Our booming population faces a crippling shortage of homes January 12, 2014 ANOTHER day, another report providing yet more evidence that Britain’s housing crisis is getting worse. Countrywide estimates that England will face a shortfall of 1m homes by 2021, half of which will be in London and the South East. The problem, of course, is that our planning rules have throttled house-building in the UK, guaranteeing [...]
Falling pay? That’s because you are secretly bailing out pensions December 11, 2013 REAL wages are still falling, on average, and nobody seems to know what to do about it. Even though the economy is growing, millions are seeing their incomes depressed by low nominal pay rises and highish inflation. Part of the problem is cyclical; but there is also a devastating structural explanation. There is a growing [...]
Falling pay? That’s because you are secretly bailing out pensions December 9, 2013 REAL wages are still falling, on average, and nobody seems to know what to do about it. Even though the economy is growing, millions are seeing their incomes depressed by low nominal pay rises and highish inflation. Part of the problem is cyclical; but there is also a devastating structural explanation. There is a growing [...]
Reactions to the chancellor’s statement December 5, 2013 THE BUSINESS GROUPDirector general of the CBIJohn Cridland The CBI had lobbied the government to cap business rates at two per cent and support business finance. “We have always advocated the dual approach of tackling the deficit and driving growth – the OBR forecasts confirm it is working. Let’s stick with what works. “The pressure [...]
Taxes and pension contributions are squeezing workers’ pay December 4, 2013 IT WAS meant to be one of the most basic rules of economics: the more people produce, the more they get paid. It is a long-standing, near-universal relationship that helps to explain why some jobs are so much more lucrative than others. But in recent years many have argued that the link has broken down, [...]
Taxes and pension contributions are squeezing workers’ pay December 2, 2013 IT WAS meant to be one of the most basic rules of economics: the more people produce, the more they get paid. It is a long-standing, near-universal relationship that helps to explain why some jobs are so much more lucrative than others. But in recent years many have argued that the link has broken down, [...]
Treasury insists Britons benefiting from growth December 2, 2013 THE TREASURY insisted yesterday that compensation for workers in the UK is still closely linked to output, adding to debate over the cost of living in the lead up to the Autumn Statement. A new paper seen by City A.M. yesterday suggests that in the years since the crisis, the share of output going to [...]
Tories need to map out a tax cutting plan to ease the living cost squeeze December 1, 2013 AS THE chancellor’s Autumn Statement beckons, after a run of good economic news, it is time to address Britain’s less flattering fundamentals. Government has too much debt, the country too little to show for the recovery. Public spending at 48.4 per cent of GDP is debilitating, leaving the tax burden at its highest for 24 [...]
Letters to the editor – 29/11 – A new Germany, UK savings crisis, Best of Twitter November 28, 2013 A new Germany [Re: Germany’s new coalition will make little change to Merkel’s euro policies, yesterday] The coalition may not cause an explicit change in Germany policy towards Europe, but the consequences of the SPD’s influence on internal economic policy may nevertheless have far-reaching consequences. A national minimum wage and higher pension contribution burdens for [...]
Why it’s no time to be complacent about the UK’s inflation problem November 14, 2013 THE SURPRISE fall in the annual inflation rate in October to 2.2 per cent on the consumer price index and 2.6 per cent on the retail price index is obviously welcome news. However, it’s too soon to be complacent. It also reminds us that inflation has been consistently above the Bank of England’s 2 per [...]