Although David Cameron launched it, I assume George Osborne must have at least agreed the latest Conservative plan - to incentivise saving with tax relief paid for by cutting (unspecified) public spending. And I’m very disappointed, because George and I went to the same school and the same university (albeit he’s a bit younger than  me) so we probably took the same economics courses, and maybe even had the same teachers. Apparently, I needn’t have bothered listening to them - clearly George didn’t, and he’s now the Shadow Chancellor! Read more »

   Filed under: Macro-economic policy, Politics, Recession, They Just Don't Get It | 2 Comments »

A staggering and swaggering entry into the “they just don’t get it” category is the article by Czech President Vaclav Klaus in the FT today. He argues that the best way out of the current crisis is to deregulate everything. Sorry, I exaggerate. He actually only wrote that:

“The best thing to do now would be temporarily to weaken, if not repeal, various labour, environmental, social, health and other “standards”, because they block rational human activity more than anything else.”

Note that when people make such sweeping statements, they never specify which standards should go - the rules against drink driving, or use of asbestos, or sending children up chimneys? No, of course not, only the “bad” standards, like …. er…..something I overheard someone make up in a pub….

Thankfully, the Czech President is not in charge of the Czech Presidency of the EU. He’s in charge of important stuff, like whether to fly the EU flag or not (that’ll show those b-Euro-crats). Honestly, you couldn’t make it up!

   Filed under: Europe, They Just Don't Get It | No Comments »

The heartwarming New Year message from the British Chambers of Commerce is that the minimum wage should be frozen from October 2009.  I’ll write about this in more detail once I’m over the New Year revelries. But I had to say something about Tim Worstall’s piece calling for the same on the Guardian website.  Worstall is a fellow of the Adam Smith Institute and if you wanted a sign of how out of touch that breed of ideologue now is, you could do no better than this mind-bending sentence from the Guardian article:

Things in markets are worth what the markets say they are worth.

Worstall must inhabit a parallel universe where the inability of the financial markets to correctly price just about anything hasn’t led to a global economic crisis.  His comment pretty much sums up the deeply ideological and flawed nature of the rest of the article.  I’ll return to it soon.

   Filed under: Labour market, They Just Don't Get It | 7 Comments »

Once again the Taxpayers Alliance are all over the media. Today’s claim is that councils are spending millions on ’spin’ through an analysis of council’s PR budgets. But this is even more thinly based than most TPA reports. Councils have a statutory duty to advertise things like planning applications - hardly spin. Nor do I think the leaflet that comes through my door at this time of year telling me when the bins will be emptied over Christmas is propaganda, simply useful information.

Read more »

   Filed under: Tax, They Just Don't Get It | No Comments »

As activists, campaigners and most people in the global south demand a new global economic and financial settlement, the west’s business media are alive with the sound of staggering complacency and self-centredness and nowhere is that clearer than in Friday’s blogs from the FT’s Brussels and Foreign affairs editors, Tony Barber and Gideon Rachman. Read more »

   Filed under: Financial crisis, Recession, They Just Don't Get It | 1 Comment »

You gotta love Nigel Lawson.  Not content with taking on practically every climate scientist in the world over global warming, he now has these wise words on those calling for reform of the world’s financial architecture:

“That’s absolute claptrap. The French are always calling for it and you just have to let it blow over. Take no notice.”

I’m not naive enough to think that a new Bretton Woods deal is anything close to certain but a massive financial crisis, global recession and Barack Obama might suggest to the casual observer that this latest drive for change is a bit more than Gallic idiosyncrasy.

   Filed under: Financial crisis, They Just Don't Get It | No Comments »

So the global economic summit designed to rethink the world’s financial architecture is going to happen in Washington next month.  The White House said it will be an important opportunity for world leaders to

enhance their commitment to open, competitive economies, as well as trade and investment liberalisation.

Investment liberalisation!?  Isn’t that the problem?  Surely if this meeting should be about anything, it should be about investment regulation not liberalisation.  Let’s hope whoever takes over at the White House does get it.

   Filed under: Financial crisis, They Just Don't Get It | No Comments »

The state is now the majority shareholder in RBS and the biggest shareholder in other banks.

This did not happen because of some leftist urge by a retro Labour government, but because they needed rescuing from their own folly.

It does not look like their directors get this.

Read more »

   Filed under: Financial crisis, Tax, They Just Don't Get It | 1 Comment »

I detect the start of ‘credit crunch - it can’t be all bad’ sentiments.

Some of it is entirely justifiable schadenfreude at those losing their telephone number sized bonuses, though I expect they will soon get round this. It’s a pity we cannot use the Freedom of Information Act to demand a transcript of the discussions in the middle of the night where Sir Fred Goodwin is reported to have demanded a big pay-off before agreeing to stand down from RBS. In passing let me award him a “They Just Don’t Get It” gong.

Read more »

   Filed under: Financial crisis, They Just Don't Get It | No Comments »

Or in this case perhaps they do!

The FT has its regular How to Spend It magazine today - a regular peep into the lifestyles of the super-rich and famous.

Today’s issue is “the Bonus Issue”.

   Filed under: They Just Don't Get It | No Comments »