Taking fewer decisions is the smartest choice March 8, 2012 IF YOU’RE going on a diet, you’d better start with a sugary drink. That’s the counterintuitive message of Willpower, a fascinating new book by Roy Baumeister and John Tierney exploring the biochemistry of self-control. Baumeister and Tierney argue, based on a considerable body of experimental research, that the ability to resist temptation takes considerable energy [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 8, 2012 Struggling youth [Re: Mortgage time-bomb UK’s top threat, yesterday] I agree that rates will go up in the future, but when will they stop rising? If rates go up to 7 per cent, those who took out mortgages 10 years ago will generally manage. It’s the younger generation who will get hit hardest. Those who [...]
Britain’s long-term outlook is suffering as the coalition pursues medium-term gain March 7, 2012 THE government is to be applauded for its attempts to get the medium-term public finances under control. However, its enthusiasm to do so is leading, increasingly often, to decisions that will mortgage the future to the benefit of the coalition. The government seems to have a time horizon of precisely five years. Beyond that, debt [...]
In America, the Republican race has got a leader March 7, 2012 WITHOUT a very public fight at the party’s convention in August, Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee. After Super Tuesday, Romney’s delegate lead over closest rival Rick Santorum is now looking increasingly insurmountable. However, Romney may well be edging ever closer to the nomination, but his opponents feel far from defeated. As this week [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 7, 2012 Caught in the net [Re: A so-called mansion tax will not achieve fairness, yesterday] Aside from the obvious problems in administering a “mansion tax”, it’s clear that it’s not solely super-rich buyers who’d bear the brunt of an annual property levy, but long-term homeowners who may not be cash-rich but simply live in areas where house [...]
A so-called mansion tax will not achieve fairness and the revenue gain will be modest March 6, 2012 LIBERAL Democrats are pushing for a mansion tax, in the form of an annual levy on houses worth over £2m. They claim this would raise significant funds for the Treasury, would “target” the super-rich and would be more economically efficient than taxing people’s incomes. It’s depressing that some consider it the function of the tax [...]
The US recovery wasn’t wrecked by massive cuts March 6, 2012 T HE ECONOMIC recovery in the United States is well underway. The trough of the recession was reached in the second quarter of 2009. Since then, real GDP has risen for ten successive quarters and now stands above its previous peak at the end of 2007. By any standards, the recession in America is over. [...]
The tax avoidance rule that favours cronyism March 6, 2012 WHAT may you do without being punished by the state? With 25,000 pages of new legislation every year, and many laws expressed in hopelessly vague language, no one can be sure. But there is a more straightforward reason we cannot know what will land us in trouble. The authorities might punish us even though we [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 6, 2012 Welfare despair [Re: War on Britain’s aspirational classes, yesterday] Britain is a welfare state where politicians build their careers stifling initiative, encouraging (or at least accepting) widespread benefit fraud and cutting traditional support networks like families and friendly societies. Why work in such a set-up? Changing this mindset would let us live fulfilled lives. I [...]
At home and abroad, we all need to be reminded of the moral virtues of capitalism March 5, 2012 I LOVE free market capitalism. The reason is simple: I hate famine, disease, misery, and oppression. I’m on a tour around the world to promote the liberating power of free-market capitalism. I’ve edited a book on the subject, The Morality of Capitalism, which is coming out in at least 16 languages. Last week I was [...]