Desperate for short-term cash, George Osborne is causing long-term damage by selling off Britain’s most prized assets. ‘Everything must go’ is now public policyAlmost everyone who gives the matter serious thought agrees that George Osborne and David Cameron want to reshape Britain. The spending cuts, the upending of the NHS, even this month’s near-miss over the BBC: signs lie everywhere of how this will be a decade, maybe more, of massive change. Yet even now it is little understood just how far Britain might shift – and in which direction.Take austerity, the word that will define this government. Even its most astute critics commit two basic errors. The first is to assume that it boils down to spending cuts and tax rises. The second is to believe that all this is meant to reduce how much the country is borrowing. What such commonplaces do is reduce austerity to a technical, reversible project. Were it really so simple all we would need to do is turn the spending taps back on and wash away all traces of Osbornomics.Related: Privatisation isn't working. It's time for a public service users bill | Cat HobbsRelated: Why do the Tories want to hide who owns our country’s land? | Charles Arthur Continue reading...

Little progress made despite warnings to employers facing skills shortages that they are failing to tap into large pool of talentLess than 9% of vacancies for decently paid jobs in the UK offer flexible working, according to research that claims the lack of such options is keeping millions of people in dead-end jobs or shut out from the labour market.Analysis of more than 5m job adverts found little progress in the past year on offering more flexible options to jobseekers, despite warnings to employers who face skills shortages that they are failing to tap into a large pool of potential workers. Continue reading...

Larry Elliott (Brexit may be the best answer to a dying eurozone, 19 May) paints a grim picture of the European future in making a case for Brexit. But he fails to explain how the UK leaving the EU will help us, or the wider continent. The UK, by virtue of geography and its economic and political structures, is fully impacted by whatever happens in Europe.Related: Brexit may be the best answer to a dying eurozone | Larry Elliott Continue reading...

Fund’s debt assessment calls for ‘upfront and unconditional’ debt relief for Athens or it will refuse to part-fund latest bailoutThe International Monetary Fund has called for “upfront” and “unconditional” debt relief for Greece as it warned that without immediate action the financial plight of the recession-ravaged country would deteriorate dramatically over the coming decades.In a strongly worded assessment, the IMF said that there was no prospect of Greece meeting the draconian terms of its current bailout plan and that interest payments on the soaring national debt would eat up 60% of the budget by 2060 in the absence of debt forgiveness.Related: Greece close to bailout funds after austerity vote, but IMF warns on debt - as it happened Continue reading...

Greek bonds and shares are rallying on hopes that the eurozone will hand over billions in loans tomorrow

The right’s attitude to migration could get even nastier, but a Remain vote will offer Labour a fresh chance to reconnect with ‘red Ukip’Something is happening in the Brexit debate that the polls and the demographic breakdowns are not catching. We know that rightwing Tory grandees are using the campaign as a proxy leadership contest against Cameron. What we don’t know is how the plebeian end of the Leave campaign will react if they lose. My instinct says: badly.The incessant focus of the media on the Brexit debate has made the issue, for some Brexiteers, a visceral, life-defining cause. This is particularly true among younger pro-Brexit people, for whom – as in Scotland – this is the first political thing they’ve ever done. Continue reading...

UK chancellor’s dire warnings are based on worst-case scenarios modelled on best guesses. They are economically flawed but politically powerfulWith one month to go to the referendum, George Osborne is pulling out all the stops. The chancellor has a clear message: a vote to leave the EU is a vote for recession, a house price slump, soaring food prices and hundreds of thousands of lost jobs.The chancellor has been shouting out numbers and lamenting the fate of the “working people of Britain who will pay the price if we leave the EU”. He even talked about “evidence” Britain will spark its own downturn. Continue reading...

Official CPI figures for the price of food and drink are vastly different from those unearthed by an ONS project which ‘scrapes’ supermarket website price dataThe price of food and drink may have fallen faster than official estimates, according to the government body charged with collecting the data.The Office for National Statistics said the official consumer prices index (CPI) figure for food shows that prices have fallen by 3.3% since June 2014, while alcoholic drinks have dropped by 3%.Related: The surprising fall in the cost of the UK’s food Continue reading...

PM and chancellor unveil Treasury report predicting falls in GDP, sterling, house prices and wages in event of BrexitBritish people would be voting to “self-destruct” if they chose to leave the EU because it would cause either a shock or severe shock to the economy, David Cameron has said.The prime minister said voting to stay in the EU was the “moral” thing to do because the financial consequences of leaving could be very bad for UK families.Related: EU referendum: Cameron outlines 'shock' and 'severe shock' scenarios - Politics live Continue reading...

