is urgently required to address it.” However, on the subject of long-term incentives, in particular, it is just plain wrong. [...]
Like Terry or Lampard, City stars are worth it November 27, 2011 THE publication of the High Pay Commission’s report last week prompted much comment when it found that remuneration for heading one UK bank has increased dramatically more than average wages over 30 years. Coming on the back of last month’s Income Data Services report, which drew attention to the increase of total earnings for directors [...]
RAPID RESPONSES November 27, 2011 From bad to wurst In Friday’s City A.M., Allister Heath quoted economic research concluding that if a restaurant bill is split equally among diners it is on average 36 per cent more expensive than if people paid individually only for what they ordered, pointing out by extension the obvious moral hazard of Eurozone pooled debts, [...]
Physicists are hunting for a so-called God particle, but their faith is dwindling fast November 24, 2011 EVER since the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was nearing completion at Cern, the European centre for particle physics near Geneva, particle scientists have been earnestly explaining that it really doesn’t matter if the huge accelerator fails to snare its main quarry, a particle called the Higgs boson. Maybe it exists; maybe it doesn’t. It’s interesting [...]
Lehman lawyers think insolvency regime too weak November 24, 2011 THE high profile failure of MF Global has once again highlighted the intractable problems that arise when an investment firm fails. The latest reports suggest that the shortfall on client funds may be as much as $1.2bn (£0.7bn). Staggeringly, that represents a quarter of all the funds that the firm was supposed to be holding. [...]