Lots of Tory glee today about comments by Peer Steinbruck apparently criticising the Government’s fiscal stimulus.  It’s worth reading the whole interview by Steinbruck however before getting carried away. It’s clear he is not arguing against fiscal stimulus as such (the German’s have just agreed their own 32 billion euro package after all) but against attempts by [...]

Filed under: Financial crisis, Macro-economic policy, Recession | 1 Comment »

In the highly technical world of fiscal stimulus analysis, we often have to pay due regard to the ‘oomph quotient’: a precise measure of how stimulating any package is.  The US stimulus package announced earlier this year was very oomph worthy.  As I wrote on this blog some time ago, the US Government sent £85 [...]

Filed under: Employment, Financial crisis, Liveblogging the PBR, Macro-economic policy, Pensions, Recession, Tax | 1 Comment »

I work on the floor below Nigel and the sound of the gauntlet hitting the ground as he wrote that last post was deafening.  So what economic policies should social democrats be championing now given that: a) we are about to enter a serious recession and we need to protect those who face hardship while [...]

Filed under: Energy, Environment, Macro-economic policy, Manufacturing, Skills, Tax | 2 Comments »

Paul Mason highlights this superb but pretty scary Wall Street Journal article today. The WSJ isn’t exactly what you would call a liberal paper which makes one section towards the end of the article even more striking.

Filed under: Macro-economic policy, Tax | 1 Comment »

The EU’s prediction of recession in the UK is widely reported.  More importantly, a debate about how to respond is slowly taking shape.  A good article by Seumus Milne in The Guardian today on this and Paul Mason on Newsnight yesterday quoted figures from my previous post on a fiscal stimulus.  Paul suggested the Government [...]

Filed under: Macro-economic policy | No Comments »