January 24, 2014
Inside Story: Has Austerity Worked?
Davos 2014: EU Needs 'Conservative Common Sense', Insists David Cameron
January 23, 2014
Mark Carney: No Need for an Immediate Rate Rise
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| Mark Carney, Canadian Governor of the Bank of England |
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has pledged there will be no “immediate” increase in interest rates as unemployment nudges closer to the 7pc threshold in an apparent softening of his forward guidance policy.
He said Bank of England policymakers look at “overall conditions in the whole labour market”, rather than just one indicator, and that any change, when it comes, would be “very gradual”.
The governor, who said that the UK economy was "in a different place" to when he introduced the guidance, added: “We don’t see an immediate need to change monetary policy."
Asked if he would consider lowering the 7pc threshold, Mr Carney added: “There are a broad range of things we could do, I wouldn’t jump to that conclusion … we’re trying to get across is that it’s all about overall conditions in the labour market.
“We wouldn’t want to detract from that focus by unnecessarily focusing on one indicator.” » | Denise Roland | Thursday, January 23, 2014
My comment:
"No need for an immediate rise [in interest rates]" – Mark Carney
No, there is no need for him. He's sitting pretty with his huge salary and exorbitant expenses. The rest of us have to make ends meet from our savings. What a thoughtless, unreasonable man Carney is!
Never in my lifetime can I remember not being able to get interest on my capital that at least equates to the rate of inflation, and then some. Does this man have no sense of true capitalism? Does this man have no sense of economic history?
What an utter disappointment this Governor is! – © Mark
This comment appears here too.
Cameron: UK's Economic Recovery Will Need 'Patience'
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the prime minister said that the economy needs rebalancing.
He said: "In the case of Britain we need to rebalance our economy and make sure it's a north and south recovery - manufacturing as well as services."
But Mr Cameron said that economic recovery will take "patience".
He added that the government needs to deal with "excessive deficits and our broken banking system", but he was confident that the UK could attract investment and manufacturers. » | Thursday, January 23, 2014
January 20, 2014
Oxfam: 85 Richest People as Wealthy as Poorest Half of the World
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| The InterContinental in Davos |
The world's wealthiest people aren't known for travelling by bus, but if they fancied a change of scene then the richest 85 people on the globe – who between them control as much wealth as the poorest half of the global population put together – could squeeze onto a single double-decker.
The extent to which so much global wealth has become corralled by a virtual handful of the so-called 'global elite' is exposed in a new report from Oxfam on Monday. It warned that those richest 85 people across the globe share a combined wealth of £1tn, as much as the poorest 3.5 billion of the world's population.
The wealth of the 1% richest people in the world amounts to $110tn (£60.88tn), or 65 times as much as the poorest half of the world, added the development charity, which fears this concentration of economic resources is threatening political stability and driving up social tensions.
It's a chilling reminder of the depths of wealth inequality as political leaders and top business people head to the snowy peaks of Davos for this week's World Economic Forum. Few, if any, will be arriving on anything as common as a bus, with private jets and helicoptors pressed into service as many of the world's most powerful people convene to discuss the state of the global economy over four hectic days of meetings, seminars and parties in the exclusive ski resort.
Winnie Byanyima, the Oxfam executive director who will attend the Davos meetings, said: "It is staggering that in the 21st Century, half of the world's population – that's three and a half billion people – own no more than a tiny elite whose numbers could all fit comfortably on a double-decker bus."
Oxfam also argues that this is no accident either, saying growing inequality has been driven by a "power grab" by wealthy elites, who have co-opted the political process to rig the rules of the economic system in their favour. » | Graeme Wearden | Monday, January 20, 2014
January 18, 2014
Der Euro muss weg, damit die EU gerettet wird
Ich gehöre zu einer seltenen und gefährdeten Spezies: Ich bin ein europäischer Föderalist, der daran glaubt, dass die EU auf lange Sicht so tief integriert sein sollte wie Brasilien, Indien oder die USA. Trotzdem möchte ich Sie dazu einladen, über eine Auflösung des Euro nachzudenken. Denn ich bin zu dem Schluss gekommen, dass die beschlossenen Maßnahmen zur Rettung des Euro am Ende zur Zerstörung der EU führen werden.
