A future of statist confusion underlies Clegg’s pitch for permanent coalition September 18, 2013 NICK Clegg appears to have settled on a new strategy for the Lib Dems. Put unkindly, his aim seems to be to bore the electorate into submission. In fact, in many ways, his speech to the party faithful in Glasgow yesterday was a throwback to the rhetoric of the SDP-Liberal Alliance of the 1980s. He’s [...]
Against the Grain: Why cutting-edge China could leapfrog the West in the service economy September 18, 2013 IN THE whole of the twentieth century, only a few countries managed to transform themselves and join the club of rich economies. Japan is the most prominent example. The key question for the first half of the twenty-first century, however, is whether China will manage to do the same. It is a difficult and elusive [...]
It’s time we put some X Factor into financial education in schools September 18, 2013 I DO not often cross paths with Gary Barlow, Nicole Scherzinger or Sharon Osbourne. I am told we move in different circles. This seemingly unusual point was brought home to me by new research showing that an 8 to 15-year old was twice as likely to be able to identify an X Factor judge as [...]
Letters to the editor -19/09 – Globalisation, Actuarial methods, Best of Twitter September 18, 2013 Globalisation [Re: Anti-globalisation campaigners got it wrong: Trade is defeating poverty, yesterday] Contrary to Douglas McWilliams’s claim, Christian Aid has never suggested that trade per se, or globalisation for that matter, is bad. What we have pointed to, and will continue to highlight, are injustices that keep people poor. Tax injustice is a case in [...]
Anti-globalisation campaigners got it wrong: Trade is defeating poverty September 17, 2013 GLOBALISATION is likely to have cut the number of people in the world in poverty by three quarters by 2015. This remarkable trend was the reason I first became interested in economics. I was brought up in Malaysia, and could see that economic development was gradually wiping out poverty. It seemed almost miraculous, and I [...]
All taxpayers should have a chance to benefit from the Lloyds privatisation September 17, 2013 THE SUCCESSFUL sale of 6 per cent of Lloyds to institutional shareholders was a crucial first step in returning the bank to full private ownership. That the government has been able to obtain a price above the initial purchase price – and well above the price in the national accounts – is particularly positive. Indeed, [...]
Tories can match Clegg’s income tax coup without punishing middle classes September 17, 2013 FORGET business secretary Vince Cable’s guttersnipe speech at this week’s Liberal Democrat conference – throwing childish insults at his coalition partners, to look clever in front of party activists. They may get written up by the media, but Cable’s political stock has plunged. Under fire from his own side for disloyalty – and the lousy [...]
Letters to the editor – 18/09 – Banking reform, Best of Twitter September 17, 2013 Banking reform [Re: We should replace Fed monetary superheroes with rules-based policy, yesterday] A bigger concern is that central banks themselves have been given superhero status. There is now a belief that they can solve any economic woes, and this is then transmitted to whoever is in charge. Central banks should do less, and leave [...]
ACCA Comment: How to achieve boardroom utopia September 17, 2013 A wider definition of diversity and new roles are key developments THE boardroom is again under the microscope, with challenges recently raised over executive pay, lack of diversity, and business performance, not to mention how much boards actually know about the workings of an organisation. The perception is that sometimes the board is an unrealistic [...]
Unworkable Syrian chemicals plan saves Obama but exposes unrealistic US policy September 16, 2013 IT IS painfully evident that the agreement reached over Syria’s chemical weapons by Washington and Moscow in Geneva is so much less than meets the eye. The accord imposes unbelievably quick deadlines for Bashar al-Assad’s regime to meet. By the end of this week, Syria is to submit a full list of its chemical facilities. [...]