Sweden turns the page and Scandinavian noir explains why | City A.M. August 28, 2012 EVERYONE knows that Sweden is a social-democratic paradise, where taxes are high, the welfare state is big and everyone enjoys the benefits. That doesn’t mean it’s true. In recent years, research like that compiled in Richard Wilkinson’s and Kate Pickett’s The Spirit Level has painted Sweden and its Scandinavian neighbours as political role models. The [...]
Sweden turns the page and Scandinavian noir explains why | City A.M. August 28, 2012 EVERYONE knows that Sweden is a social-democratic paradise, where taxes are high, the welfare state is big and everyone enjoys the benefits. That doesn’t mean it’s true. In recent years, research like that compiled in Richard Wilkinson’s and Kate Pickett’s The Spirit Level has painted Sweden and its Scandinavian neighbours as political role models. The [...]
Sweden turns the page and Scandinavian noir explains why August 27, 2012 EVERYONE knows that Sweden is a social-democratic paradise, where taxes are high, the welfare state is big and everyone enjoys the benefits. That doesn’t mean it’s true. In recent years, research like that compiled in Richard Wilkinson’s and Kate Pickett’s The Spirit Level has painted Sweden and its Scandinavian neighbours as political role models. The [...]
IEA: Plan B would result in extra debts but no growth December 4, 2011 MORE government spending would create extra government debt and not more growth, according to research published today by the Institute for Economic Affairs. Comparisons to the Great Depression are ill-founded, the report argues, as current levels of government spending are now far higher than in the 1930s meaning “looser fiscal policy would have even less [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 12, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Co-op nears cut-price Lloyds deal The Co-operative Group is close to agreeing final terms with Lloyds Banking Group to buy 630 of its branches in a deal expected to be struck at a steep discount to the previously mooted £1.5bn price tag. But Lloyds, 40 per cent owned by the government, would be [...]
Saudi overtakes Russia as top crude producer May 20, 2012 Saudi Arabia has edged ahead of Russia in being the world’s biggest crude oil producer for the first time since 2006, official data showed yesterday. Figures collected by the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI), whose inputs include data from Eurostat, the IEA, the UN and OPEC, show the Middle Eastern state producing 9.923m barrels per [...]
Cable in bid to ease red tape at small firms March 15, 2012 A NEW “no fault” dismissal rule could be brought in to make it easier for very small firms to lay off unproductive staff, business secretary Vince Cable (pictured) said yesterday. Cable launched a consultation on proposals to allow firms with fewer than 10 staff to lay off staff more easily, though they would have to [...]
Cable in bid to ease red tape at small firms March 15, 2012 A NEW “no fault” dismissal rule could be brought in to make it easier for very small firms to lay off unproductive staff, business secretary Vince Cable (pictured) said yesterday. Cable launched a consultation on proposals to allow firms with fewer than 10 staff to lay off staff more easily, though they would have to [...]
Five million to pay 40p tax rate in 2014 March 22, 2012 ONE-IN-SEVEN workers will pay the higher rate of income tax by 2014 thanks to George Osborne’s changes to the tax brackets, according to estimates from a leading think-tank. Five million people will be in the 40p tax bracket in 2013-14 – a rise of 1.3m from 3.7m in 2011, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) [...]
Five million to pay 40p tax rate in 2014 March 22, 2012 ONE-IN-SEVEN workers will pay the higher rate of income tax by 2014 thanks to George Osborne’s changes to the tax brackets, according to estimates from a leading think-tank. Five million people will be in the 40p tax bracket in 2013-14 – a rise of 1.3m from 3.7m in 2011, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) [...]