If you want to know what Britain will look like after the election, look at Greece now. Or if that seems too far away, look at Ireland. The politicians must now introduce the austerity measures that they were too scared to mention during their campaigning.
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If the Treasury is worried about companies going overseas perhaps it should stop looking at corporation tax rates and concentrate on income taxes. It is the 50p top rate on pay that is now making firms look abroad.
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So Resolution is to be replaced in the FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:.FTSE) by Investec, the first South African company to be listed in London. An index that was once a proxy for UK plc is now simply the portfolio for a host of global tracker funds.
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Put 10 economists in a room and you’ll have 11 views, they say. But why are these pundits so keen to socialise? A letter to a newspaper suggesting early public spending cuts has to be signed by 20 economists: 60 then put their name to the counter view. How many make a quorum?
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Which country should British business worry about most, China or Greece? Both economies, while very different, are in danger of imploding.
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As the UK economy’s return to growth was slower and lower than expected, should we prepare for a return to recession? That could be the second dip of a W-shaped curve - but it might even stem from a revision of the figure that seemingly ended the slump.
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What better monument to financial folly than the tower opened in Dubai at the start of 2010?
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Now that most businesses have joined the commentators in claiming they saw the crash coming, why didn’t they act? Because they have lived through enough crises they thought they could cope.
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There is not only a dearth of takeovers at present, there is a trend to abandon bids that have already been announced. Are bidders’ eyes proving bigger than their stomachs or have predators lost their nerve?
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The first indication that post-crisis regime of low interest rates is ending has emerged – on the opposite side of the world. Australia’s quarter per cent rise will gradually trigger increases across the rest of the globe.
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