RAPID RESPONSES October 9, 2011 Missing numbers I am sure the MPC appreciates the theory of the velocity of money and the effect increasing the money supply will have. If I can, then I am sure Mervyn King does. Which begs the question, why did they launch more QE, even sooner than expected? I work in the property sector and [...]
In a chaotic world, business needs competent generals. A military expert weighs in October 6, 2011 VINCE Cable is not known for his military commentary. So when he recently declared that the economy more closely resembled warfare than any other human condition, he caught the headlines; I believe he also got it dead right. Why are we surprised by the analogy? Business and warfare are fundamentally forms of adversarial engagement, where [...]
The great green roadblock in the path of recovery October 6, 2011 DAVID Cameron wants the coalition to be the “greenest government ever”. But it is doubtful this aim is compatible with strong growth and economic recovery. New Labour’s climate change targets were very ambitious but the coalition has now gone even further. The government has committed to targets that imply in just twenty years’ time nearly [...]
Decoding the protests occupying Wall Street October 6, 2011 AMERICA’S left may finally have found its answer to the Tea Party. Over the last four weeks, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement has gone from a local curiosity to a national phenomenon, with copycat protests in several cities across the US, including Washington DC. In a sure sign that it is being taken more [...]
RAPID RESPONSES October 6, 2011 Inflexible traders As your Q&A on Monday said, the London transport system is going to struggle to cope during the Olympics and most businesses are going to look at ways for employees to work remotely. But City traders are one of those increasingly rare professional groups whose remote working practices are restricted. One of the [...]
Estonia’s lesson for Britain: Cut now and cut hard if you don’t want worse pain later October 5, 2011 WOULD you like to live in a country with a budget surplus, a 21 per cent flat tax rate, that grew at an annual rate of 8.4 per cent in the last quarter led by manufacturing, has almost no government debt and is planning to spend 20 per cent of its budget on capital spending? [...]
A Prime Minister on auto-cue blind to the big picture October 5, 2011 THE joke doing the rounds in the Manchester conference hall yesterday was this: is David Cameron following Plan C or Plan D? The wags weren’t referring to the government’s deficit reduction strategy, but rather the fact that the Prime Minister was forced to rewrite his speech after early extracts, released to the press on Tuesday [...]
UK bank rules need to be taken Europe-wide October 5, 2011 SAYING “I wouldn’t start from here” is not a very helpful response to a traveller asking directions, but sometimes it is the best one. It is good news for London that the chancellor managed to force concessions on EU derivatives legislation. He entered the negotiations in Luxembourg outnumbered 26 to 1, but achieved most of [...]
RAPID RESPONSES October 5, 2011 Exemplary ETFs BlackRock calls for high standards on disclosure for Exchange-traded fund (ETF) providers. We agree. That will only codify exactly what is already being delivered by the ETF community. ETFs have built an exemplary track record of delivering on straightforward performance objectives in a highly transparent and liquid environment. Michael John Lytle, Managing Director, [...]
Why Albert Einstein might have been wrong after all and why this really matters October 4, 2011 IT’S the reason the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars has to make the jump into hyperspace and the reason passengers on the Golgafrincham B Ark are in suspended animation in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Every author dealing with space travel has to work with or around Einstein’s speed limit. Nothing goes faster than [...]