40 Years after Thatcher: Inequality in the UK – BBC Newsnight

Forty years after Margaret Thatcher came to power, is the UK once again on the brink of a sea change?

In the final of a series of three films about the direction of the UK, our economics editor Ben Chu looks at the issue of inequality.

He visits Cambridge, home to Silicon Fen, and is joined by Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, chief secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss and former Bank of England governor Lord King.

UK Led towards No-deal Brexit by Untruthful Elite, Says Ex-EU Envoy

THE GUARDIAN: Ivan Rogers offers withering assessment of Tory candidates vying to be prime minister

Britain is being led to a no-deal Brexit by a political elite “which has great difficulties discerning and telling the truth”, the UK’s former ambassador to the EU has said, in a withering assessment of the Conservative candidates vying to be prime minister.

Ivan Rogers, who resigned from his post in 2017 after clashing with Theresa May’s senior advisers, suggested it was “probable” the UK would leave the EU without a deal in what he described as an act of “economic lunacy”.

He said the Tory leadership election brought to mind the quote of the French statesman Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord about the Bourbons in that they had “learned nothing and forgotten nothing”.

“We hear all manner of undeliverable promises, made as if the events of the last three years have made no impact on the collective consciousness,” Rogers said of the remaining leadership candidates. » | Daniel Boffey in Brussels | Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Wealthy Americans Have So Much Money They Don’t Know What To Do With It

According to an infuriating new report by Axios, corporations and the wealthy elite have so much money now that they don’t even know what to do with it. They are running out of stocks to buy back and they don’t have many other investment options, so they end up simply hanging onto their cash. Weren’t they supposed to spend it on workers? Wasn’t that the deal that Republicans told us was definitely going to happen? Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

Trump's Trade War & Coming Recession...The Fed Can't Save Us, But Gold Can

While President Trump continues to pile up one bad trade policy after another, Fed Chairman Powell indicated that he's ready to pile on too! More money printing, more debt creation and more QE look to be in America's future.

Donald Trump Defends Tariffs on Mexico as Stock Markets Reel

THE GUARDIAN: After 5% tariff announced, president tweets ‘Mexico has taken advantage of the US for decades’

Donald Trump has defended his decision to impose new tariffs on Mexico as stock markets worldwide were rattled by fears of an escalation in trade tensions.

“Mexico has taken advantage of the United States for decades,” Trump tweeted. “Because of the Dems, our Immigration Laws are BAD. Mexicomakes a FORTUNE from the U.S., have for decades, they can easily fix this problem. Time for them to finally do what must be done!”

On Thursday Trump announced that he was placing a 5% tariff on “every single good coming into the United States from Mexico” starting on 10 June, to pressure the country to do more to curb immigration into the US.

The tariffs will rise by 5% each month until it reaches 25% in October if the number of people crossing the border doesn’t “come down substantially”, the White House acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, said. » | Dominic Rushe in New York, Lauren Gambino in Washington, and David Agren in Mexico City | Friday, May 21, 2019

Markets Shaken as Trump Announces Shock Mexico Tariffs – Business Live

THE GUARDIAN: As we approach midday in London the major European stock markets are all in the red.

The FTSE 100 is down by 71 points, or 1%, at 7,146 points, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 is down by 0.9%.

Germany’s Dax and Italy’s FTSE MIB were the hardest hit of the major indices, down by 1.8% each. » | Jasper Jolly | Friday, May 31, 2019

Beware! Stagflation Rears Its Ugly Head & It's The Fed's Fault

The so-called "greatest economy ever" is anything but. With each passing day, the dreaded "Stagflation" comes closer into view. Rising prices coupled with a recession is the worst of both worlds for the powers-that-shouldn't-be at The Fed. Central planning is always doomed to failure. Economic reality always strikes with a vengeance.

Global Markets Rocked as US-China Trade and Tech Rift Deepens

THE GUARDIAN: Shares fall sharply in Asia, Europe and North America in intensifying war of words

The deepening trade and technology war between the US and China has sent global stock markets sharply lower and prompted a warning from the IMF of the increasing risks to the global economy.

