The newest member of the US Federal Reserve Bank, former Goldman Sachs executive Neel Kashkari, claims that the issues revealed in 2008 have still not been resolved. According to Kashkari, measures that were taken in the immediate aftermath of the crash were necessarily conservative given the weakness of the economy. …
Read More »The Myth of the 4th Industrial Revolution
Louis XV of France is reported to have presciently said, “After me the deluge…” That awareness that things could not go on as they had been was lost on Louis XVI, whose court behaved as if the real France was not falling apart around them. It was only the appointment …
Read More »Why low oil prices are bad for you
Despite the recent cheerleading from Ben Broadbent, the prolonged fall in the price of oil is bad for the UK economy. This is because – like most economists – Broadbent misunderstands the economic fundamentals. The accepted wisdom is that low oil prices are the equivalent of a tax cut for …
Read More »Core industries helped to shed skilled workers
2016 started badly for what remains of British industry with another round of steel closures and a collapse in North Sea oil and gas industry. In the days before we adopted the neoclassical religion, and had politicians who understood the meaning of the term “strategic resource”, the state would have …
Read More »No easy answers
More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness; the other to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly – Woody Allen An excerpt from Tim Watkins’ book: The Consciousness of Sheep Here’s a predicament …
Read More »Will 2016 be the year of “the bigger fool than me”?
Could 2016 be the year when the unsustainable global asset and debt bubble finally goes public? If the years following the Global Financial Meltdown of 2008 are true to form, we may well be about to enter the “public” or “bigger fool than me” stage in the economic cycle. Geographer …
Read More »Fracking Scottish independence to oblivion?
Scottish independence might be one of the less obvious victims of the US fracking boom if figures included in the UK government’s Autumn Statement prove accurate. In the run up to last year’s independence referendum, much of the economic case for independence revolved around the belief that the Scottish oil …
Read More »The Economics that George Osborne wants to hide
How do you make money? If you are in the majority, then you sell your time over and over to the same employer in exchange for wages. Some of you will be self-employed, which means that you not only have to sell your time but you must also spend additional …
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