Der Euro ist ein mutiges Experiment, das gescheitert ist. Die gemeinsame Währung sollte für Einheit, Stabilität und Wachstum in einer immer engeren Union sorgen. Stattdessen ist die EU tief gespalten – wirtschaftlich, sozial und politisch.
Das europäische Projekt hat aufgehört, eine breit angelegte, kollektive Unternehmung zu sein, es ist nur noch auf eine einzige Dimension reduziert: den Euro zu retten. Die Wähler sind sauer – entweder als Folge der endlosen Austeritätsprogramme und beängstigend hohen Arbeitslosigkeit oder weil die Bürger in den Geberländern fürchten, dass ihnen auf undurchsichtige Weise die Verbindlichkeiten der Schuldenstaaten übertragen werden. » | Von François Heisbourg | Donnerstag, 16. Januar 2014
January 13, 2014
Fashion Fakes: Cheap Chinese Clothes Force Italian Brands Out
January 08, 2014
Spanish, French Euromillions Winners Share 130 Million Euros
Organisers La Francaise des Jeux (FDJ) said the lucky pair would pocket more than 65 million euros each. » | Wednesday, January 08, 2013
December 31, 2013
Happy New Year! Bonne année ! Gutes Neues Jahr! ¡Feliz Año Nuevo! Felice Anno Nuovo! Felix sit annus novus! Blwyddyn Newydd Dda! ! سنة سعيدة
December 27, 2013
'Soviet System in UK Where Banks & Politicians Control Our Lives'
December 24, 2013
Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël ! Fröhliche Weihnachten! Buon Natale! Felix Nativitas! Nadolig Llawen!
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| 'We Three Kings', an original by James C. Christensen. Image courtesy of Google Images |
Et la Parole a été faite chair, et elle a habité parmi nous, pleine de grâce et de verité; et nous avons contemplé sa gloire, une gloire du Fils unique venu du Père. – Evangile selon Jean, 1, 14
Und das Wort ward Fleisch und wohnte unter uns, und wir schauten seine Herrlichkeit, eine Herrlichkeit, wie sie der eingige [Sohn] von seinem Vater hat, voll Gnade und Wahrheit. – Das Evangelium nach Johannes, 1, 14
E la Parola è stata fatta carne ed ha abitato per un tempo fra noi, plena di grazia e di verità; e noi abbiam contemplata la sua gloria, gloria come quella dell’Unigenito venuto da presso al Padre. – Evangelo secondo Giovanni, 1, 14
Et Verbum caro factum est et habitavit in nobus, et vidimus gloriam eius, gloriam quasi Unigeniti a Padre, plenum gratiae et veritatis. – Evangelium secundum Ioannem, 1, 14
December 21, 2013
No Job Land: A Bleak Reminder of Spain's Unemployment Crisis
December 19, 2013
Cuba Lifts 50-year-Old Car Import Ban
Cuba will allow unrestricted car imports for the first time in 50 years, marking the end of an era for the 1950s Chevys, Fords and Pontiacs that have survived the ban.
The decision to allow cars to be imported for sale at market prices on the island was taken on Wednesday by Cuba's council of ministers, according to the official newspaper Granma.
It said the decision will gradually free up retail sales of all manner of vehicles – automobiles, vans, trucks and motorcycles – and ends the practice of granting some Cubans special permission to bring in vehicles as a privilege.
Granma acknowledged the so-called "letters of authorisation" issued by the transport ministry had generated "resentment, dissatisfaction and, in not a few cases ... (were) a source of speculation and enrichment."
Holders of the letters, however, will still be first in line to buy cars while the new system is phased in, Granma said. » | AFP | Thursday, December 19, 2013
December 14, 2013
Ukraine On Verge of Collapse as Protests Rage
December 12, 2013
Dismantle the Euro, Says Nobel-winning Economist Who Once Backed Currency Union
A Nobel prize-winning economist will on Thursday withdraw his support for the euro saying it has created a “lost generation” unemployed youngsters and should be broken up.
