The economic policies of Jeremy Corbyn have come under widespread criticism. This exceeds the level of scrutiny of his policies; many of his critics do not seem to have troubled themselves to read his key policy document. It also be far exceeds the level of scrutiny devoted to any of his leadership rivals. This is […]
Posts under ‘Investment’
Moderates and extremists: What is the Labour Left today?
Jul 23rd, 2015 by James Elliott.The near-deafening media hysteria over Jeremy Corbyn, variously described as a ‘veteran’, ‘hard left’, and always ‘hirsute’ socialist candidate for Labour leader reached new levels this week, with Progress dragging out Tony Blair to tell 43% of the party that they needed a heart transplant if they want Corbyn to be leader. Owen Jones has […]
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Osborne’s budget is not dissimilar to 2010 – it will have the same effects
Jul 10th, 2015 by Michael Burke.Most media coverage of the Budget is predictably sycophantic and wrong. An objective assessment is that the amount of fiscal tightening planned in this Budget is exactly the same as outlined in the June 2010 Budget. The June 2010 Budget planned tightening of £40bn, but £3bn of this was the projected fall in interest payments. […]
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TTIP will be a licence for multinationals to profit at all costs
Jul 3rd, 2015 by Keith Ewing and John Hendy.A small victory for democracy was recorded at the European Parliament recently when it was announced that a long-awaited debate about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) was to be postponed. TTIP is the trade deal being negotiated between the EU and the USA. Its text is secret, known only by the negotiators (including […]
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Wages, profits & investment In Greece
Jun 28th, 2015 by Michael Burke.The IMF has placed a road-block in the way of a deal with the Greek government and it remains unclear whether any agreement can be reached. The prior agreement which the IMF rejected was itself already very onerous. But the IMF wants to shift the burden of paying for the crisis away from taxes on […]
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Why the economy is in far worse shape than Osborne admits
Jun 23rd, 2015 by Michael Meacher.Osborne’s portrayal of the British economy as having “the fastest rate of recovery of any advanced nation in the world”, which he again repeated yesterday, is sheer poppycock. He continues to boast that GDP growth can be expected to average some 2.5% per annum over the period ahead, but on every key economic indicator that […]
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What can we expect from renewed austerity?
Jun 1st, 2015 by Michael Burke.The new Tory government will renew its austerity offensive shortly with the publication of an ‘emergency Budget’ on July 8. It is simple to demonstrate that the previous austerity programme caused the economy to grind to a halt (and with it the improvement in government finances). Supporters of austerity like to claim that austerity led […]
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Global economic crisis: has Labour dodged a bullet?
May 18th, 2015 by Ann Pettifor.While Labour and LibDem activists mourn, and political opportunists seize the moment, is the loss of the election such a bad thing? Might this be a good time to lose an election? I think so. The reasons can be found in both domestic and global financial imbalances, in the advance of de-globalisation trends that are […]
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Greek myths retold: confronting the ideologues of austerity
Apr 25th, 2015 by Michael Burke.The world economy is not strong and the President of the United States is sufficiently concerned about new shocks to it that he recently met the Greek Finance Minister to urge ‘flexibility on all sides’ in the negotiations between the Syriza-led government and its creditors. US concern is fully justified. In any attempt to reach agreement it […]
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There are 3 ways to cut the deficit – why has Labour chosen the wrong one?
Apr 23rd, 2015 by Michael Meacher.The budget deficit, which has been far more central to this election campaign than it should have been, can be dealt with in three separate ways. It can be reduced by cutting net expenditure either by taxing the poor or by taxing the rich, or it can be reduced by cutting unemployment (the ‘automatic stabilisers’ […]
