Category Archives: Economics
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No, Theresa, you May not bolster your leadership claims by stopping foreign graduates staying here.
Leave a commentDecember 22, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Those blasted immigrants. Who do they think they are? Coming over here, saving our lives, creating products we want. Oh, …
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Did you know black/white wealth inequality in the USA is now worse than it was in Apartheid South Africa?
Leave a commentDecember 20, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Sometimes, the only way to tell a shocking story is through comedy. There was a fascinating exchange last week on …
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Why even pointing out the Government’s economic failures hurts Labour
Leave a commentDecember 18, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
On Monday what looked like a rather arcane economics spat broke out between the Conservatives and Labour. Once again, it …
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The NHS – contracting out is not privatisation, and the left should stop shouting “squirrel”
Leave a commentDecember 16, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
If you ever want to see a real Conservative in action, listen to someone from the left talk about the …
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Miliband’s deficit cutting plan is late, but better than never
Leave a commentDecember 12, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
The trouble with the speech Ed Miliband gave yesterday on how Labour would reduce the deficit is not that it …
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The fall in the oil price shows that sometimes “it’s the politics, stupid”
Leave a commentDecember 11, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
The oil price has halved over the past year. It is now at $72 a barrel having been up around …
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How do we solve a problem like Food Banks?
Leave a commentDecember 10, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has pointed out that he believes that people going hungry in this country is …
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The Stamp Duty changes make housebuying more fair but don’t address the supply problem
Leave a commentDecember 8, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
The Chancellor’s big ‘Rabbit out of the Hat’ moment for Wednesday’s Autumn Statement (as in the one bit that wasn’t …
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We need to pass every policy announcement from now on through the ‘Coalition lens’
Leave a commentDecember 7, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Bearing in mind their financial need to get things right, it is interesting to see that there isn’t a single …
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Time for George Osborne to come clean about where the cuts will fall
Leave a commentDecember 6, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Me thinks he doth protests too much. George Osborne has single-handedly managed to turn the tenor of the press …
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Labour need to cease and desist their self-destructive line of attack on the deficit and debt
5December 5, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
UK budget deficit as % of GDP When you have to rely on the public not understanding Economics to make …
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5 thoughts about George Osborne’s Autumn Statement/Pre-election bribe
Leave a commentDecember 4, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
1. So, er…apparently there’s an election soon? I say this with a wink because this was essentially a pre-election budget. …
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The unworkable Smith Commission proposals are a road map to a second Scottish independence referendum
Leave a commentDecember 3, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
How sad that in their determination to throw the kitchen sink at winning a referendum that any understanding of the …
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Gordon Brown’s retirement..Bye Bye Bruiser
Leave a commentDecember 2, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
It has seemed obvious for the last four years, as Gordon Brown slinked into the background, so rarely reappearing in …
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Cameron needs to take on his party’s own Militant Tendency
Leave a commentDecember 1, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
30 years ago today, the Labour Party were engaged in an existential struggle against a group of ideologues who were …
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You want the truth on immigration? You can’t handle the truth.
16November 28, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Owen Paterson – a Conservative MP who used to the Environment Secretary, gave a speech this week in which he …
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UKIP are getting Labour voters who are ‘left-behind’, not ‘left-wing’
3November 24, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
In the 1970s, some changes started to take place in terms of how businesses operate. Globalisation took root, and the …
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The Major problem that should lead to a negotiated EU settlement
Leave a commentNovember 21, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
John Major gave the kind of speech on Europe last week that only someone like him can do. It has …
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Corporation tax – caught between a rock and hard place?