Leave campaigners conjure up a scenario in which the UK can design its own economic environment. But the impact of an EU exit is complexOne reason why the arguments for Brexit are so beguiling is because it’s easy to imagine an alternative world where some of the current laws of economics or politics don’t apply.Leave campaigners have tried to conjure up such a fantasy world in which, after leaving the EU, Britain has an opportunity to design its own economic environment with its ideal configuration of free trade, limited labour mobility, less regulation and foreign investment. They talk of a sovereign nation that will dominate post-Brexit negotiations with our former EU partners and the rest of the world. With the odd unicorn and fairy thrown in for good measure.More worryingly, non-tariff barriers might actually increase following BrexitRelated: Bank's warning of a Brexit double whammy is very handy for Osborne Continue reading...

Inflation would rise and house prices and GDP would fall if Britain leaves EU, chancellor arguesGeorge Osborne is warning that Britain would face a year-long “DIY recession” following a vote to leave the European Union, as he raises the stakes in the referendum battle on Monday with one month until polling day.The chancellor and David Cameron will present a Treasury analysis into the short-term economic impact of Brexit, which claims GDP will be 3.6% lower after two years than it would be if Britain votes to remain.Related: David Cameron suggests defence minister is lying over Turkey joining EU Continue reading...

Report finds planned privatisation of agency and other assets would deprive British public of future incomeSelling off UK public assets such as the Land Registry will leave the government’s finances worse off in the long term as cash from the sale is outstripped by future profits, a new report warns.Before a consultation closing later this week on the Land Registry’s planned privatisation, a leading economic thinktank said the benefits to the exchequer from a one-off sale of the agency would pale in comparison to the income sacrificed in future years. Continue reading...

Fewer than half of consumer payments were cash in 2015, while direct debits were worth £1.22tnBritain has passed another milestone on the path to a cashless society, with 2015 the first year that cash was used for fewer than half of all payments by consumers.Cash usage will be eclipsed by debit cards and contactless payments by 2021, according to Payments UK, which represents the major banks, building societies and payment providers.Related: Contactless payments mean card fraud now happens after cancellation Continue reading...

Alexis Tsipras gained approval by 152 of 153 of his deputies, despite many of them having previously rejected the proposalsThe Greek parliament has approved a fresh round of austerity incorporating €1.8bn (£1.3bn) in tax increases – widely regarded as the most punitive yet – amid hopes the move will lead to much-needed debt relief when eurozone finance ministers meet this week.Alexis Tsipras, the prime minister, mustered the support of 152 of his 153 deputies on Sunday to vote through policies that many have previously rejected.Related: This time in the euro debt crisis, the IMF will come bearing gifts for the GreeksRelated: The choice for Europe: rescue Greece or create a failed state | Paul Mason Continue reading...

Like some of his predecessors, Osborne has to cope with a trade deficit and budget deficit at the same timeBritain’s economic problem is easy to identify. As a nation, we live beyond our means. Consumption exceeds production. Exports are lower than imports, resulting in a balance of payments deficit that has got bigger over time.

Like me, you might be a liberal who loves Uber and Airbnb. But the darker side of the new economy isn’t something we can simply ignoreAs I write this, I’m about to travel to beautiful, sunny Puerto Rico for a brief vacation. If all goes according to plan, there will be keys waiting for me in a mailbox outside an apartment in San Juan, which will hopefully look like the pictures I saw on the Airbnb website.To get to the airport, I’m probably going to take an Uber, partly because I just moved to New York and still feel like a fool trying to wave down a cab, but mostly because calling an Uber is really, truly, ridiculously easy to do.Trading ethics for comfort is par for the course in America Continue reading...

Globalisation is often blamed for falling living standards. But the role of flexible working and self-employment in blighting people’s lives is being overlookedThe rise of Nigel Farage, Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen is often blamed on the angry, reaction of blue-collar workers to decades of falling living standards.The financial crash of 2008 only served to make the situation worse. And so the west finds itself in the grip of powerful protest movements that seek to brush aside failing, sclerotic institutions like the US congress and EU parliament in favour of more locally democratic administrations (or possibly right-of-centre governments with autocratic leaders). Continue reading...

