The jury’s out on whether Obama’s health bill is too bitter a pill to swallow March 28, 2012 THIS week, two years after President Barack Obama signed his US health reforms, known as Obamacare, into law, the central tenet of the legislation, whether the federal government can compel uninsured individuals to purchase private health insurance, came before the Supreme Court. The administration claims that the so-called “individual mandate” is legal under terms of [...]
How to prove you are smart enough to work at Google March 28, 2012 HOW many houses in Canada are painted red?” That question recently greeted an applicant for an advertising position at Google. Crazy estimation questions have become popular in many industries, particularly as the job market has tightened. Job seekers are confronting posers like: How many surgeons are there in Britain? How many people are talking on [...]
Is Mervyn King wrong to say the Diamond Jubilee will be bad for Britain’s economy? March 28, 2012 YES Peter Whittle The argument that Britain can’t afford the downturn that, it is alleged, will result from the Diamond Jubilee is beyond parody. The event, which now has more momentum behind it than the obscenely expensive (and heavily publicly funded) Olympics, is historically unique, and will unite people in the biggest public celebration for [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 28, 2012 Insufficient appeal [Re: Taxpayers must not be forced to pay, Tuesday] Surely if a party appealed to a sufficient number of people, they would happily donate funds for the party to use. Insufficient appeal leads to insufficient funds. If there was cash at the end, maybe politicians would be more likely to respond to consumer [...]
Don’t let banker-bashing hide the beauty and importance of finance March 27, 2012 IN SPITE of all the ugly criticism that the financial community has been getting since the financial crisis began in 2007, there is something beautiful about finance. It can charm those who see beauty in abstraction or who are impressed by the complex systems that make our civilisation work. When I teach introductory finance to [...]
It’s not just the wealthy who should be kept from influencing politicians March 27, 2012 YOU should not be able to buy political influence for £250,000. That is the consensus following the Conservative Party’s donations for access scandal. Well, then, how much should it cost? The popular answer is that political influence, like the NHS, should be free at the point of use. In a democracy people influence politicians by [...]
Making it new for our twenty-first century economy March 27, 2012 IS IT just me, or is something really exciting happening at the moment? Manufacturing has suddenly become sexy again. Politicians, policy makers and even those in the financial world are falling over themselves to talk up the prospects of those of us who like to make things. For a nation built on the back of [...]
As Mad Men begins a new series, should we be nostalgic for the 1960s workplace? March 27, 2012 YES David Hellier The return of Mad Men last night couldn’t come soon enough for those, like me, who long to follow more of the antics of Don Draper and his colleagues. The excitement of working on Madison Avenue in the sixties overwhelms the viewer; the bold colours of the decor in the bars; the [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 27, 2012 Money troubles [Re: Reform of political funding mustn’t result in taxpayers carrying the bill for parties, yesterday] Membership of the three main parties is less than that of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It will take years for the parties to regain their base, if they ever do. In the meantime, if [...]
Reform of political funding mustn’t result in taxpayers carrying the bill for parties March 26, 2012 ALLEGATIONS that “the rich” can buy access to our politicians is massively damaging to our democracy. It is therefore critical that the government takes action after yet another money-driven political scandal this weekend, which resulted in the resignation of Peter Cruddas, co-treasurer of the Conservative party. Labour’s cash for honours scandal is fresh in many [...]