ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 26:   “CREATING JOBS’ – WHAT A FALLACY! My colleague Steven Spencer has reminded me of an anecdote relayed by the owner of a brand new Corvette sports car. A bystander speculated, “I wonder how many people could have been fed with the money that sports car cost?” The owner replied: “ I […]

Economic Perspectives – 25 REFLECTIONS ON RECENT TAX HYSTERIA [Early December 2017] Where we are now on the subject of taxation – clueless and lost! Widespread “tax-dodging” is the surest sign that our “tax-raising” process is seriously defective! Why doesn’t our existing tax system raise enough money to meet all government commitments? The reason is […]

“ACCOUNTANCY” – DECEMBER 2017 HBOS, KPMG & FRC – a trio mired in scandal How much credence can shareholders of public companies safely attach to financial statements that carry a “true and fair” imprimatur from their auditors? Big-4 firms hold the lion’s share of public company audit appointments, yet they are regularly found to have […]

Customer Review 5.0 out of 5 stars A salutary insight into the fallibility of economic thinking at every level. By Emile Woolf  on 4 September 2017   Format: Paperback Godfrey Bloom delivers an apocalyptic message on the consequences of misguided economics in an age of unreason. It carries little ‘good’ news, and its explanation of the ‘bad’ […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 24 [Early-November 2017] PROTECTIONISM IS SIMPLY “PATRONAGE” IN A MODERN GUISE Protectionist policies are by no means confined to trade deals. Yet, in every one of their guises they appeal for popular support from local commercial interests, pleading fairness, justice and equity to justify their anti-competitive political demands. Rational economic principles take […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 23 [late-October, 2017] Just a few pointers previously raised that bear some emphasis, even repetition: (1) The UK Government is writhing in the furnace of its own afflictions by persisting with the notion of “negotiations” in the Brexit context. This obsession is, of course, utterly misplaced because free trade does not require […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES 1 Surpluses & deficits are hotly debated – but what about the currency? Much has been made of Britain’s current account deficit, which is the amount by which our imports of goods and services exceed our exports. It is a situation that protectionists would love to “do something about”, such as resorting to […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES 13   AN EPIDEMIC OF ECONOMIC IGNORANCE The last two issues of Economic Perspectives drew on observations made while I was on a month’s visit to South Africa, during which time the Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, presented his annual Budget to Parliament in Cape Town. He was robustly resistant to calls from a […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES 12 PAYING THE PRICE The only way in which government debt, generated by central banks’ addiction to unrestricted credit expansion, can be paid for, honestly, is with honestly earned wealth in the form of private sector savings. But that knowledge, which every central banker quickly learns to forget, is now a feint memory […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES 11 Inflationary folly has consequences Responses to previous instalments of my “Economic Perspectives” include queries on why unbridled credit expansion by the main central banks in USA, UK, EU and Japan does not appear to be reflected in a commensurate rise in the general price level, affecting all sectors of the economy. Further, […]