Short-term benefits should not disguise the damaging side effects of QE November 12, 2012 THE Bank of England may have recently decided to call a halt on the expansion of its quantitive easing (QE) programme. But the debate over the costs and benefits of QE continues. A full £375bn has already been injected into the UK financial system, and it’s still possible that more might follow. The benefits of QE [...]
How corporation tax myths poison the wider debate November 12, 2012 EXECUTIVES from Google and Starbucks were summoned yesterday to give evidence to the UK’s public accounts committee on their approach to UK taxation. Grilled by Margaret Hodge MP – an outspoken critic of the tax strategies adopted by multinational companies – their treatment reveals two myths about corporation tax that continue to confuse MPs and [...]
As problems at the BBC continue to damage its reputation, should Lord Patten step down? November 12, 2012 YES Philip Davies The crisis at the BBC is a crisis of leadership and management. As chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten wasted hundreds of thousands of pounds on consultants in recruiting George Entwistle from under his nose. He has now wasted hundreds of thousands of pounds paying off George Entwistle just 55 days [...]
Rapid responses November 12, 2012 Open for business? [Re: Will the City struggle to retain its position as the world’s financial centre? Friday] It is important that London retains its status as a major international financial centre, but it faces many challenges. London has always been seen as an automatic choice of location for foreign banks, but there are concerns [...]
Bill Clinton’s affordable housing ideology caused sub-prime crisis November 11, 2012 MANHATTAN’S US Attorney is wrongly suing Bank of America for mortgage fraud against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the American mortgage giants. The complaint asserts that Bank of America, and its predecessor Countrywide, implemented a loan origination process called “Hustle” – designed to process loans at high speed and without quality check points. Strangely, Fannie [...]
The new lord mayor’s message: Social and financial returns go hand in hand November 11, 2012 IN THE 35 years since I first started working in the Square Mile, I have seen many things change. But one constant over this period is that the success of our financial services industry continues to be dependent on the concept of service. In other words, the City must serve society rather than the other [...]
Embracing failure is key to reviving Western growth November 11, 2012 IN AMERICA, a new parenting book is causing a stir. The author Paul Tough argues that an overly hands-on approach can harm a child’s development. Instead, parents should be more laissez-faire. They should give children the chance to fail in order to encourage the development of qualities like grit and optimism. Perhaps this is a [...]
Will the City of London struggle to retain its position as the world’s financial centre? November 11, 2012 YES Rob Harbron Financial services in the City of London will remain under increasing pressure over the coming years. As the UK economy recovers and global expansion begins to gather pace again, output in the financial sector will eventually regain its pre-financial crisis peak. However, growth in the City is unlikely to ever reach the [...]
Rapid responses November 11, 2012 Canterbury calling [Re: End of quantitative easing will stop mad monetary recycling, Friday] It’s not a new development that a religious leader is worrying about sin in business. Did Jesus not throw the moneylenders out of the Temple? Yes, stockbrokers don’t tend to wear hair shirts and traders don’t tend to spend their mornings in [...]
America is failing to face up to the truth behind its looming fiscal cliff November 8, 2012 AMERICA, we are told, is a nation divided. But this wasn’t the closest presidential election in recent times. Far from it. Barack Obama won both the popular vote by a reasonable margin and stormed the electoral college. Obama’s fellow Democrats also rebuffed their opponents in races for the Senate. The only consolation for the Republicans [...]