Athens is at another pinch point. But the proponents of austerity ranged against it are starting to turn on each other – and suddenly there is a glimmer of lightAnother Sunday, another vote in the Greek parliament, another self-imposed punishment beating as the parliament in Athens votes through fresh austerity measures. There will be higher VAT and an increase in taxes on all the pleasures of life: coffee, booze, fags, gambling, even pay TV.And just in case Greece might need to tighten its belt by another couple of notches to meet stringent budget targets, there will be additional measures that will kick in if there is any fiscal slippage over the next couple of years. George Harrison started his song Taxman with the words: “Let me tell you how it will be/There’s one for you, nineteen for me.” The Greeks know exactly what he meant. Continue reading...

The inequality that is feeding the bitter, divisive and populist politics now sweeping the westCrisis always brings opportunity. And right now, we are having a crisis of capitalism unlike anything experienced during the last four decades, if not longer. The evidence is everywhere – in rising inequality, in the division of fortunes between companies and workers, and in lethargic economic growth despite unprecedented infusions of monetary stimulus by the world’s governments (a huge $29tn in total since 2008). Eight years on from the financial crisis and great recession, the US, UK and many other countries are still experiencing the longest, slowest economic recoveries in memory.This has, of course, diametrically shifted the political climate, creating a paradigm of insiders versus outsiders. In the US, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are different sides of the same coin; in Britain, Jeremy Corbyn is an equally dramatic response to establishment politics. The challenges to the political and economic status quo are not going away anytime soon. A recent Harvard study shows that only 19% of American millennials call themselves capitalist, and only 30% support the system as a whole. Perhaps more shocking, the numbers are not much better among the over-30 set. A mere half of Americans believe in the system of capitalism as practised today in the US, which is quite something for a nation that brought us the “greed is good” culture.We speak about social “capital” and securitise everything from education to critical infrastructure to prison termsHow do we curb the 40-year trend of financialisation and its perverse effects on business and society? Continue reading...

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn calls for a serious debate about the creation of wealth in Britain as he delivers a speech at his party’s state of the economy conference in London on Sunday. While agreeing that wealth creation is a good thing, Corbyn says there should be greater discussion on how that wealth is shared. He also condemns the gender pay gap, saying that it is ‘quite simply wrong’ Continue reading...

Opposition leader says growth demands major change in way economy is run, as shadow chancellor vows to rewrite rulesJeremy Corbyn said the UK needed a serious debate about wealth creation, as he called for a new style of economics to tackle Britain’s “grotesque inequality”.Closing a Labour state of the economy conference in central London on Saturday, the party’s leader said: “Wealth creation is a good thing: we all want greater prosperity. But let us have a serious debate about how wealth is created, and how that wealth should be shared.”Related: Would a rent cap work for tenants facing £1,000-a-month rises?Related: Osborne's focus on UK's deficit deters scrutiny of his weak economic plan Continue reading...

Perez has spent his years at the helm of the labor department fighting for paid leave, overtime pay and visiting workers on the ground – and he’s not done yetIt’s been a busy week for the US labor secretary, Tom Perez.On Tuesday night, the White House announced that the Obama administration had finalized a new rule that could potentially expand overtime benefits to 4.2 million more Americans. On Wednesday morning, Perez boarded Air Force Two and with Vice-President Joe Biden and flew to Columbus, Ohio, where they made the official public announcement inside Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams.Related: Millions could get a raise under Obama administration's new overtime rulesRelated: The jobs doctor is in: US Labor secretary makes unemployment 'house calls' Continue reading...

Chancellor predicts Brexit would cause an ‘economic shock’ but pro-leave minister dismisses ‘extraordinary claim’House prices could take an 18% hit over the next two years and there will be an “economic shock” that will increase the cost of mortgages if the UK votes to leave the EU, George Osborne has warned.Related: Rents and property values would drop after Brexit, say landlordsRelated: Third of Tories could defect to Ukip if UK stays in EU, says FarageRelated: Will staying in EU really lead to an influx equal to Scottish population? Continue reading...

While technology has undoubtedly improved our lives, history shows we need rules and regulations to ensure workers can share in the gig economy’s wealthAcross the country, new companies are using the internet to transform the way Americans work, shop, socialize, vacation, look for love, talk to the doctor, get around, and track down a 10ft feather boa – which was my latest Amazon search.These innovations have improved our lives in countless ways, reducing inefficiencies and leveraging network effects to help grow our economy. This is real growth.Related: Left-leaning users veer right on regulating Uber and Airbnb, study findsLaws helped make sure that the increased wealth generated by innovation would be used to build a strong middle classWorkers deserve a level playing field and some basic protections, no matter who they work for or where they work Continue reading...

