-
Why is UK output per hour so low?
It seems that the USA, Germany & France make 25-30% more GDP per work hour than the UK, whilst surprisingly Japan makes less. This suggests to me that if our economy is doing well as the government claims, it must be because we are employed for longer hours in lower grade jobs than the countries scoring more highly than…
-
Miliband pledges to scrap stamp duty to woo first time buyers
according to FT https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDi6G2yW0AEjQr7.jpg not sure if I agree to be honest even though I own a first time buyer type of home. It will probably inflate the market more, so it doesn't help the buyer much. The lost revenue will also have to be made up from somewhere as well.
-
Generali's ANZAC Day Quiz
Well tomorrow marks the 100th Anniversary of ANZAC day so I thought I'd do a quick quiz, based on a Podcast I heard today. Three questions. The questions regard all people across the world, not just rich people or European people. Everyone from Melbourne to Mogadishu to Manchester. 1. What proportion of kids are vaccinated…
-
The Mash 'who to vote for' test
this could probably be used more accurately than most of the policy guides to predict actual voting behaviour. Alas! http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/features/the-mash-who-to-vote-for-test-2015042797753
-
National debt going up £5000 per second
Just thought some people on here needed a reality check... http://www.nationaldebtclock.co.uk/ Government debt is now rising at £5000 per second, UK finances have not even come close to being balanced to anything like it needs to be. Every day we are putting off the inevitable day when we need to roll our sleeves up and…
-
Land Reg.. fall of 0.8%
Release date: 20 April 2015 March House Price Index - headline figures from Land Registry’s HPI show an annual price increase of 5.3 per cent with the average price in England & Wales now £178,007 compared with a peak of £181,049 in November 2007. Monthly house prices down 0.8 per cent since February 2015.…
-
The economy and the Green argument
Just occasionally, you hear a snippet on a debate program which makes you think. Most of these debates are the usual old rhetoric statements. The debate was about being Green and each party was doing it's utmost to mostly talk about how worthy they were. A point was then made. If you factor in the services and goods…
-
Can you argue against the greens?
You might think it will be quite an easy task to argue against a Green party spokesperson. So I put something to you... Today, locally, I heard someone from the Green party stating that when it comes to housing, the mainstream parties are "doing the same thing and expecting a different result". By that, he meant relying…
-
BBC had a refugee on the news this morning
and they showed his journey, from Sudan, via Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and then boat to Greece. So, how did he get from the safety of Greece to the UK? Surely he was safe in Greece (or Turkey, or even Jordan). Then he was safe in the other umpteen countries he went through to get here. The question is: 1. Why did he wait to…
-
every little had better help... Tesco massive loss
Breaking news on Sky, will put link up when I get one. Sky reporting that Tesco likely to report a £5bn loss tomorrow, one of the largest ever in UK corporate history. ETA.. link: http://news.sky.com/story/1469652/tesco-loss-to-be-among-biggest-in-uk-history
-
Tory housing association policy was condemned by their own minister 18 months ago!
Perhaps the Tories are so desperate for populist policies, they will repeat the disastrous sell off of council properties which led to the long term shortage of social rented accommodation. However, this statement from the Tory housing minister 18 months ago proves they fully understand the problems, and are far more…
-
The Stakhanovite desire to be Really Useful Engines
AKA When Economists Breed: https://medium.com/bull-market/the-economics-and-politics-of-thomas-the-tank-engine-8bbc05494b08 This examines the ownership structure of the railway system on Sodor. Their polity, e.g. is The Earl a mere figurehead or holder of genuine power holder as a balance to the clear hegemonic position of…
-
Has Capitalism Met the Marxist Utopia?
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/Marx_Critque_of_the_Gotha_Programme.pdf Karl Marx's most famous quote was probably, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need". For many people that sums up Marxism at a stroke: you do an honest day's work and you receive in return what is…
-
UK debt 900% of our economy......
The debt time bomb that is Britain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy5NwxeQzGM
-
Rent Seeking
I have occasionally sought to explain economic terms as I see them and thought I would look at rent seeking. To start with what it isn't, it's not renting stuff out: it's not Air BnB or Uber! Rent seeking occurs as a result of Government actions in the economy. An example of rent seeking is the use of subsidies in…
-
The Lawyer Apocalypse of Uber
I've posted before that Uber's business model is basically to set up an illegal minicab service dressed up as a software platform. Well it looks like I'm not the only one that thinks so: http://www.breitbart.com/california/2015/04/16/with-catastrophic-liability-jury-trial-looming-uber-dumps-counsel/ According to the…
-
The Coming Robot Apocalypse of Me!
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/12/your-money/start-ups-offer-financial-advice-to-people-who-arent-rich.html?_r=1 The Zombie Robot Apocalypse is coming for asset managers. Dammit. We charge 1% a year all up roughly. That's typical for Aus. If you invested in a couple of Vanguard funds and used one of these companies to…
-
Hard working people on welfare
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32272817 Supermarket workers have to claim £11bn benefits, charity says ................................ This is why the UK is broken. Any man or woman that is willing to get up at 7am every morning, do a 40 hour plus week deserves to be earning a wage that pays for their housing, food, fuel…
-
Unemployment down to 5.6%
At the last general election it was 7.9% and climbing. I generally support the idea that running a huge deficit is unsustainable and therefore the budget had to be tightened but would never have bet that whilst this was going on we would have seen a sharp fall in unemployment, indeed I thought an increase to 10% much more…
-
The Economics of Money and Banking
Upcoming free Coursera course. Given how many times we've discussed this subject hereabouts I thought there may be a few takers. It's in two parts. The Economics of Money and Banking part I, starts 3rd May https://www.coursera.org/course/money Part I covers: Course Syllabus Introduction 1: The Four Prices of Money 2: The…