While the candidates play at Prince Charming their ugly sisters fling mud May 23, 2012 IN A Magnificent Catastrophe, Edward J. Larson documents America’s first truly competitive presidential election campaign, a most brutal affair in 1800 between President John Adams and Vice President Thomas Jefferson. It had it all, the vicious anonymous attacks, accusations of unpatriotic behaviour, and smears about religious faith. How things have changed. Two years ago, the [...]
Don’t ignore the powerful moral arguments against high taxation May 22, 2012 WE ALL know the moral arguments for taxation: it pays for police, roads, hospitals and other vital services. But there is a moral case against taxation too – and a surprisingly strong one. First, while most of us would happily make some voluntary contribution to essential services, it is only the threat of prison that [...]
Europe’s shared currency shouldn’t entail Germany bankrolling a debt union May 22, 2012 GEORGE Osborne and François Hollande want Angela Merkel to support Eurobonds. These would pool debt issuance among Eurozone governments, allowing them all to fund their spending at the same borrowing rate. The more creditworthy Eurozone governments would thereby subsidise the spending of the less creditworthy. Merkel thinks that subsidising the spending of profligate governments is [...]
The shareholder spring must now pounce on fraud May 22, 2012 THE “shareholder spring” has shown investors ferociously protesting about corporate governance, accountability and payouts. But a far deeper financial and reputational time bomb is ticking in many corporations. Today’s Ernst & Young global fraud survey shows the staggering exposure to fraud, bribery and corruption in UK companies. The numbers have risen during the economic downturn [...]
Should fostering renewable energy sources be a major priority for the UK government? May 22, 2012 YES Juliet Davenport The government is right with its overarching principle that we’ll need more low-carbon generation to keep the lights on in the future. However, its draft energy bill gets the details wrong on how to achieve it. By focusing on contracts for difference, the proposals risk skewing the market towards nuclear and the [...]
RAPID RESPONSES May 22, 2012 A hiring revolution [Re: Britain must embrace 30 per cent tax revolution to boost growth, Monday] I agree with your tax simplification ideas, and the report convinces me that reform would increase incentives to hire. But I’m not sure tax reform will be enough. It would help some firms save money. But just because money is [...]
Blanket immunity for developing nations has stifled climate hopes May 21, 2012 THIS week, diplomats in Bonn must face up to a crumbling international consensus on climate change. United Nations negotiations stalled in Durban last December. Japan, Russia and Canada recently joined the US by walking away from an extension of the Kyoto Protocol’s emission cutting targets – while China, Brazil and India weren’t bound in the [...]
Companies don’t pay taxes – but employees, owners and customers do May 21, 2012 THIS WEEK sees the launch of The Single Income Tax – the final report of the 2020 Tax Commission. As one of the commissioners, I’m proud of the result: a 417-page blockbuster of thorough analysis and sensible, yet radical, reforms. A Single Income Tax would ensure that taxes were cut to 33 per cent of [...]
Eurobonds are an economic risk and a political dream May 21, 2012 THE idea of Eurozone countries pooling their sovereign debt in the form of Eurobonds re-emerges every time the euro crisis suffers another turn for the worse. Curiously, the idea’s chief proponent seems to be the UK government, which has made several interventions, stressing the need for the Eurozone to move to “fiscal burden-sharing”. This puts [...]
Does the Chelsea Flower Show represent a uniquely British forum for doing business? May 21, 2012 YES Nick Byrne The Chelsea Flower Show is one of those uniquely English events that people either admire or are puzzled by. Certainly, compared to the way business can be conducted in China, there are differences. China has a long tradition of hospitality, which has been translated into a more Western concept of corporate hospitality. [...]