President fires back at company after it said its watch and headphones would cost more if China tariffs go aheadDonald Trump tweeted on Saturday that Apple should make products in the United States if it wants to avoid tariffs on Chinese imports.The company told trade officials in a letter on Friday that the proposed tariffs would affect prices for a “wide range” of Apple products, including its watch.Apple prices may increase because of the massive Tariffs we may be imposing on China - but there is an easy solution where there would be ZERO tax, and indeed a tax incentive. Make your products in the United States instead of China. Start building new plants now. Exciting! #MAGARelated: Trump threatens new tariffs on $267bn of Chinese goods Continue reading...

As America’s economy booms, investors are lured back to the US – and away from the countries that were relying on themIn the past six months, some of the world’s fastest-growing economies have found themselves flat on the floor, gasping for breath and, in one case, seeking help from the global financial rescue centre otherwise known as the International Monetary Fund.Argentina’s $50bn bailout by the Washington-based lender of last resort is the most extreme event so far, but it sits alongside the dramatic collapse of the Turkish lira, a recession in South Africa and dire economic predictions for the Philippines, Indonesia and Mexico.Related: Trump threatens new tariffs on $267bn of Chinese goods Continue reading...

President says further package ‘ready to go’ as Apple warns trade war will hike prices

The technology could vastly improve lives, the economist says – but only if the tech titans that control it are properly regulated. ‘What we have now is totally inadequate’It must be hard for Joseph Stiglitz to remain an optimist in the face of the grim future he fears may be coming. The Nobel laureate and former chief economist at the World Bank has thought carefully about how artificial intelligence will affect our lives. On the back of the technology, we could build ourselves a richer society and perhaps enjoy a shorter working week, he says. But there are countless pitfalls to avoid on the way. The ones Stiglitz has in mind are hardly trivial. He worries about hamfisted moves that lead to routine exploitation in our daily lives, that leave society more divided than ever and threaten the fundamentals of democracy.“Artificial intelligence and robotisation have the potential to increase the productivity of the economy and, in principle, that could make everybody better off,” he says. “But only if they are well managed.”We’ve gone from a 60-hour working week to a 45-hour week and we could go to 30 or 25 Continue reading...

Readers discuss the IPPR’s report on rebalancing the economy, bankers’ bonuses, the NAO report on personal debt, the left’s response to the 2008 financial crisis, and the hopes placed on a Corbyn-led Labour partyThe IPPR report contains many intriguing ideas (Tom Kibasi: We can and must rebalance the economy. Here’s how, 5 September). By 2022, when we could have an effective reforming government, the systemic inequalities the report identifies will have increased considerably, local authorities will be in their death throes, and a Brexit recession may be under way. The problems will be immense. But the solutions proposed by Kibasi, Welby et al amount to feng shui realignments of the devastation wrought by Osborne’s wrecking balls.“Workers on boards”, to take one example, will require legislation, regulation, oversight, education, time and funding. The system works well where there is an extensive Mittelstand, but may not suit our complex outsourced structures, which were developed precisely to circumvent the type of demands workers would make (decent conditions, good wages and secure pensions). Continue reading...

The true story of how the City of London invented offshore banking – and set the rich freeEvery January, to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Oxfam tells us how much richer the world’s richest people have got. In 2016, their report showed that the wealthiest 62 individuals owned the same amount as the bottom half of the world’s population. This year, that number had dropped to 42: three-and-half-dozen people with as much stuff as three-and-a-half billion.This yearly ritual has become part of the news cycle, and the inequality it exposes has ceased to shock us. The very rich getting very much richer is now part of life, like the procession of the seasons. But we should be extremely concerned: their increased wealth gives them ever-greater control of our politics and of our media. Countries that were once democracies are becoming plutocracies; plutocracies are becoming oligarchies; oligarchies are becoming kleptocracies.Related: Nevis: how the world’s most secretive offshore haven refuses to clean up Continue reading...