Food and drink production up after localised floods and orders on the rise particularly from domestic market, says CBI reportBritain’s manufacturers have enjoyed a pick-up in output, largely thanks to food and drink production getting back up and running after flooding hit factories earlier this year.The business group CBI said its latest poll of manufacturers suggested orders had improved in recent weeks, particularly from the domestic market, bringing respite to a sector that has been hurt by weak export demand and an uncertain UK outlook. Continue reading...

Times were good in the last years of Bill Clinton’s presidency. But to put the arch-deregulator in charge of an economy wrecked by financial bubbles is sheer follyDonald Trump’s campaign to “Make America Great Again” is one big, flatulent exercise in delusional nostalgia, as so many have noted. Given the likely outcome of the American presidential contest, however, it is Hillary Clinton’s delusional nostalgia that may ultimately prove more harmful for the country.Campaigning in Kentucky recently, she promised that, should she be elected, she would task former president Bill Clinton with “revitalizing the economy, because he knows how to do it”. A few minutes before, she had recited her husband’s qualifications for this job: “In the 90s, everybody’s income went up, not just people at the top. We lifted more people out of poverty than at any time in our recent history.” And so on.Bill Clinton took some time out to dynamite the federal welfare system, then he came back and deregulated the banks Continue reading...

French finance minister calls on European commission to intervene, saying that resulting group would stifle competitionA planned £20bn merger between the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse poses a threat to competition and the European economy, the French finance minister has claimed.Michel Sapin said a combination of the two would make it too dominant and called on the European commission to intervene. He told Reuters: “I want to express the concern of the French government on this tie-up. We have doubts about the consequences this could have for the financing of the real economy in France and Europe.Related: LSE's merger with Deutsche Börse will trouble shareholders Continue reading...

Chancellor’s tax and government spending cuts do not amount to a long-term strategy: Labour has a chance to take the initiativeDespite repeatedly missing his own targets, George Osborne has so far done well out of his decision to focus attention on the deficit. In keeping the spotlight on the public finances, the chancellor has avoided scrutiny of his broader economic strategy.The masterstroke was to convince the public that excessive spending by Labour caused the financial crisis. This was an impressive feat of persuasion: when the crisis began in 2007, public debt was lower as a share of GDP than when Labour took power a decade earlier. Despite finding little support in the facts, the story stuck, thanks in part to a media that failed to question Osborne’s narrative.Related: Making things matters. This is what Britain forgot | Ha-Joon Chang Continue reading...

While a rise would suggest growing confidence in the US economy, it risks giving global investors a chillBang, there goes 100 points off the FTSE 100. Suddenly, the index is within 60 points of 6,000, a level last seen in late-February, which was roughly when investors recovered from their new year fretfulness and decided the gloom, perhaps, had been overdone.

Underlying weakness in British economy may necessitate ‘additional monetary stimulus’, says policymaker Jan VliegheA top Bank of England policymaker has warned that even if Britain votes to stay in the EU, underlying weakness in the economy could mean that more support is required from the Bank.Jan Vlieghe, one of the nine policymakers who vote on interest rates, has previously floated the idea of them being cut below zero. Speaking on Thursday, he again raised the prospect of rates coming down further from their record low of 0.5%, when he said the economy could require “additional monetary stimulus” if it does not rebound after a remain vote in the EU referendum on 23 June. Continue reading...

Revolt over lack of bill to protect NHS from EU trade deal threatened PM with first defeat on Queen’s speech since 1924David Cameron has moved to quell a rebellion by Conservative Eurosceptics over a controversial trade deal between the EU and US, after he faced the first government defeat on a Queen’s speech since 1924.The prime minister has been forced to accept a critical amendment about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) after it was signed by 25 Tory backbenchers, and backed by Labour, SNP and Green MPs.

Shares fall in Europe and Asia as America’s central bank signals it could raise interest rates next month

Staying active can benefit older people, but forcing employees to look busy does nothing for productivity. Sometimes, less work gets more doneWhat is your favourite style of literature? Voltaire was once asked. “All styles are good,” he said, “except for the boring kind.” People like the idea of busyness because it is better than feeling bored. The sadness at the heart of Waiting for Godot is that, for Vladimir and Estragon, there is “nothing to be done” (the play’s opening line). The closing stage direction says: “They do not move.”Related: UK productivity gap widens to worst level since records beganThe benefits of so-called 'multitasking' have now been revealed to be a myth Continue reading...