Shares fell sharply in Asia, Europe and North America on a day that saw investors alarmed by the intensifying war of words between Washington and Beijing, poor news on the American economy, and political chaos in Britain.

Hours after the Japanese conglomerate Panasonic joined the list of companies cutting its ties with the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, the US secretary of state Mike Pompeo on Thursday accused Huawei’s chief executive of lying when he said the company had no links to China’s communist government.

In a marked toughening of its rhetoric, China demanded that Donald Trump’s administration change course, while the country’s charge d’affairs in London said the UK could suffer “substantial” loss of investment if Huawei were banned from involvement in Britain’s 5G network. » | Larry Elliot, Economics editor | Thursday, May 23, 2019

Russia Chooses Gold over Dollar

Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, joins News.Views.Hughes to discuss the uptick in Russia’s gold-buying and why it makes some western analysts nervous.

Is Nationalism Killing the EU? | State of Europe

Since the last European parliamentary elections in 2014, nationalist right-wing parties have made significant gains in many European states. Does the growing influence of right-wing nationalism pose a threat to the ideal of European unity?

To understand what moves Europe's citizens, DW's Max Hofmann traveled around the continent seeking the perspectives of key players and those directly affected by the major issues of today. For example, how the migration drama on the southern coast of Italy originates and ends partly in eastern Germany. Or how right-wing populists in France try to lure in voters - and how comparable political forces in Poland have used similar tactics to gain seats in government. In investigating the topics of environment and climate protection, Hofmann visits the EU Climate Change Dossiers and the EU's largest per capita plastic waste producer: Ireland. Through each trip, Hofmann seeks to better understand the connections and centrifugal forces at play across Europe.

Marks & Spencer to Close Another 20 Stores as Profits Plunge

THE GUARDIAN: M&S annual profits almost wiped out by a £440m bill for a modernisation programme

Marks & Spencer is accelerating its retreat from the high street by closing a further 20 of its full-line stores, which sell clothing and food under one roof.

The retailer said it planned to close 85 of its big high street stores, on top of the 35 it has already shut. The company is battling the transfer of clothing sales online and it had already told the City to expect about 100 closures.

The news of the extra branches being axed came as the group pointed to “green shoots” of recovery, despite annual profits being pulled down by a £440m bill for a modernisation programme. The overhaul of the struggling chain will also involve the closure of 25 of its Simply Food convenience stores. » | Zoe Wood | Wednesday, May 22, 2019

British Steel Enters Insolvency after Rescue Talks with Government Fail

THE GUARDIAN: Steelmaker directly employs 5,000 people and thousands more in the supply chain

British Steel has entered insolvency, putting 5,000 jobs directly at risk and endangering thousands more in the supply chain after talks with the UK government failed to reach an agreement on emergency funding.

The business secretary, Greg Clark, issued a statement on Wednesday following confirmation that the court has granted an application by the directors of British Steel to enter an insolvency process.

Control of the company will pass to the Official Receiver – an employee of the Insolvency Service – who will run a compulsory liquidation. EY has been lined up to carry out the administration. » | Jasper Jolly | Wednesday, May 22, 2019

UN Report Compares Tory Welfare Policies to Creation of Workhouses

THE GUARDIAN: Ministers in denial about impact of austerity since 2010, says poverty expert

A leading United Nations poverty expert has compared Conservative welfare policies to the creation of 19th-century workhouses and warned that unless austerity is ended, the UK’s poorest people face lives that are “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”.

In his final report on the impact of austerity on human rights in the UK, Philip Alston, the UN rapporteur on extreme poverty, accused ministers of being in a state of denial about the impact of policies, including the rollout of universal credit, since 2010. He accused them of the “systematic immiseration of a significant part of the British population” and warned that worse could be yet to come for the most vulnerable, who face “a major adverse impact” if Brexit proceeds. He said leaving the EU was “a tragic distraction from the social and economic policies shaping a Britain that it’s hard to believe any political parties really want”. » | Robert Booth, Social affairs correspondent | Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Trump's China Trade War Risks Damaging US Economy, Says OECD

THE GUARDIAN: Intensification of tariff dispute also likely to knock almost $600bn off world economy

Donald Trump has been warned by the west’s most influential economics thinktank that further escalation of the US-China trade war would unleash significant damage for the American economy, as well as the rest of the world.