Poll comes amid concern record employment masks poor-quality, insecure jobsBritain’s worst bosses will have nowhere to hide under plans to survey the quality of jobs in the UK by tracking how workers feel about their managers as well as their mental health and sense of job security.The government is considering measuring the quality as well as quantity of work, amid growing concern that the social and economic benefits of record high levels of employment are being undermined by poor quality, insecure jobs.Related: The Guardian view on record employment: Not the whole picture | EditorialRelated: Pay growth slows to weakest in a year despite fall in joblessnessMinimum wages in the UK explainedRelated: UK employment is up – it’s just a shame the workers are so miserable | Faiza Shaheen Continue reading...

Rising inflation and falling wage growth add to woes of traditional retailersThe UK high street has posted its worst August performance for three years, in further evidence of the pressure on traditional retailers.Underlying sales at physical stores slid 2.7% last month, compared with August 2017, with homewares and fashion taking the biggest hit, according to the latest data from the advisory firm BDO, which monitors mid-sized, non-food chains. Continue reading...

All the day’s economic and financial news, as emerging market shares and currencies slide

Proposed levies would come on top of existing 25% tariffs on $50bn of Chinese exportsBeijing has laid the ground for another round of tit-for-tat tariffs in the US-China trade war as it declared its readiness to retaliate if Washington imposes a fresh set of duties on $200bn (£155bn) of Chinese goods, which could happen as soon as this week.The proposed new tariffs from Washington – levied at 25% of the value of thousands of specific products – would come on top of existing 25% tariffs on $50bn of Chinese exports, most of which kicked in on 6 July. China was quick to strike back then, imposing tariffs on a similar amount of US goods.Related: Trump's WTO threats matter – especially to a post-Brexit Britain Continue reading...

Secular stagnation advocates should agree on outcome if their preferred policies had been implementedAs Larry Summers rightly points out, the term “secular stagnation” became popular as the second world war was drawing to a close. Alvin Hansen (and many others) worried that, without the stimulation provided by the war, the economy would return to recession or depression. There was, it seemed, a fundamental malady.But it didn’t happen. How did Hansen and others get it so wrong? Like some modern-day secular stagnation advocates, there were deep flaws in the underlying micro- and macroeconomic analysis – most importantly, in the analysis of the causes of the Great Depression itself.Related: Weak economic recovery was down to flawed policies, not secular stagnation | Joseph StiglitzInadequate financial regulation left Americans vulnerable to predatory banking behaviour and saddled with enormous debts Continue reading...

The latest demands from the IPPR give Labour the perfect opportunity to push the envelope further leftAs the economist Milton Friedman once said: “Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around.” It was an insight Friedman and his co-thinkers deployed with great success to seed the ideological beginnings of neoliberalism.Laissez-faire economics lay discredited after the Great Depression and the resulting rise in extremism, and then the success of wartime planning and the rise of the left. But Friedman and his allies refused to give up, meeting in the picturesque Swiss village of Mont Pèlerin in 1947 to prepare an intellectual fightback. When crisis did indeed come, three decades later, the ideological foundations for what became known as Thatcherism and Reaganism had already been constructed.Related: Thinktank calls for major overhaul of Britain's economyRelated: We can and must rebalance the economy. Here’s how | Tom Kibasi Continue reading...

Watchdog calculates cost to business and public purse of indebted and stressed adults – not helped by harsh bailiffsThe British economy is losing almost £900m a year from the rapid rise in personal debt problems, according to a report from the Whitehall spending watchdog.The National Audit Office (NAO) report said reduced levels of worker efficiency, people staying away from work and greater chances of people in debt committing crime, meant there was a wider cost of £897m annually to the overall economy.Related: MPs rebuke councils for 'overzealous' use of bailiffs Continue reading...