Official March figures show 4.3% rise on last year with only clothing and footwear retailers suffering from chilly weather and early EasterRetail sales rebounded last month as cheap deals lured British spenders back to the shops, but clothing sales suffered from chilly weather.There was little sign that uncertainty around June’s EU referendum was hurting consumers’ willingness to spend in April. Official figures showed retail sales volumes jumped 1.3% on the month, well ahead of expectations for a 0.5% rise in a Reuters poll. Sales were up 4.3% on a year earlier.

UN agency urges west to focus on helping developing world create more sustainable and better paid jobs, rather than just on aidWorsening economic conditions in Asia, Latin America and the Arab world threaten to undo decades of progress in reducing global poverty, according to a report by the International Labour Organization.The UN agency said a third of workers earn less than the “moderate poverty threshold” of $3.10 (£2.10) a day and their prospects are deteriorating as global trade slows and low oil prices affect producers in developing countries.Related: The world's poorest 50% are a trillion dollars worse off - what's going on? Continue reading...

Andrew Haldane says workers have little chance of making sense of funds when financial experts ‘have no clue either’Over-complex pensions are harming the UK economy and reinforcing mistrust of the financial sector, the Bank of England’s chief economist has warned, as he admitted even he was unable to make the “remotest sense” of them.Andrew Haldane said ordinary workers had no chance of making informed decisions for their retirement funds when experts and financial advisers “have no clue either”.Related: Pensions regulation gaps could see workers lose savings, MPs warn Continue reading...

US central bank says many policymakers would vote to hike borrowing costs next month, if economic data justifies it

The neglect of manufacturing and over-development of the financial sector is the cause of the economy’s decline, not fear of leaving the EUIt’s being blamed on the Brexit jitters. But the weakness in the UK economy that the latest figures reveal is actually a symptom of a much deeper malaise. Britain has never properly recovered from the 2008 financial crisis. At the end of 2015, inflation-adjusted income per capita in the UK was only 0.2% higher than its 2007 peak. This translates into an annual growth rate of 0.025% per year. How pathetic this performance is can be put into perspective by recalling that Japan’s per capita income during its so-called “lost two decades” between 1990 and 2010 grew at 1% a year.At the root of this inability to stage a real recovery is the serious imbalance that has developed in the past few decades – namely, the over-development of the UK financial sector and the atrophy of manufacturing. Right after the 2008 financial crisis there was a widespread recognition that the ballooning financial sector needed to be reined in. Even George Osborne talked excitedly for a while about the “march of the makers”. That march never materialised, however, and manufacturing’s share of GDP has stagnated at around 10%.Related: UK trade deficit with EU hits new recordGeorge Osborne talked excitedly about the ‘march of the makers’. That march did not materialise Continue reading...

European economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici postpones potential action over countries breaking budget rules until JulyThe European commission has avoided handing a propaganda weapon to those campaigning for Britain to leave the EU by delaying a decision on disciplinary action against Spain and Portugal for breaking budget rules until after the EU referendum.Brussels said the postponement of possible action, which could include fines, was due to the general election in Spain on 26 June, three days after the referendum on Britain’s EU membership. Continue reading...

We are better prepared for the next financial crisis but regulators are still slow to adapt to the changing public moodWhat do people mean when they criticise generals for “fighting the last war”? It’s not that generals ever think they will face the same weapon systems and the same battlefields. They certainly know better. The error, to the extent that the generals make it, must operate at a more subtle level. Generals are sometimes slow to get around to developing plans and ordnance for those new weapon systems and battlefields. And just as important, they sometimes assume that the public psychology, and the narratives that influence the morale that is so important in achieving victory, is the same as in the last war.That is also true for regulators whose job is to prevent financial crises. For the same reasons, they may be slow to change in response to new situations. They tend to be slow to adapt to changing public psychology. The need for regulation depends on public perceptions of the last crisis, and, as George Akerlof and I argued in Animal Spirits, these perceptions depend heavily on changing popular narratives. Continue reading...

Employment rate for women hits record in March after retirement age changes, with figures contradicting EU referendum fearsBritain’s employment rate reached a record high and wages ticked up in March, dashing government claims that the job market was being seriously damaged by the threat of a leave vote in the EU referendum.The number of people employed increased by 44,000 to 31.58 million, while total pay including bonuses edged up by 2%, from 1.9% in February, on the rolling quarter-on-quarter measure used by the Office for National Statistics.Related: UK employment rate hits record high as more women work longer - live updates Continue reading...

