Public understanding of economic principles will decide 2015 election January 3, 2013 AS 2013 begins, George Osborne, Ed Balls, and Danny Alexander should look at the polls with a mix of depression and hope. Depression, because despite all the coverage of their efforts, the public remains completely divided and confused on economic policy. Hope, because there is everything to play for and a politician who takes a [...]
Faulty maths didn’t cause the crisis – but risk management can do better January 3, 2013 MUCH of finance is devoted to the management of risk. Yet before the financial crisis, we spectacularly misunderstood the riskiness of investments which, leveraged to the hilt, inflated a financial bubble that burst in 2007. As the fallout continues, we ask why risk management failed so epically. Many point to the scientific shortcomings of economics. [...]
Argentine bravado has an unlikely ally in the UK taxpayer January 3, 2013 YESTERDAY’s call by the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, for the UK to hand her the Falklands Islands was just the latest example of diplomatic sabre-rattling from Buenos Aires over the islands’ sovereignty. Alas history hasn’t recorded whether David Cameron got as far as page 25 of The Guardian to read for himself [...]
Should winter fuel payments for pensioners be means tested to help fund elderly care? January 3, 2013 YES Paul Burstow A person that owns an average priced home will currently pay the equivalent of around 65 per cent of its value to pay for their old-age care. But implementing the proposals of the Dilnot Commission – capping the cost of care at £50,000, and extending the means test to £100,000 – would [...]
Rapid responses January 3, 2013 Corporation tax [Re: Is Sir Martin Sorrell right that corporation tax payments are a “question of judgement”?, yesterday] While Steve Barclay is right that the UK tax system needs reforming, tax is still solely a matter of legal obligation, not a function of public relations. Starbucks’s recent move to pay an additional £20m set a [...]
Fiscal cliff deal is no grand bargain to save the US from growing debts January 2, 2013 WHILE revellers in New York greeted 2013 with renditions of Auld Lang Syne, Washington reflected on a year of fierce partisanship and brutal campaigning. But as the country welcomed in the New Year, so too came hopes of a new era of bipartisan co-operation, after a cross-party agreement passed the House of Representatives and the [...]
London’s burgeoning skyline will complement expansion underground January 2, 2013 LONDON is emerging from recession as a beacon of hope for future British growth. It has the right mix of talents – in technology, creative industries, and finance – to establish a new benchmark for the few world cities that will dominate the next half-century. But it can also learn from past achievements to build [...]
Fiscal honesty has emerged from the US deficit debates January 2, 2013 MILLIONS of words have been written over the last few days about the US fiscal cliff. But few have regarded this long, slow and frankly tedious political process as in any way positive. I disagree. The drawn-out debate that preceded this week’s agreement is likely to be the best way for America to resolve its [...]
Is Sir Martin Sorrell right that corporation tax payments are a “question of judgement”? January 2, 2013 YES Steve Barclay As the public becomes increasingly aware of how much tax companies are paying, chief executives should be asking: “What impact will our tax affairs have on our brand?” Sir Martin Sorrell is right to acknowledge that Starbucks’s decision to pay £20m extra in corporation tax was motivated by the idea that “doing [...]
Rapid responses January 2, 2013 Groundhog year [Re: 2013 will prove the power of global events to shape our economic lives, yesterday] Mark Malloch Brown’s concerns about the Asia Pacific in 2013 are essential reading. As he correctly points out, problems in the Eurozone and the continuation of political impasse in the US have been priced into the markets. But [...]