The IPPR’s proposal will not be popular among directors, but the idea is soundMany of the arguments in the IPPR’s prosperity and economic justice report would probably raise a cheer or two in big British boardrooms. Not every director is a wild advocate for the shareholder-first version of capitalism that the report diagnoses as a major failing in the UK economy. Far-sighted business folk happily concede that short-term horizons can lead unhappily to under-investment and the pursuit of impossible targets.It’s just that, when it comes to one specific recommendation in the IPPR’s report, one can hear the howls of outrage already. The idea that large companies of more than 250 employees should have at least two elected workers on both their main board and their remuneration committee will be damned as unworkable, naive and a certain route to making companies uncompetitive. Continue reading...

The claim that Britain’s economic model is systemically unjust was recently deemed radical and extreme. Now it is indisputableEd Miliband is not often cited among the big winners in British politics. His five-year term as Labour leader ended in a humiliating election defeat. But that does not necessarily invalidate arguments he tried to make about injustice built into the UK economy, the systematic depression of wages and a short-term profiteering culture that spread insecurity and inequality. Mr Miliband’s analysis has subsequently been vindicated, to the extent that many Conservatives now talk about a crisis in capitalism. When Labour figures use that kind of language, the Tories denounce it as a slippery slope towards Bolshevism.In a polarised political climate it is important to build on areas of consensus, so a substantial and non-partisan economic reform programme, published this week, should be welcome across the political spectrum. The Institute for Public Policy Research thinktank issued the final report of its commission for economic justice, bringing together business leaders, economists, trade unionists, representatives from the worlds of technology, finance, charities – and the archbishop of Canterbury. Justin Welby’s presence on the panel is a reminder that economics can, or should be, an ethical pursuit as well as a technical one. Continue reading...

The language of enchantment is used by architects, bankers, entrepreneurs, marketers and others devoted to the art of ‘spin’, says Brian Moeran. Plus: lessons have been learned since the 2008 crash, says Nick Mayer, a former director for Lehman BrothersPhilip Pullman presents a persuasive case for why we should continue to believe in magic (The realm of enchantment, Review, 1 September), even though most Guardian readers live in a contemporary social world that pays lip service at least to rational practices (Donald Trump notwithstanding). He asks whether there might be varieties of magical experience and suggests that such a book has yet to be written.Such a book does indeed exist. A recent edited volume, Magical Capitalism, covers topics ranging from contract law to science, by way of finance, business, marketing, advertising, cultural production, and the political economy in general. Its contributors – all anthropologists – argue that the kind of magic studied by their predecessors in less developed societies – shamanism, sorcery, enchantment, the occult – is not only alive and well, but flourishing in the midst of so-called “modernity”. As the Ashmolean Museum exhibition would have its visitors, we are frequently and unconsciously “spellbound”. Continue reading...

IMF head says the male domination of banking could lead to another financial crisisChristine Lagarde has said male domination of the banking industry made the collapse of Lehman Brothers more likely, as she urged further reforms to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis triggered by its failure a decade ago.Writing on the IMF blog ahead of the 10th anniversary of the US investment bank’s collapse next week, the head of the International Monetary Fund said significant measures had been taken to fix the financial system, although she warned more work was still required, particularly on gender diversity. Continue reading...

Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and China are among those hit by trade wars and strong dollarEmerging markets have been hit by a renewed wave of sell-offs in shares and currencies, with Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and China among the countries hit by trade war tensions and a strengthening dollar.European shares also fell on Wednesday as investors registered concerns over the impact on the global economy if more emerging markets were to follow Argentina and Turkey into financial crisis.Related: Emerging markets: who's taking the biggest hits and why? Continue reading...

Government’s ambitious strategy does not provide any clarity for British firmsThe British government has launched its plan to turn the United Kingdom into an “exporting superpower”. It is an ambitious, if not entirely fanciful, goal.Given the escalating trade war between the US and China, countries around the world are rushing to consolidate their trade relations and preserve existing supply chains. Not so the UK, which is in the final stages of negotiations to withdraw from the European Union – a move that will upend its relationship with its single largest trade partner. The country will soon become not just a lesser exporter but also a lesser power.Related: Was the financial crisis wasted? | Howard DaviesThe crankshaft of a BMW Mini crosses the English Channel three times before the car is completed Continue reading...

