Do Markets Negate Democracy?
At the end of last week and for part of the weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Biennale Firenze in Florence, Italy. The event was being hosted by EESC, the European Economic and Social Committee. With a title of “Education To Combat Social Exclusion”, it is not a natural event for a blog [...]
Ann Mettler: Has the time finally come for Fiscal Sustainability?
The following opinion piece from Ann Mettler, Executive Director of the Brussels based think tank The Lisbon Council is kindly being republished from her blog.
I have had the pleasure of meeting Ann on a number of occassions and I can attest to her knowledge and commitment to seeing Europe become the economy that many of [...]
Breaking News: Confidence In Wall Street ‘On The Line’
This story from CNN shows just what denail the United States is in when it comes to Wall Street, financial services, money and reputation.
According to the story, it seems that confidence in Wall Street is ‘on the line’. Which line would that be?
Perhaps it is the final line that an economy will not [...]
When Will The Next UK Recession Arrive?
That is a leading question, I know. But with the announcement of a general election being called by Gordon Brown for 6th May, the prospect of real financial change is looming.
Both major parties seem to have been pre-campaigning on spending cuts, fiscal restraint and responsibility. But only one of the parties is in power [...]
The Tragedy Of Greek Government Borrowing
This is a pretty tricky time to work for a Central Bank, don’t you think? You spend years in the background, the national and international economy chugs along, and people forget you exist.
Perhaps once a month, when it is time to set interest rates, people remember faintly who you are and what you do. But [...]
Public Sector Employment: What Goes Up…
The UK, under the stewardship of New Labour has seen a massive increase in public sector employment. I can recall watching BBC documentaries in recent years where the scale of this expansion has been explained. It isn’t small.
It seems that the biggest beneficiary has been Scotland. I’m not going to go along with the conspiracy [...]
Lies, Damned Lies And Economic Statistics
This morning I spotted a story on the BBC website about jobless statistics in the United States. You might recall that unemployment in the US hit 10% a few months ago.
Well the story explains a little of the real numbers. As we must all have - at a minimum - suspected by now, governments have [...]
Obama Starts Budget Cuts With The Obvious
I have been writing about public sector debt recently in this blog and the opinions of those in the know about it’s likely impact.
The first major shot in what will probably become a global political war to reduce deficits has been fired. President Obama has announced a new budget which contains cuts to many areas. [...]
Thoughts ‘Borrowed’ From Davos
No, sorry. I didn’t make it to Davos 2010 - I wish. After Copenhagen, this would have been an event too far…
In a blog post from Davos, the Beeb’s Robert Peston discusses the thoughts of some of the world’s top bankers about the state of things now.
It seems that these guys agree with the opinions [...]
Public Sector Debt And The Everlasting Recession
Back at the end of July 2009, your author wrote a post titled: ” 2016: The End Of This Recession? “. At the time I felt a little bonkers, it was the out-loud musings of an amateur economist and nothing more. But the tide of economic thought seems to be moving in this direction…
In The [...]