Cautious Britons are saving at a record rate, as the stark reality of economic contraction begins to crystallize in the public consciousness. Deposits held by households jumped a record £25.6 billion in May, adding to a significant savings stockpile accrued in the preceding months, latest Bank of England data has revealed. Concomitantly, mortgage approvals declinedContinue reading “Saving Soars as Spending Slumps”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Deceptive Dichotomy
After a brief hiatus, global stock markets have resumed their upward trajectory. Reports of yet further expansion in government spending and variants of central bank intervention finding favour in preference to hard data, despite the news in fact being speculation or belated, previously proclaimed intervention.
‘Wired’ Wall Street is Hooked on QE
US Stocks Distended on Fed’s Wall of Money. US Citizens Disquieted by Wall of Worry The US economy faces tremendous turmoil: a pandemic proliferating a virus for which there is no vaccine, an apparently fathomless global recession, prodigious levels of unemployment, spiralling national debt, central bank debt monetisation masquerading as stimulus, a controversial and capriciousContinue reading “‘Wired’ Wall Street is Hooked on QE”
Sleepwalking into Catastrophe.
Suspended Economic Reality is Drawing to an Imminent Conclusion. The True Scale of UK Unemployment is on the Cusp of Revelation. Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s furlough programme has, by the metric of its stated purpose been an apparent success, hitherto preventing a dramatic increase in unemployment during lockdown. A disconcertingly prodigious 8.4 million workers currently fallContinue reading “Sleepwalking into Catastrophe.”
The End of British Diplomatic Ambiguity
As US-Sino Tensions Escalate, Post-Brexit Britain Must Definitively Choose a Side When, on the 23rd June 2016 the BBC’s veteran political broadcaster David Dimbleby declared ‘we’re out‘, as the result of the the British-EU referendum, the economic and geopolitical landscape was one of flourishing world trade, established globalisation and apparently benign diplomatic relations between theContinue reading “The End of British Diplomatic Ambiguity”
What Price Democracy? EU Commission Seeks Unparalleled New Powers.
The EU Stands On the Cusp of a Momentous, Democratically Deficient Decision. Ultimately, Who Will Be Answerable to Whom? At its nadir, the 2008 financial crisis threatened to tear the European Union asunder, yet the wealthier (Northern) nations determinedly resisted pleas to embrace collectivised debt. This time however, the coronavirus pandemic has proven so economicallyContinue reading “What Price Democracy? EU Commission Seeks Unparalleled New Powers.”
The Recovery in Southern European Bonds is Built Upon a Foundation of Empty Rhetoric
Just over a week ago, Germany and France pushed for another EU recovery fund, this time announcing a proposal to disperse €500 billion. Reports on the day suggested this was a boost for efforts to create a coordinated European fiscal response to the coronavirus pandemic. The fact estimated costs of relieving the crisis already stoodContinue reading “The Recovery in Southern European Bonds is Built Upon a Foundation of Empty Rhetoric”
Brexit: Deleterious Delay Must be Avoided.
Remember when every inch of newsprint, every television and radio report, each social media post was apparently devoted to Brexit? The epoch of calamitous prophesy. The period sardonically described by ex Bank of England Governor Sir Mervyn King as a “collective nervous breakdown”. Insightful, how a genuine crisis has driven the previously all consuming subjectContinue reading “Brexit: Deleterious Delay Must be Avoided.”
Stepping Through the Looking Glass: Bank of England Contemplates Negative Interest Rates
Andy Haldane, Bank of England Chief Economist has spoken publicly in the aftermath of the Bank’s latest despondent forecast, in which it predicts the deepest economic contraction in 300 years (-25%) and a sharp rise in the unemployment rate toward 9% (the highest since 1994). Mr Haldane says he fears the impact of the pandemicContinue reading “Stepping Through the Looking Glass: Bank of England Contemplates Negative Interest Rates”
Britain’s Debt Dilemma.
As Covid 19 ravages the economy and the concomitant costs of mitigation continue to spiral, the debt debate is prompting paroxysms of anguish. Opinion is firmly divided, each side becoming more entrenched and more certain of the other’s inefficacy. Leaked confidential Treasury assessments of the coronavirus crisis estimate a cost to the Treasury of circaContinue reading “Britain’s Debt Dilemma.”
BROAD SPECTRUM 