Industry accounting for 80% of economic output held back by labour shortage – surveyBritain’s services sector is increasingly struggling to find enough workers amid falling numbers of skilled applicants as Britain prepares to leave the EU.The latest snapshot from IHS Markit and the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (Cips) for the services industry – which accounts for almost 80% of national economic output – suggested companies are being held back from carrying out their activities by the labour shortage. Continue reading...

Ireland is the EU’s star performer, but almost 700 families have become homeless in the capital this yearJobs are bountiful, luring back emigrants and drawing newcomers. Property prices are soaring. Chic restaurants are fully booked weeks in advance. RTÉ television is showcasing the top new entries to Ireland’s rich list – many of them tech tycoons , plus a Ferrari salesman and other purveyors of luxury.Not long ago considered a hopeless case, Ireland’s economy is now roaring ahead with 5.6% GDP growth, making it the European Union’s star performer.Related: Dublin's ghost signs: preserving a city's fading memoriesCongratulations to everyone occupying the vacant property at 34 Nth Frederick St, Dublin. Injunction be damned: it’s better to break the law than to break the poor. #TakeBacktheCity #HousingCrisis Continue reading...

From rising rents to stagnating wages, millions struggle in Britain’s skewed system. My thinktank has some answersToday, most people in poverty are in working households. Despite near full employment, pay continues to stagnate for the majority of people, even while growth has occurred. The nations and regions of the UK continue to diverge. For many, work is precarious as well as poorly paid: nearly a million people are on zero-hours contracts and many more are in bogus self-employment, where employers have simply sought to shirk their responsibilities. It is a state of profound economic injustice.That’s why the message of the Institute for Public Policy Research commission on economic justice, which I chair, is that the economy needs fundamental change.Related: UK wage growth slides to lowest rate in six months Continue reading...

Claims that the finance sector brings jobs and revenue were exposed as a sham – and the rest of us inherited a legacy of debtAugust 2005, and the people who steer the world economy gather in the mountains of Wyoming. Flying in are finance ministers and central bank chiefs. In front of this global elite, the International Monetary Fund’s chief economist will sound the gravest warning of his life. Raghuram Rajan must try to avert a catastrophe, yet as he leaves home he tells his wife, “Either this talk will make me or I’ll look a fool for evermore.”The summit is supposed to be one big leaving bash for Alan Greenspan, stepping down after nearly two decades running the US Federal Reserve. “We were all competing to say how great a central banker he had been,” Rajan told me in an interview for a Radio 4 programme to be aired this month. He’d even begun researching a presentation about “all the wonderful things that had happened” in finance under Greenspan’s reign. Except the closer he looked, the more frightened he became.Voters moaned about politicians looking and sounding the same, but for Wall Street, it was a huge plusRelated: Ten years on, how countries that crashed are faringRelated: What happens when ordinary people learn economics? | Aditya Chakrabortty Continue reading...

The UK is the fifth most unequal country in Europe but has taken steps to reduce disparities of income

IPPR commission suggests changes on a par with Labour’s post-war reforms

Thinktank commission calls for reviving trade unions and raising the minimum wage

Theresa May danced across the continent – but the UK needs to stop arrogantly assuming Africa will fill the Brexit trade gapWhile the British media dined out on Theresa May’s Africa trip last week, Africans are still reeling from the reporting. Sky News captioned Uhuru Kenyatta as “president of Africa”, while the BBC gave the title he should have had, “president of Kenya”, to his rival, Raila Odinga.There are a million metaphors in Britons declaring an African superstate based in Kenya – who knew our broadcasters were such pan-Africanists? – and declaring an Odinga coup. But the reality is that there is widespread cluelessness in Britain about the political and economic situation across the continent today, and it shows.Related: May's gawky, awkward moves in Africa not confined to dance steps Continue reading...

