Greedy bankers get slated for ISAs. Is it deserved?
31 Mar 2010 [0 Comments | 175 views]
A big row is breaking out between consumers and the banks. Err, well, that’s not new. But this time, the focus of attention is cash ISAs and greedy banks. According to Consumer Focus: “A third of the UK population has a cash ISA, and consumers view them as safe and reliable accounts suitable for long-term [...]
You will need an oxygen mask, ropes and a pickaxe if you want to ascend the great mountain called UK debt
31 Mar 2010 [1 Comment | 263 views]
Are you feeling masochistic? If so, you may be delighted to know that Credit Action has released a report highlighting the scale of Britain’s indebtedness. In all the fuss over the public debt, we can too easily ignore the huge scale of consumer debt. Well, ignore it no more, here are the key findings. According [...]
Are we really too stupid to get climate change?
31 Mar 2010 [0 Comments | 177 views]
There have been some developments on the climate change front. While climate change sceptics lambast the University of East Anglia (UEA) and its Professor Phil Jones for allegedly hiding e-mail contradicting the man-made hypothesis, and while cynics in general suggest that the whole climate change thing is a money-making scam, a new scandal can be [...]
House prices see modest recovery, but the underlying trend still points down
31 Mar 2010 [1 Comment | 251 views]
Two bits of key data on the housing market have seen the light of day over the last couple of days. Nationwide’s latest survey showed rises in average prices during March, but figures from the Bank of England point to falls ahead. According to the Nationwide, house prices rose 0.7 per cent in March, after [...]
Did men and testosterone create the crisis of our times?
30 Mar 2010 [2 Comments | 424 views]
Maybe the real problem with bankers is that too many of them are men. At least, that’s one of the more popular of the theories explaining what caused the credit bubble. The argument goes like this. The problem with bankers is they took too many risks. This risk taking was encouraged by too much testosterone. [...]
The battle of idealism: do tax cuts create tax revenue?
30 Mar 2010 [2 Comments | 305 views]
In last night’s debate between Messrs Darling, Osborne, and Cable, the debate turned to a pretty crucial point. The Tories want to reduce National Insurance contributions. Both Cable and Darling pointed out the common-sense flaw in this argument, that the Tories seem to want to do the impossible, that is cut the government deficit and [...]
The three chancellors and the confirmation bias
30 Mar 2010 [0 Comments | 365 views]
Last night, from the three chancellors, or to be precise the one chancellor and two wannabe chancellors, we saw classic confirmation bias. This is when we make up our minds that something is true, and from that moment on we only consider evidence which supports our view and we reject everything else. The confirmation bias [...]
Murdoch bites the subscription bullet
29 Mar 2010 [0 Comments | 200 views]
The war on free content has gathered new momentum as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp announced that from May, content for The Times and Sunday Times will no longer be available for free. Readers wishing to access content from the newspapers will be charged £1 to read one day’s worth of content and £2 to have [...]
The economic league chart that matters hits the press
29 Mar 2010 [0 Comments | 217 views]
In all the hullabaloo over the last couple of years, economists have had this tendency to overlook the things that really matter in the process of wealth creation. Sure, debt matters; so does monetary policy; and so does the value of a currency. But there are deeper forces at work, too; things that operate beneath [...]
Threat of double dip recession looms
26 Mar 2010 [0 Comments | 204 views]
China remains worried. While Mr Sarkozy and Ms Merkel were celebrating the fat Greek wedding of IMF and eurozone support, Zhu Min, who is the Deputy Governor at the People’s Bank of China, said: “Greece is only one case, but it’s only a tip of the iceberg.” He added: “It’s not a short term issue… [...]
