Green Politics
Pimco chief slams austerity in interview with FT
Bill Gross, manager of the world’s largest bond fund for Pimco and one of the most widely followed and influential voices in the bond market, has attacked the UK's and Eurozone's austerity measures, saying that austerity is not the way to induce growth.
When economists are wrong we all suffer. And we now know the debt obsession is wholly misplaced
It was argued by Reinhart- Rogoff that high debt essentially meant that the state captured all resources, used them inefficiently, prevented the private sector using them and so curtailed growth at cost to everyone. There’s just one problem.
The weakness of the wider economy is catching up with the labour market
Whilst important not to read too much into one set of figures, it may now be the case that the weakness of the wider economy is catching up with the labour market.
Unemployment up 70,000 to 2.56 million
Unemployment rose by 70,000 between December 2012 and February 2013 to 2.56 million, and the unemployment rate has risen to 7.9%, today’s labour market statistics reveal.
Thatcherism and Ukip are the perfect match
Writing in The Times yesterday (£), Nigel Farage claimed that if Margaret Thatcher was still leader of the Conservative Party there would be no need for Ukip. More specifically he said: “Had she still been in power in 1992, there would have been a referendum on [the Maastricht] treaty, and the need for UKIP would probably never have arisen.”
IMF calls on Osborne to ease up on austerity
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut the UK's growth forecast more than any other major economy and called for the government to spend more to stimulate growth.