Why I disagree with Ken Olisa on listing rules November 21, 2011 ZHEZKAZGAN, Sverdlovsk, Pavlodar. Not names your average investor will have heard of, but all of them are places of operation in Kazakhstan and Russia for an ever-increasing number of companies from overseas that have become members of the prestigious FTSE 100 share index. This seemingly open door to natural resource companies from countries where corporate [...]
Tightening up on loose interest rate language November 21, 2011 WOULD a rise in interest rates by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) constitute a tight monetary policy? Not necessarily. Economists tend to refer to the “neutral interest rate” as that which coincides with output growing at its trend rate and low inflationary pressure. Austrian school economists would also stress that interest rates [...]
RAPID RESPONSES November 21, 2011 Xmas trimmings Your comment pieces by Detlev Schlichter and Andrea Leadsom yesterday reminded me of an entry in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle – “In this year [1124] before Christmas King Henry gave instructions that all the moneyers who were in England should be deprived of their members, namely the right hand of each and their testicles [...]
Elastic money is folly – we are facing a breakdown in our entire monetary system November 20, 2011 What is the disease you diagnose in our monetary system? A. We have a strange monetary system. It is inherently unstable. It’s not the natural outcome of market forces. Most people don’t appreciate that the financial system is designed by politics. It’s a fiat money system based on government-controlled money, issued without limit under [...]
We should worry about taxpayers’ exposure to QE November 20, 2011 THE governor of the Bank of England (BoE) has just sent his ninth letter to the chancellor explaining why he and his impressive team on the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) have failed to meet the two per cent inflation target for yet another quarter. The chancellor will no doubt reply that the contents of the [...]
Britain must punch its weight within Europe November 20, 2011 THE political tensions and divided philosophies across Europe have once again returned to the spotlight, following David Cameron’s visit to Berlin last Friday. Strong language has been used on both sides of this debate, but understandably so, given the high stakes. Volker Kauder, of the Christian Democratic Union, made the provocative claim that “suddenly Europe [...]
RAPID RESPONSES November 20, 2011 Think global I agree with Matthew Sinclair [The carbon floor price needs to be scrapped]. Introducing a carbon floor price is wrong. With the UK facing the troubling prospect of a decade of stagnant growth, the government must prioritise: rescuing the economy, tackling the chronic level of youth unemployment and putting us firmly back on [...]
Rebalancing the economy is a priority: The carbon floor price needs to be scrapped November 17, 2011 POLITICIANS of all parties are keen that the British economy’s fortunes depend less on the work of CityAM’s readers. Chuka Umunna – Labour’s shadow business secretary – told Bloomberg this week that under the last government growth “was too concentrated in too few sectors, and in too few regions”. Similar sentiments have been expressed [...]
This tax will not fly: Don’t ground Britain’s growth November 17, 2011 THE chief executives of rival airlines Virgin Atlantic, easyJet, Ryanair and the IAG group – which includes British Airways – do not normally agree to share a platform. That they chose to yesterday morning – outlining their opposition to Air Passenger Duty (APD) – is a sign of how seriously the aviation sector takes this [...]
Democracy is thrown aside in the Eurozone November 17, 2011 THERE is not one elected official in Italy’s new government, but it’s apparently very bad form to mention it. Democratic government has been suspended on the fringes of the Eurozone with barely a whisper. News reports mention in passing that “technocrats” have been ushered in to make sure Greece and Italy reform their economies as [...]