The Coalition has failed to deliver on its election pledges including a return to budget surplus, cutting government debt and having a pro-business strategyIf the next federal election is fought on economic management and economic outcomes, Labor will romp in. The economy remains moribund, with each hopeful snippet of good news quickly shot down by a flood of mediocre or downright bad news. Consumers, and that means voters, are starting to suffer financial hardship which is one reason the Coalition should find any issue other than economic management to fight the upcoming election on.

A mad system in which the west’s workers make up for poor wages with cheap credit from China is drawing to a close. Good riddanceClad as it is in jargon and technicalities, financial meltdowns can often seem like an elaborate spectacle taking place in a foreign country. So it is with the trillions wiped off shares since 24 August’s “Black Monday”. Obviously it’s a huge deal, but beyond the numbers on Bloomberg terminals it’s hard to put into perspective. Yet one way to think about what has happened in China over the past couple of weeks is the drawing to a close of an entire system for running the world economy.Over the past two decades, globalisation has fired on two engines: the belief that Americans would always buy the world’s goods, of which the Chinese would make the lion’s share – and lend their income to the Americans to buy more. That policy regime was made explicit during the Asian crisis of the late 90s, when Federal Reserve head Alan Greenspan slashed US borrowing rates, making it cheaper for Americans to buy imports. And it was talked about throughout the noughties by central bankers fretting about the “Great Wall of Cash” flooding out of China and into western assets. The first big blow to that system came with the banking crisis of 2008, which made plain that the US could no longer afford to continue as the world’s backstop consumer. The latest dent has been made over the past couple of weeks in China. Because the debacle in Asia’s number one economy has blown a hole in a string of hitherto long-held beliefs. Continue reading...

Shares and the Aussie dollar hit by more China woes as the Abbott government’s ‘jobs and growth’ slogan faces test with economic growth figuresThe Abbott government’s “jobs and growth” slogan will come under further scrutiny on Wednesday with economists predicting sluggish, and possibly negative, growth when the June quarter figures are released.Related: Stock markets hit by weak Chinese factory data - business liveRelated: Financial markets are not free – they're one of the last bastions of socialism Continue reading...

A report from America’s 3rd-largest bank asks why we’re not transitioning to a low-carbon economy

The Bank of England governor believes the UK economy is well insulated from global shocks, but his forecasts could easily go awryForget the financial turmoil in China and around the world. When it comes to the UK, Mark Carney would have us believe he remains in charge.The Bank of England governor gave a robust defence on Saturday of his position as the UK’s most influential policymaker. That means base interest rates are still going up, perhaps in February or thereabouts, and will be on course to touch 2% by 2018. Continue reading...

Larry Elliott, Rowena Mason, Seumas Milne and Meg Russell discuss China's financial slump, Jeremy Corbyn's economics and the new peers heading for the House of Lords Continue reading...

The impact of the Chinese stock market on Australia will not be great, but its slowing economy and demand for goods will continue to be a drag on our growth

Global stock market turmoil and fears about China raises the prospect of historically low borrowing costs staying in place for longer than expectedThe first rise in UK interest rates could be delayed until autumn 2016, according to City expectations, as market turmoil in China raises the prospect of historically low borrowing costs staying in place for longer than expected.

The latest turbulence in global markets and fear of doing anything that might send the economy back into recession will stay the Fed’s already wary handCentral bankers have their own lingo. They tend to speak in tortured prose that obscures more than it illuminates. Given the choice, they favour a gnomic utterance over plain speaking.Bill Dudley, the president of the New York Federal Reserve and the second most important US central banker after Janet Yellen, has just provided a masterclass in central bank-speak. Asked what the latest turbulence in the financial markets meant, Dudley replied that recent economic data had been “pretty positive”. Continue reading...

The Trump campaign has not issued an economic policy paper, but from what experts can tell, his flawed proposals could threaten a trade war with ChinaRepublican presidential candidate Donald Trump accused China on Tuesday of “one of the greatest thefts in the history of the world” and said he could fix the problem by drawing on the negotiating skills laid out in his 1987 bestseller The Art of the Deal.“I do great with the Chinese,” Trump told an audience at a campaign rally in Dubuque, Iowa. “And they’re great people. The problem is their leaders are too smart for our leaders. Continue reading...

