Hedge funds and other major investors have forced the Cooperative Group to cede majority control of the Cooperative Bank, Labour’s bankers, with the Group’s stake in the bank dropping from 70% to 30%. The US-based hedge funds Aurelius Capital (a ‘vulture’ fund which bought the debt of bankrupt Argentina and forced them to pay out) and Silver […]
Posts under ‘Finance’
The real enemy within
Oct 4th, 2013 by Grahame Morris.Bold and radical, Ed Miliband announced his plan to tackle vested interests within the energy market, a promise to fight for ordinary people who for years have complained about the rising cost of gas and electricity. On the same day as Ed Miliband was standing up against the Big Six energy companies, David Cameron and […]
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Review: The State We Need by Michael Meacher
Sep 20th, 2013 by Patrick Diamond.The State We Need: Keys to the Renaissance of Britain by Michael Meacher can be ordered here at £14 including postage Michael Meacher has produced a readable and thought-provoking volume which raises a host of issues that ought to be widely debated and aired on the radical left of centre in British politics. The book […]
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The Alice in Wongaland economy
Aug 17th, 2013 by Ann Pettifor.by Ann Pettifor and Jeremy Smith Ann was on the BBC’s Today programme this week where she was asked to comment on the retail sales numbers. We thought we would share with our readers some of the data that underpins the “Alice in Wongaland” theory of the economy. But first that quote from the Chancellor about the need for […]
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The German elections will not change a thing in the Eurozone
Aug 15th, 2013 by Tom Gill.Interview with Italian economist Emiliano Brancaccio by Peter Vernizzi translated by Tom Gill As far as austerity is concerned, even after the September elections Germany will not turn the page. The Germans have benefited from the crisis, and even if the Bundesbank itself has reservations about the general direction of European economic policy, Berlin has no interest in […]
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Bail-out banks need a strong-arm, not a sell-off
Aug 4th, 2013 by Ben Folley.The announcement that Lloyds TSB are back in profit has automatically triggered discussion of the government selling off its 39% share in the bank, back to the private sector. For Labour, it should trigger a discussion on an increasingly interventionist approach to the economy. Britain’s privately-owned banks were bailed out with billions from the taxpayer […]
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What should bankers be paid?
Jul 24th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.As bankers’ pay + bonuses + long-term incentive schemes + share options + pension largesse begins to head north again as though the biggest financial/economic crash caused by them hadn’t happened and as City bonuses rise above £4bn this year, what does the public believe that bankers should be paid? Remarkably, nobody seems to have […]
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Is there going to be another crisis? Of course there is
Jul 15th, 2013 by Ann Pettifor.“You have a dog, and I have a cat. We agree that they are each worth a billion dollars. You sell me the dog for a billion, and I sell you the cat for a billion. Now we are no longer pet owners, but Icelandic banks, with a billion dollars in new assets.” (From The […]
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Advice to Mark Carney: we need a spender of last resort
Jul 1st, 2013 by Ann Pettifor.Ann Pettifor was asked by the Today programme to record a message to Mark Carney, former Bank of Canada governor and Goldman Sachs banker, who starts work today as governor of the Bank of England following the departure of Mervyn King. Although it was in the end not broadcast, the advice stands. Welcome Mr Carney to […]
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How Osborne’s ‘recovery’ evaporated in a puff of smoke within 24 hours
Jun 24th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.Twenty-four hours is a long time in politics, let alone a week. Dressed in his best City garb Osborne informed the assembled banking grandees in the Mansion House last Wednesday that: “We are moving from rescue to recovery. Britain has left intensive care”. Really? On Thursday words from Ben Bernanke, head of the US Federal […]
