RAPID RESPONSES July 12, 2012 Firm interference [Re: Supporters of capitalism must help expose blundering firms, yesterday] When you compare corporate wrong-doing with the malfeasance committed by governments, corporate culpability is much smaller than the government’s. Would banks or other financial institutions offer fraudulent schemes if governments did not encourage them to? The problem can be traced to a fundamental [...]
Goldman Sachs: A host of medals might make up for Olympic costs July 11, 2012 HISTORICALLY, the financial reward of hosting the Olympics has been mixed: the 1972 Munich Olympics and the 1976 Montreal Olympics made significant losses, while the Games held in Los Angeles (1984), Barcelona (1992) and Atlanta (1996) each made a profit. Moreover, if you fully account for all of the costs related to the hosting of [...]
Sclerotic jobs figures put the economy off-limits for Obama’s campaign July 11, 2012 THE US economy is still stumbling, creating a severe problem for President Barack Obama’s hopes for re-election in November. In June, the private sector created an abysmal 80,000 new jobs. Unemployment remains high at 8.2 per cent, and there’s little prospect of it dropping any time soon. With 117 days to election day, America’s ongoing [...]
Wikipedia fails to let CEOs defend against vandals July 11, 2012 A TOTAL of 55 of the FTSE 100 chairmen and 53 of their chief executives now have their own Wikipedia pages. Whether they like it or not, Wikipedia is the prism through which the world views them. As the sixth most-visited site on the web, it is one of the key media phenomena of our [...]
Are the coalition’s plans to allow the elderly to defer care costs until death the right step? July 11, 2012 YES Les Mayhew These proposals represent a practical and measured approach to the problem of reforming social care in England. We are pleased that no decision is being made on the lifetime care cost cap (which would put a cap on the amount people would pay for care during their lifetime). We propose a different [...]
RAPID RESPONSES July 11, 2012 Coalition in peril [Re: Massive revolt by Tory MPs is beginning of the end for coalition, yesterday] The Tories’ big failure is economic. Why is it that their biggest insurrection is over something as marginal as Lords reform? John Page We don’t need a House of Lords. Or a monarchy for that matter. A unicameral [...]
Libor myopia risks missing the big picture of regulatory failure July 10, 2012 PRICES keep markets sane. The information they provide connects the decisions made by traders, investors and managers to reality. Markets become delusional, and can fail spectacularly, when those price signals are interfered with and distorted. What we have sadly learned with the recent scandal at Barclays, and other major banks, is that the distorted price [...]
Fragile networks: Why the RBS computer glitch could happen anywhere July 10, 2012 RECENT events have been catastrophic for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). A computer glitch caused complete mayhem in its subsidiaries, leading to a collapse in the payments systems. Money was not processed, 17m customers were unable to access their accounts and pay their bills. An incident of this magnitude must surely have been caused by a [...]
M&S sales fall flat as it fails to carve a fashion identity July 10, 2012 THE RETAILER famous for £10 meals and the Per Una brand has stumbled. In this age of austerity, it may come as little surprise that a firm like M&S is falling short. But in reporting its weakest quarterly figures for seven years, its challenges run far deeper. Although M&S’s food sales grew by 2.9 per [...]
Should the government consider removing state benefits from wealthier pensioners? July 10, 2012 YES Alex Burghart The pinch on public spending is, very likely, going to have to get tighter. When it does, the government will need to ask itself some searching questions. Questions like, does Lord Sugar really need £200 for his heating bills this winter? Could Sir Bruce Forsyth afford his own TV licence? Would Lord [...]