Office for National Statistics says payments rose by 2.7% in 2014-15 to £42.4bn, putting the total figure 0.1% below the record reached in 2007-08Britain’s economic recovery has helped bonuses return to within a whisker of their pre-recession peak, according to official data.The Office for National Statistics said that salary top-ups rose by 2.7% in 2014-15 to £42.4bn, despite less generous payouts in the City.Related: Britain's average pay rises, but so does unemployment Continue reading...

China’s faltering economy is the destination for large proportions of many countries’ export sectors, in some cases for substantial proportions of GDP. See which countries stand to lose out if China’s import demand continues to weaken, and what happens if it slows further Continue reading...

As share prices continue their rollercoaster ride, China’s governance problems are becoming impossible to ignore. Given the country’s importance to the global economy, domestic instability could pose major risks worldwide

Billions of dollars were wiped off the value of the Chinese stock market on ‘black Monday’. But what caused it? Is it an indication of another global economic crisis? And what more can the Chinese government do to stop the situation with the world’s second largest economy from getting worse?Live updatesRead: stock markets continue to be volatile as investors fear China risk Continue reading...

Is it London, playground of the world’s super-rich, or an Asian financial centre such as Hong Kong or Singapore? In fact, two of the most respected surveys locate the world’s most expensive city in AfricaWhere is the world’s most expensive city? London, where garages can sell for half a million pounds? Or Paris, where hotels, restaurants and boutiques cater to almost 50 million tourists a year in the world’s most visited city?

Events of the past few days echo those that led to the Wall Street crash, so optimism about long-term impact on the west of China’s crisis is prematureOn day one the stock market fell by 13%. On day two it fell by a further 12%. On day three hopes were high the storm had blown over after equity prices recouped the previous session’s losses. Let this be a cautionary tale. These figures relate not to the Shanghai Composite index in August 2015 but the Dow Jones Industrial Average in October 1929.

Markit data shows that the value of the short positions hedge funds have taken, effecting betting that FTSE 100 share would fall, is £17.8bnHedge funds are set to bank tens of millions of pounds from the slump in share prices in London, having bet almost £18bn that the FTSE 100 would fall.The funds making the bets include Lansdowne Partners, which is run by George Osborne’s best man, Peter Davies, and Odey Asset Management, which is led by Crispin Odey – who made millions by predicting the credit crisis and earlier this year said the world was heading for a downturn “likely to be remembered in 100 years”. Continue reading...

Tycoon lost $3.6bn on ‘Black Monday’, according to Bloomberg, as 24 billionaires saw their fortunes fall by more than $1bn in one dayAsia’s richest person was the largest loser in Monday’s stock market crash in China, after stocks in the region fell dramatically.Chinese tycoon Wang Jianlin, whose UK interests include luxury boat firm Sunseeker yachts and commercial property in London, lost $3.6bn (£2.3bn) on Monday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Wang’s main business vehicle intends to build a five-star hotel on the Nine Elms regeneration site in south-west London, billed as the first Chinese luxury hotel overseas. Continue reading...

As the latest cohort of students collect their GCSE results (Report, 21 August), we at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors have been pondering the research from the Federation of Master Builders (Construction-sector recovery at risk from skills shortage, say building firms, 28 July). Indeed, our research echoes this and indicates that, unless a new generation of skilled workers joins the construction industry soon, 27,000 building projects a year will be at risk by 2019. We need to make it clear to young people that construction is not an inferior career choice – it’s an exciting, challenging and rewarding industry for all levels of academic ability.Take surveying – there’s an array of real career opportunities available for young and qualified people. These can involve planning and managing the creation of iconic buildings, and infrastructure projects around the country. What’s more, the routes into careers are ever-expanding. RICS has helped to create a new degree apprenticeship as an alternative to A-levels/university. More vocational routes provide learners with the knowledge they need, and also ensure that young people understand how this knowledge can be applied practically.

Many Americans don’t want to let go of tipping because they see it as a step toward socialism, or because they don’t want to lose the power to judge serviceAs progressive American municipalities roll out a $15 hourly minimum wage, one result has been a renewed debate over the practice of tipping service workers. Some restaurants are experimenting with compulsory service charges as well as other systems that they hope will ensure all employees earn more, while rewarding high-performers and still allowing the customer some say.Related: Top tips on tipping around the worldI don’t tip because society says I have to. All right, I mean I’ll tip if somebody really deserves a tip. If they put forth the effort, I’ll give them something extra. But I mean, this tipping automatically, it’s for the birds. As far as I’m concerned they’re just doing their job. Continue reading...