UK needs to stop deliberately inflating residential land prices August 14, 2013 MY column yesterday revealing that the French are building three times more homes than the British every year – an astonishing fact which highlights the gravity of our housing supply crisis – elicited a number of typical counter-arguments. The most common was that the French have plenty of land, and we don’t, so it isn’t [...]
Mark Carney’s policy has amplified political opportunity for the Tories August 11, 2013 NO REAL rock star has ever received such rave reviews for promising to do nothing for three years. But Mark Carney breaks the mould. The new Bank of England governor has pledged to keep interest rates at 0.5 per cent until 2016, unless the economy is threatened by “knockout” conditions. Keeping the taps of cheap [...]
Bad news for Labour: Voters are getting behind coalition’s cuts August 6, 2013 ED BALLS and the Labour party have a big problem. The British economy is recovering, despite the coalition’s relatively modest cuts, and the public is increasingly supportive of reducing public spending. This is a devastating blow for Labour’s entire narrative, which was predicated on the view that “cutting too far and too fast” would not [...]
SEC tells jurors in fraud lawsuit of Fabrice Tourre’s make believe July 30, 2013 FORMER Goldman Sachs trader Fabrice Tourre should not be allowed to get away with deceiving investors in a mortgage deal that went bad in the financial crisis, an SEC lawyer told jurors who will decide a civil fraud lawsuit brought by the regulatory agency. On the final day of a more than two-week trial, US [...]
China’s false stability could soon be exposed as its growth model creaks July 24, 2013 CHINA is widely considered to be the twenty-first century’s emerging economic leader. Global financial interests are betting that its state-directed economic model will overtake the liberal capitalism of the debt-ridden West. But is this the case? Leaders in Beijing have a slightly different view of their economy. China is devouring land, labour and capital in [...]
How an ageing Britain can grow old and avoid a looming longevity crisis July 23, 2013 BRITAIN’s future is getting greyer. In its most recent fiscal sustainability report, the Office of Budget Responsibility recognised that we are living longer and need more care. But we haven’t saved enough. The state won’t be able to keep us, and the dependency ratio will only worsen as fewer workers struggle to fund more pensioners. [...]
Against the Grain: Detroit – like Europe – will have to learn that defaults are never a free lunch July 23, 2013 POTENTIAL defaults in Europe have reignited fears that the Eurozone crisis could flare up again. In Portugal, the ruling coalition parties and the main opposition Socialists have been unable to agree on a EU-led bailout plan after days of talks. Yields on the country’s ten-year bonds approached 7 per cent, compared to just 1.5 per [...]
The rapid rise of the food bank can’t just be blamed on government austerity June 12, 2013 FOOD banks are a rapidly growing phenomenon in the UK. A few years ago, they barely existed, but an estimated half a million people now make use of them every week. On the face of it, it seems that poverty has sadly become endemic since the financial crisis, with many families unable even to feed [...]
Britain needs a Swedish-style fiscal rule to end its yearly Budget farce | City A.M. March 22, 2013 BEN GUMMER HERE we are again, two days before the budget, and the chancellor is inundated with advice about what he should do to “fix” the British economy. It has become a tiresome ritual that comes around twice a year before the Budget and the Autumn Statement: a litany of suggestions, papers and proposals pushed [...]
Tokyo tops cost of living table – but London rises to 16th place February 4, 2013 TOKYO has regained its position as the most expensive major city in the world, according to figures released today, while the ongoing financial crisis has pushed down the relative cost of living in the Eurozone. Research by the Economist Intelligence Unit shows uncertainty surrounding the single currency has made it relatively cheaper to live in [...]