The effects of quantitative easing on business lending are unclear but the effects on savings are patent. Long after Sir Mervyn King has stopped governing the Bank of England, long after George Osborne is no longer chancellor – long after QE ends - millions of people will be paying the price of this policy in poorer pensions.
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Unemployment - unlike inflation or interest rates or currency levels – is not data studied intensely by companies because it does not directly affect their business. Yet it looks like one of the strongest indicators of the UK economy.
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The chancellor is under attack from charities to reverse his budget plan to curb tax reliefs. Well George, you may be presenting your case badly but don’t do a U-turn. Despite what everyone says, you’re doing the right thing.
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Labour leader Ed Miliband asked the wrong question when he goaded government ministers on budget day about whether they benefit from abolishing the 50p tax rate. Instead of asking if they currently pay 50p, he should have asked if they currently avoid it.
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Whoever heads the new government review of pensions needs to remember just one thing. If money isn’t put into the pot, it can’t come out. Everything else is debating how to cut up a cake that hasn’t been baked.
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The financial crisis caused companies to cut dividends to conserve cash. Now they are throwing money at shareholders. Is the next phase a cut in payments so directors can go on a spending spree?
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So donors to political parties get to meet ministers! Maybe it is because people prepared to fund a party are also interested in politics?
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The justification for taxing property rather than people is that buildings don’t move: the taxman always knows where they are. Well, before Britain resurrects plans for a mansion tax it ought to look at Ireland’s latest levy on property. Half the country is refusing to pay.
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If Sly Bailey wasn’t the Daily Mirror’s chief executive, the tabloid would be castigating her as a fat cat. More than a penny of every pound profit the publishing group makes goes into her pocket while shareholders get nothing.
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When French energy group GDF acquired control of Britain’s International Power in 2010 this blog criticised the pyramid structure. Now that the pyramid is being lowered, it would be churlish to complain.
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