The Treasury committee is questioning BoE governor Mark Carney about the UK economy, and his own future

When I was in care the system was strained. A Manchester Evening News report shows that it’s now all but brokenI grew up in care, alongside 20 other children with whom I shared foster homes and children’s homes in Manchester. In May, I wrote a piece for the Guardian about the time I spent looking for those kids later in life. I only managed to find a handful, but all of those I did see again – 15 years later – had grappled with severe hardship since leaving the care system.Related: Revealed: cash crisis pushing child services to tipping pointRelated: I tried to track down all the friends I grew up with in care – here’s what I found Continue reading...

President Macri will raise export taxes and slash spending in push to reduce budget deficitArgentina has announced sweeping new austerity measures in an attempt to stem its unfolding currency crisis, prior to receiving $50bn (£38.8bn) of funding from the International Monetary Fund.Speaking as the peso dropped to a fresh record low on Monday, President Mauricio Macri said the country was facing an economic emergency that would require austerity measures to resolve. Argentina will slash spending and raise export taxes in a push to accelerate reductions to its budget deficit.Related: Markets are all about the timing – and Argentina got clocked Continue reading...

August figures dragged down by fall in exports and optimism for year ahead at 22-month lowBritain’s manufacturers face a difficult autumn as the Brexit deadline looms and Donald Trump’s trade sanctions hit exports, according to figures for the sector in August.A survey of manufacturers has found that growth slowed last month to its lowest level since July 2016, dragged down by a shock fall in exports.Related: Car manufacturing in Britain fell by 11% in July, reports SMMT Continue reading...

Former Trump White House chief strategist says populist surge a ‘global revolution’ that is coming to AustraliaAustralia is on the “frontlines” of an economic war with China, a “totalitarian mercantilist” regime that must be confronted, according to former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.In a wide-ranging interview on ABC’s Four Corners, Bannon also said that the populist surge that swept Donald Trump to the US presidency and delivered the vote for Brexit in the UK was a “global revolution” that was coming to Australia.Related: Steve Bannon plans foundation to fuel far right in EuropeRelated: Hard-right columnists with no mass audience cause enough turmoil to ruin leaders | Jason Wilson Continue reading...

Bikers are getting older and the chill from the president’s tariffs is getting colder – what’s an American icon to do?Milwaukee is a pretty city. On any normal day, visitors can walk around the genteel downtown area, taking in a slew of neo-gothic buildings, or look to the east, where sailboats bob on Lake Michigan.

Financialised capitalism has failed, and cannot be fixed by more and better regulation

The World Trade Organisation is already hurtling towards a crisis, with the US having blocked new appeal judgesThe World Trade Organisation is hurtling towards crisis. Set up more than two decades ago to break down protectionist barriers and to ensure countries play by the rules of international commerce, the WTO is firmly in Donald Trump’s isolationist sights.Up to now, the White House has been waging war by stealth. Trump has garnered the big headlines for his broadsides against China, the European Union, and Canada, while at the same time conducting a quiet war against the WTO. Continue reading...

Lenders will continue to offer payday loans, because the number of people living precarious lives is still risingThe demand for Wonga-like payday lenders is only going to rise and rise. Blame the digital age and its emphasis on speed and flexibility in all things.Wonga, which sank on Thursday under a mountain of compensation claims, is likely to rise from the ashes in a new guise and compete again with the many other financial firms offering instant loans at huge interest rates. The target market – that of people on low to average incomes who live from one micro-job to the next – is only going to get bigger. Wonga failed because it was too greedy and at times crossed the ethical line. Under a new management, a firm that plays it straight could still prosper.Every year, more jobs that were once full-time and salaried are converted to being part-time and self-employed Continue reading...