The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD) said that an intensification of the dispute between Washington and Beijing would likely knock as much as 0.7% off the level of global GDP by 2021-22.

Under such a scenario, the hit to the world economy from higher tariffs could be quantified at almost $600bn (£472bn).

Issuing a downbeat assessment of the global economy as the standoff between the world’s two biggest economies continues to simmer, the OECD said the world’s economic momentum had weakened markedly and that growth was set to stay at a subpar rate as the tensions over trade persist. It said both the US and China stood to lose out from the imposition of higher tariffs. » | Richard Partington, Economics correspondent | Tuesday, May 21, 2019

The Guardian View on UK Inequalities: Following the US Threatens Democracy

THE GUARDIAN: Brexit, like Trump, is not the cause of disenchantment with democracy but rather its symptom – one with roots in the UK’s political and economic disenfranchisement

Serious questions need to be asked about why Nigel Farage’s Brexit party is riding high in the polls and why so many people seem to want to buy his snake oil ahead of the elections to the European parliament. Yet no one in government is posing them. It seems obvious that countries where voters feel excluded both politically and economically will be susceptible to conspiracy thinking. As a country we ought to be grateful that Sir Angus Deaton, Nobel laureate in economics, has stepped forward to warn that the UK risks replicating the United States’ extreme inequality – and reaping the political whirlwind.

In a speech on Tuesday night in London, the Princeton economist rightly said that US capitalism is not delivering for most citizens. Even while per capita GDP has risen, real wages for US men without a four-year college degree have been falling for half a century. Less educated Americans are dying by their own hands, from suicide, from alcoholic liver disease, and from drug overdoses. Life expectancy in the US has fallen for three years in a row, the first time such a reversal has happened for a century. » | Editorial | Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Market Meltdown Continues Amid President Donald Trump's Trade War | Morning Joe | MSNBC

Wall Street saw a massive sell-off on Monday as investors responded to an escalating trade battle between the U.S. and China, after Beijing announced it would be slapping tit-for-tat tariffs on $60B of U.S. goods. The panel discusses.

Markets Can’t Save Us from Retail-less Economy

Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor of political economy, joins Rick Sanchez to discuss the ongoing restructuring of the US economy and how it enriches big businesses at the expense of ordinary people, whose jobs will continue to disappear. He says “the financialization of the global economy is getting worse” and that unregulated markets are incapable of rescuing Main Street or averting the coming economic crisis.

An Unending Trade War Leaves Wall Street Jittery

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Investors are dealing with a painful new reality: The trade war between the United States and China could last indefinitely.

That anxiety spread across the stock markets on Monday, as investors around the world tried to divine the potential fallout to economic growth and corporate profits. Bonds and commodities, too, flashed warnings of a slowdown.

The stock losses have brought an end to a recent calm that had settled over Wall Street. For months, investors had assumed that the trade war, a major hazard for the global economy, would end soon. Just weeks ago, the S&P 500 reached a record high.

That illusion has been shattered, as concerns mount about slowing growth and rising costs. China said on Monday that it would increase tariffs on nearly $60 billion of goods, in response to a similar move last week by the Trump administration. » | Matt Phillips | Monday, May 13, 2019

President & CEO 'Beyond Freaked' over China Tariff Hikes

President and CEO of the American Apparel & Footwear Association Rick Helfenbein told CNN's Brooke Baldwin that he and others in the industry are "scared and panicked" over the escalating trade war between the US and China.

Dow Plummets after China Retaliates with Higher Tariffs

The Dow plunged after China said it will raise tariffs in retaliation to last week's tariff increase by the United States. China hiked tariffs on $60 billion of imports from the United States. It first imposed the tariffs last year. Worries over the escalation of the trade spat with China just aren't going away.