Sir Christopher Pissarides was once a key proponent of a single currency but will on Thursday accuse the euro of “dividing Europe” and say action is needed to “restore the euro’s credibility in international markets” and the “trust that Europe’s nations once had in each other”, according to the Daily Mail.
Speaking at the London School of Economics, where he teaches, Professor Pissarides will say: “The euro should either be dismantled in an orderly way or the leading members should do the necessary as fast as possible to make it growth and employment-friendly.
“We will get nowhere plodding along with the current line of ad hoc decision-making and inconsistent debt-relief policies. » | Miranda Prynne, New Reporter | Thursday, December 12, 2013
December 08, 2013
Osborne Wants to Take Us Back to 1948. Time to Look Forward Instead
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| George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer |
It is an incidental sentence, but it brought me up short. By 2018, general government consumption will be proportionally no larger than it was in 1948. So declared the Office for Budget Responsibility in its report accompanying the autumn statement. The work of three generations in building the sinews of a state that support systems of health, transport, education, environment, policing, science and the rest is to be summarily withdrawn over the next five years. It is a landmark moment in our national life.
Next year the coalition – deputy prime minister Nick Clegg supporting Cameron and Osborne – is aiming to legislate that the reduction of the deficit on this scale and speed should be a statutory obligation. Stunningly – apart from some allegedly effective new measures against tax avoidance, and asking non-residents to pay capital-gains tax on the sale of their homes – all of the work is to be done by cutting spending, by a cumulative £75bn in ways yet to be specified.
The IMF, after assessing the experience of 107 countries between 1980 and 2012, recommends that, after a credit-crunch deficit, there should be a balance between tax increases and spending reductions. In Osborne-land over the next five years more than 95% is to come from spending cuts – a global first in self-harm. » | Will Hutton | Sunday, December 08, 2013
December 07, 2013
Cuban Entrepreneurs Slowly Adapting to Free Market under Economic Reforms
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| Raúl Castro, President of Cuba |
But as more and more islanders go into business for themselves under President Raul Castro's economic reforms, the ethos of capitalism is increasingly seeping into Cuban daily life, often in stark conflict with fundamental tenets of the Cuban Revolution.
These days it seems there's a mom-and-pop snack shop or pirate DVD stand on every other block in parts of Havana. The chants of cart-pushing vendors echo through residential streets. Farmers line up before dawn at an open-air market to jockey for the best spot to sell their produce. After decades of being urged to report any black market activity in their neighbourhoods, some Cubans now find themselves looking at their neighbours' legal businesses and worrying that they're falling behind.
The free market is still limited in Cuba, but already it is altering lives and reshaping attitudes in palpable ways. Some fear -- and others hope -- that values anathema to a half-century of Communist rule are taking root more with each passing day: It's OK to make money, within limits; workers can reap the benefits of their own labour directly, instead of seeing it redistributed; individual enterprise is rewarded. » | Andrea Rodriguez, The Associated Press | Saturday, December 07, 2013
December 06, 2013
Pinch of Poverty: Millions in EU Forced to Live Close to Breadline
Living Standards to Be Lower in 2015 Than in 2010, IFS Warns
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| George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer |
Britain's leading experts on tax and spending have said that living standards would be lower at the end of the current parliament than at the start as they backed claims by the shadow chancellor Ed Balls that family budgets were being squeezed hard under the coalition.
Delivering its judgment on George Osborne's autumn statement, the Institute for Fiscal Studies took issue with the way Labour had calculated its estimate of a £1,600 loss to the average family in the three years since the coalition came to power in 2010 but said it was "pretty consistent" with survey data showing a big drop in household incomes between 2009-10 and 2011-12.
Paul Johnson, the IFS's director, said there was a lack of reliable figures for the current year, but added: "We do know from household surveys that income fell sharply in 2010 and 2011. It is almost certainly significantly lower now than it was in 2010.
"And while it should start to grow it will surely still be below its 2010 level by the time we get to the election in 2015." » | Larry Elliot and Philip Inman | Friday, December 06, 2013
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