Cash-starved councils are being forced to cut the early interventions that might keep vulnerable children out of careFor decades, local councils have been responsible for maintaining the safety net of last resort for those most susceptible to falling through the cracks. Vulnerable children at risk of neglect or abuse, older people who can’t afford care, adults with disabilities, the homeless: all rely on local, rather than central, government for support. When councils fail in their responsibilities, the consequences can be horrific. Who can forget Baby P, the toddler who, among other injuries, suffered a broken back, a fractured shinbone and a ripped ear before he died at the hands of his carers in 2007? Or Victoria Climbié, subject to months of torture then murder in 2000?The Observer is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, founded in 1791. It is published by Guardian News & Media and is editorially independent.

Chancellors have fought shy of reforming a system in which higher-rate taxpayers benefit most. But £10bn could be savedPensions tax relief is a juicy morsel for the chancellor should he find a way to make it benefit the exchequer. Even a small slice of the £38bn spent each year subsidising pension saving could help thousands of schools and hundreds of hospitals that would otherwise be starved of cash.A £10bn saving is not outside the bounds of possibility, and that is without even shaking the system to its foundations. All Philip Hammond needs to do in his autumn budget is take away the tax relief top-up offered to higher-rate taxpayers and the £10bn a year can be his.Tax reliefs share the same​ thinking, which is that people won’t do the right thing without a ​​huge bung from the state Continue reading...

After Aston Martin declared its bullish post-EU intentions last week, here are some other captains of industry who are sanguine about the futureThe majority of big British business leaders are worried about the potential fallout from a no-deal Brexit. But amid the warnings over jobs losses, withheld investments, weaker economic growth and political unrest, some captains of industry are more sanguine.Last week, Aston Martin shrugged off concerns over Brexit damaging the British car industry and announced its flotation plans, while household appliance maker Dyson has earmarked a £200m expansion of its research campus to test electric cars, with enough space for 2,000 people. Here are some of the British business figures who believe Brexit will not be negative for the economy. Continue reading...

Turkish lira falls 4% against US dollar as concerns grow of crises in emerging marketsArgentina has hiked interest rates to 60% as it takes dramatic steps to restore confidence in its plunging currency,in the latest sign of turmoil among emerging market economies this year.The Argentine central bank raised the cost of borrowing by 15 percentage points on Thursday in an attempt to shore up the peso, which has plummeted in value. The central bank said it would keep rates unchanged at 60% until at least December.Related: Emerging markets: who's taking the biggest hits and why? Continue reading...

Mauricio Macri gambled on IMF rescue package shoring up currency – but dealers saw it as a sign of weaknessTiming is everything in financial markets. And Argentina’s embattled president, Mauricio Macri, just got it spectacularly wrong.Late on Wednesday, it emerged that Macri had asked the International Monetary Fund to speed up the disbursement of its $50bn (£38bn) rescue package for South America’s second biggest economy. Coming at the end of a day that had seen the peso fall heavily against the US dollar, the announcement was intended to shore up confidence.What is the IMF?Related: Argentina raises interest rates to 60% to shore up peso Continue reading...

Free trade deal between US, Mexico and Canada has proved contentious since its launchThe North American Free Trade Agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada has bound the economies of the two countries together for more than 20 years, enabling the free flow of goods. Continue reading...

Michael Holmes and Geoff Naylor respond to a Guardian article by Larry ElliottLarry Elliott is right to say that “the left had its chance and blew it” after the economic crash, and right to identify the left’s lack of a clear and united narrative as one of the main reasons for this (Opinion, 30 August). Instead, the different strands of the left “all headed off in their own directions”, as Elliott says. It is worth exploring this in a little more detail and picking out two key problems.One of the biggest obstacles to developing a common left framework was the fact that during the crisis, social democratic parties throughout Europe kept on going into right-led coalitions which were implementing cuts and austerity programmes. The subsequent collapses of the social democratic parties in Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Germany and other countries all bear witness to this. Continue reading...

