THE ECONOMIC CHASM CONFRONTING US – A LAYMAN’S ASSESSMENT The huge economic harm caused by Covid-19 is seen and experienced clearly and directly on a daily basis. Less obvious is the damage wrought in every welfare-driven democracy whose government finds itself in the dual-role of protector and saviour. Today expectation and dependency are the norm, […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES 92 – DECEMBER 2020 SOME UNSEASONAL REFLECTIONS ON MONEY Several comments and questions on my last essay deserve a thoughtful response, which is the theme of today’s essay. You may recall its references to today’s dependency culture – the “expectation syndrome” that fuels the size and cost of welfare programmes as the state’s […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 89   Economic consequences – always ask: Who benefits?   Things don’t just “happen”. Everything in the passing parade of phenomena is the result of something that preceded it: this is the world of cause and effect. Those appointed to hold the levers of power therefore carry a huge responsibility to act […]

The “flawless” audit exists in the mind alone. Regulators such as the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) are therefore having to deal with the many that, in varying degrees, are flawed. However, the FRC’s practice of allowing so many years to pass before reporting their findings and punishing the culprits undoubtedly weakens its authority and blunts […]

EMILE WOOLF – ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES 66 We are well into the protest season. The long run-up to the election period has been characterised by one protest after another – no-deal Brexit, climate change, arms sales, Tommy Robinson, police brutality, capitalism, Trump’s visit, fracking, Catalan, Hong Kong and Eritrean sympathisers, and so on … and on. […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 59 CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES – AS NEVER BEFORE GOING POSTAL – 29 July 2019 The pace of change on the political spectrum is truly bewildering for mere onlookers; and as for the usual clutch of clueless columnists and TV “interviewers”, no matter how measured their misguided speculations may sound, the tripe they […]

SPARE A THOUGHT (OR PRAYER) FOR THE NEW PM – AND HIS CHANCELLOR! EMILE WOOLF – ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES 58 The global economy is entering dangerous territory. In Britain’s case, the standard scapegoat for any slowdown is Brexit, of course. But how to explain the contraction in other major manufacturing countries? Forewarnings of serious decline are […]

  ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 57 JULY 2019 Considering that the UK has a rag-bag of the most terrible taxes, did you note the competitive strategies for tax reform put forward by Tory candidates in their bid for election to high office? ONLY WHAT’S NECESSARY….   Most of their suggested “reforms” involved some judicious cutting of […]

The French economist Frederic Bastiat is chiefly remembered for having developed the concept of “opportunity cost” or, more colourfully, “that which is seen, and that which is not seen”. We could put it more simply: there is no such thing as something for nothing. There is a persistent tendency to see only one side of […]

Economic Perspectives 48 GOING POSTAL – 28 JANUARY 2019 How to unravel economic complexity – the simple citizen’s guide Here’s a clue: if there are things that you, as a rational citizen, would never choose to do, it’s almost certain that government should stay clear of them too. But governments rarely act rationally, and the […]