The million pound benefit cap
I DID realise that Asda sold shedloads of baked beans and breakfast cereal, but until this morning I did not know that the UK wing of Wal-Mart had moved into the market for economic indicators as well. But thanks to Retail Week, I am now aware of something called the Asda Income Tracker, which measures [...]
European Union: gamechanger for the left
I’M sure Milton Friedman would have appreciated the irony. The neoclassical economic prescriptions developed by him and others in the name of competition and freedom of choice is about to be awarded a continent-wide ideological monopoly, by force of state decree. If Merkel and Sarkozy get the new treaty they need to save the euro, [...]
The political motivations of Standard & Poor’s
FIRST they downgraded America. Now it is the turn of the eurozone. Standard & Poor’s is well aware of the weight financial markets attach to its pronouncements, and of late has developed the alarming habit of timing them to maximise their impact. Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel have issued a statement, noting curtly that they [...]
N30: join the private sector wealth creators’ bloc
GOOD thing I won’t have to take David Cameron up on his stupid idea of bringing the kids into the office when teachers go on strike next Wednesday. I can just picture the chaos that would inevitably result. The 11 year old would sulk in a corner all day long, telling anyone who politely introduced themselves [...]
The temporary popularity of euroausterity
JUST months ago, Spain was convulsed by the M-15 mass movement, which mobilised hundreds of thousands of protestors against the appalling privations facing the nation’s youth. Last weekend, it returned a centre-right government. That’s not the whole story. The hard left alliance Izquierda Unida doubled its vote to poll 7%, although that is still well [...]
Greece, Italy: now markets choose prime ministers
I AM not entitled to vote in either Greece or Italy; even if I were, I would not support either George Papandreou or Silvio Berlusconi, anyway. In the normal run of events, I would greet their departure from office with Zen-like equanimity. But what we have seen in the last week or so is not the [...]
Financial markets do not exist
ONE of the most striking aspects of the blanket media coverage of the eurozone crisis is the way in which financial markets are routinely spoken of as entities with a life of their own. They are conceived of as capable of adhering to ethical codes, from which they have of late drifted away. Ostensibly they [...]
Youth unemployment: ‘guaranteed interviews’ are not enough
ALMOST one million young people in Britain are out of work. But never fear, employment minister Chris Grayling is determined to get to grips with the crisis. Why, a full 5% of them are to be guaranteed a job interview. At some point in the next two years, anyway. No rush then, mate. If it [...]
Eurozone crisis: if Greece goes, Britain may go too
THE righteous have their work done for them by others, the old Jewish proverb insists. Now that newspapers from the Daily Mail through to the Financial Times routinely run headlines describing ‘capitalism in crisis’, what purpose can possibly be served by rising at the crack of dawn to sell Socialist Worker to the early shift? [...]
Ed Balls speech: in denial
THIS is the darkest, most dangerous period for the global economy that most of us have ever lived through, Ed Balls correctly insisted in his speech to the Labour conference today. But never mind; a temporary cut in VAT will soon sort things out. I exaggerate, of course. But only slightly. At a time when [...]