Canadians feel stabbed in the back by Mexico after it agreed a separate trade deal with TrumpIt is a threat that has loomed since Donald Trump took power, bursting into view each time the US president attacks Canada’s trade policies. But this week Canadians have been forced to confront the possibility of a breakdown in trade relations with their closest ally and biggest trading partner, after the US president announced a preliminary deal with Mexico.The news left Canadians reeling and sent the country’s foreign minister rushing to Washington DC in the hope of salvaging the decades-old North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) – a three-way deal between the US, Canada and Mexico. The stakes for Canada are sky-high; the country sends three quarters of its exports south of the border while roughly 2.5m Canadian jobs depend on US trade.There are no poison pills left — only bitter ones for Canada to swallowRelated: Nafta: what is it and why is Trump trying to renegotiate? Continue reading...

While regulation has been strengthened since the crisis, its implementation remains patchyAs the 10th anniversary of the start of the global financial crisis approaches, a wave of retrospective reviews is bearing down on us. Many of them will try to answer the big question: has the financial system been fundamentally reformed, so that we can be confident of preventing a repeat of the dismal and destructive events of 2008-09, or has the crisis been allowed to go to waste?There will be no consensus answer to that question. Some will argue that the post-crisis reforms, especially those concerning banks’ capital requirements, have gone too far, and that the costs in terms of output have been too high. Others will argue that far more must be done, that banks need far higher capital, and possibly, as the proponents of a recent Swiss referendum argued, that banks should lose their ability to create money.Related: Weak economic recovery was down to flawed policies, not secular stagnation | Joseph Stiglitz Continue reading...

Costly banknote recall did not flush out untaxed wealth, as PM Narendra Modi had promisedMore than 99% of the currency that India declared void in a surprise announcement in 2016 was returned to the country’s banks in subsequent weeks, according to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report.The figures suggest prime minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation policy, which likely wiped at least 1% from the country’s GDP and cost at least 1.5m jobs, failed to wipe significant hordes of unaccounted wealth from the Indian economy — a key rationale for the move.Related: India's banknote ban: how Modi botched the policy yet kept his political capitalRelated: India's small businesses facing 'apocalypse' amid biggest financial experiment in historyRelated: India's slowing growth blamed on 'big mistake' of demonetisation Continue reading...

Trade body calls for ‘political and economic clarity’ after sharp reduction in UK demandThe number of cars built in UK factories slumped by 11% last month compared with a year ago.Just over 121,000 cars left production lines, with a fall of 35% in models built for the UK, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Car production for export in July fell by 4.2%.Related: Aston Martin unveils London Stock Exchange flotation Continue reading...

Capitalism’s near-death experience with the banking crisis was a golden opportunity for progressives. But they blew itPlacards are being prepared. Photo-opportunities are being organised. A list of demands is being drawn up by a coalition of pressure groups, unions and NGOs. Yes, preparations are well under way for protests to mark next month’s 10th anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers – the pivotal moment in the global financial crisis.Make no mistake, the fact that events will take place in all the world’s financial centres is no cause for celebration. On the contrary, it is a sign of failure. The banks were never broken up. Plans for a financial transactions tax are gathering dust. Politicians toyed with the idea of a green new deal and then promptly forgot about it. There never was a huge swing of the pendulum away from the prevailing orthodoxy, just a brief nudge that was quickly reversed. The brutal fact is that the left had its chance, and it blew it.Related: Labour condemns 'sickening' Lehman Brothers reunion partyThe process of challenging business as usual lacked a unifying analysis of what had caused the crisisRelated: The Lehman Brothers party is a red herring – it’s the system that stinks | Stefan Stern Continue reading...

President Mauricio Macri says ‘lack of trust from the markets’ forces him to ask for help as peso weakens and inflation runs at 30%Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri has asked the International Monetary Fund for an early release of funds from a $50bn deal to ease concerns that the country will not be able to meet its debt obligations for 2019.Macri said in a televised address that Argentina had agreed with the IMF “to advance all necessary funds to guarantee compliance with next year’s financial programme”.Related: Are debt crises in Argentina and Turkey a global warning sign?Related: Argentina agrees to $50bn loan from IMF amid national protests Continue reading...