Higher prices, a drop in savings and weak pay growth weighed heavily on family budgets in MayBritish households were under the worst financial strain in almost two years in May, according to a new report.Weak pay growth, a drop in savings, and higher prices weighed heavily on family budgets in May, the survey by Markit found. Continue reading...

The salary threshold for workers to qualify for overtime pay will double to $47,476 by December 2016, but the new rule has faced oppositionMore than four million working Americans could get a bigger paycheck by the end of the year, thanks to a new overtime rule to be finalized by the US Department of Labor on Wednesday.Previously, only salaried workers who earned below $23,660 were eligible for overtime pay. As of December 2016, that threshold will double and be set at $47,476 a year.Related: Overtime update for American workers long overdue, reports say Continue reading...

UN agency urges west to focus on helping developing world create more sustainable and better-paid jobs rather than just on aidWorsening economic conditions in Asia, Latin America and the Arab world threaten to undo decades of progress in reducing global poverty, according to a report by the International Labour Organisation. The UN agency warned that a third of workers earned less than the “moderate poverty threshold” of $3.10 (£2.10) a day, and many were in precarious jobs without basic social protections such as healthcare and welfare benefits.It urged governments in the developed world to focus on improving the quality of jobs in the developing world, rather than just on aid, to create more sustainable and better paid employment.Related: The world's poorest 50% are a trillion dollars worse off - what's going on? Continue reading...

Paul Mason’s “leftwing case” for Brexit is depressingly familiar (There is a leftwing case for Brexit – but we can’t let Boris Johnson turn Britain into a neoliberal fantasy island, G2, 17 May). It is no more nor less than the argument the British left has always made, namely that if only it could get its hands on the powers of the nation state, all would be well. Mason simply brackets off the international order as a market conspiracy and so tells us nothing about how the utopian left British state would function in either the European or the global economy.But the greater irony is that his manifesto is the mirror image of that of the Gove-Johnson project. Left and right sovereigntists share the same assumptions that British self-government is the means, while they differ as to the ends of how this power might be used. A truly leftwing agenda would be one based on cross-national cooperation and solidarity. But the difficulty is, and always has been, that in both national and European elections, voters have not consistently supported parties of the left. Working out how to change that is the challenge for the left across Europe. All Mason offers us is a dismal choice between old Labour Brexitism or pragmatic remainism.

Treasury jumps on data showing transport and clothing cheaper than year earlier as signs of Britain being better off within EUUK inflation fell unexpectedly in April, with lower air fares, clothes and secondhand car prices triggering the first drop in seven months.Britain’s main measure of inflation, the consumer prices index, fell from 0.5% in March to 0.3% last month, according to the Office for National Statistics. Economists had forecast no change at 0.5%.Related: UK inflation rate falls to 0.3% due to cheaper air fares and clothes – business live Continue reading...

Britain’s inflation rate has fallen for the first time since last September, but US inflation figures put spotlight back on Fed rate decision

Power cuts, food shortages and rising violent crime are contributing to an economic and political crisis in Venezuela that has left its embattled president Nicolás Maduro with ever-decreasing options. For a country reliant on oil revenues, the lengthy global oil price crash has been catastrophic. Maduro blames private ‘bigwigs’ and threatens to take control of idle factories

Despite the weakness in core inflation, many economists expect a post-Brexit bounceFor a country that has had so much trouble controlling the cost of living, the recent performance of prices in Britain has been extraordinary. Inflation has been below the government’s 2% target for more than two years. For the best part of 18 months it has been running at under 0.5%. It fell in April to stand at just 0.3%.To be sure, there were some one-off factors at play. The early timing of Easter made a difference, because air fares rose sharply to coincide with the holiday period in March and then fell back again last month. The drop in the cost of clothing and footwear almost certainly had something to do with the dismal weather.Related: UK inflation drops as air fares fall Continue reading...

South-east Asian countries have grasped what the UK has sadly forgotten: that prosperity for the population is linked to investment in infrastructureIf anyone needs convincing of the need for greater UK investment in infrastructure, they should visit south-east Asia. Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, has a modern airport and a highways network that is arguably better than that of any major UK city other than London. Lining the highways are large factories built by global corporations such as Canon and by local businesses. The huge levels of employment and wealth creation would not exist without the highway infrastructure.Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, has a modern highway network connecting it to other major cities, and a clean, modern suburban rail network. Its airport is world class. Viewed from the air, the massive industrial developments around the highway network are breathtaking. The high-speed railway that is being built to Singapore will open at least 10 years ahead of the first of the UK’s high-speed lines.Related: Smart infrastructure is the key to sustainable development Continue reading...