Leave a commentNovember 16, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
It has often been argued by the Chief Executives of companies who are being exposed have having avoided corporation tax …
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Ed Miliband’s vision for Britain needs a practical pathway
2November 13, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
If you are going to complain about the way wealth is distributed in this country, and you want to find …
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Private investment for start-ups is on the rise, SEIS Vince Cable
Leave a commentNovember 9, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
I haven’t been a big fan of Vince Cable’s performance as Business Secretary during these four and a half years of …
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The best way to pay for the NHS in future? Immigration
4November 6, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Simon Stevens, the Chief Executive of NHS England, published a report last week into the future of the health service, …
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Cameron’s ‘tax choice’ misses the point
6November 3, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
In an interesting article in the Times last week, David Cameron set out his view of the ideological differences between …
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In praise of Harriet Harman
Leave a commentNovember 2, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
She probably won’t like the comparison, but for me Harriet Harman is a bit like George Galloway. I don’t agree with …
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EU must be having a laugh with your ‘prosperity surcharge’
Leave a commentOctober 25, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
How kind of the EU commission to write UKIP’s party political broadcast for the Rochester & Stroud by-election. Not even …
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Tesco and the changing market structure in the groceries sector
Leave a commentOctober 24, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
The table above tells the story of a company that is on the way down. After years of dominance in …
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£1bn a year in benefit fraud…£34bn a year in uncollected tax – which would you target?
2October 22, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
I was thinking of Anthony Crosland yesterday when the coalition government announced yet another crackdown on benefit fraud. In 1956 the …
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Banning smoking in Trafalagar Square and public parks…the next step to a complete smoking ban?
2October 20, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
In 2011, New York City introduced a ban on smoking in Central Park, in addition to all of the city’s …
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Lord Freud’s words were wrong. His economic analysis wasn’t.
Leave a commentOctober 17, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Fact, unemployment for disabled people has remained stubbornly around the 50% mark for decades. Here is what Lord Freud had …
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Cut inheritance tax whilst food banks are thriving? Really, David?
3October 16, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Just when I thought the Conservative Party had run out of ways to write the Labour Party manifesto, they have …
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Why has the fall in unemployment led to a FALL in tax receipts?
4October 15, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
In a fascinating article for the Times (click here to read), Ed Conway, the economics editor of Sky News, raises …
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When will someone in politics ‘do the right thing’ themselves and insist that the living wage be paid?
Leave a commentOctober 8, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
For the first time in British history, the majority of people classified as living poverty are in work. Low pay …
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Unpicking the mansion tax
Leave a commentOctober 6, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Oh the mansion tax, the mansion tax, the mansion tax….it’s been talked about for a long time and now, given …
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TTIP..the devil is most definitely in the detail
Leave a commentOctober 4, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a new free-market trade agreement between the US and the EU. At …
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Why are the Conservatives so happy about a set of policies that victimise the poorest so much?
Leave a commentOctober 3, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
As the smoke clears from the pep rally that this week’s Conservative party conference basically turned out to be, a …
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Cameron delivers a speech aimed at tightening the Tory defence of Downing Street
Leave a commentOctober 2, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
David Cameron made his pitch to the nation yesterday in his last conference speech before the 2015 General Election. The …
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UKIP policies – closely targetted at winning seats but not for a serious party of power
1September 30, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Just before the UKIP conference, the Labour Party released a press statement pointing out that UKIP were “more Tory that …
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Logical fallacies and why a 50% threshold for a strike ballot should be imposed
Leave a commentSeptember 27, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Boris Johnson has raised the issue of strikes that he doesn’t regard as democratic. He points out that at the …
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The collapse of Phones4u gives us a look inside the mobile phone market – and it isn’t pretty
Leave a commentSeptember 26, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
The collapse of Phones4u looks, at first, like something that isn’t in consumers’ interest. Given what they were doing, which …
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Ed Miliband – you forgot the economy, stupid
Leave a commentSeptember 24, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Ed Miliband forgot two sections of his speech today. One of his favourite party tricks is to memorise his speeches …
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Ed Balls’s Labour Party conference speech shows Labour think they might walk into Downing Street
Leave a commentSeptember 23, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
It was a strangely mute Labour Party conference today. There seem to be some strange rules in operation. The shadow …
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Ed Miliband must speak clearly about why ordinary people should vote Labour
Leave a commentSeptember 22, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
This week is the Labour Party’s conference. Conference season in the UK is a time when policy proposals are discussed …
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An independent Scotland CAN be successful. But the rest of the UK must help them.
Leave a commentSeptember 18, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Amidst all of the dire warnings made by the NO campaign of what will happen to Scotland if they vote …
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Trade Union leaders’ “NO” not as much of a surprise as it may seem
Leave a commentSeptember 13, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
An interesting decision announced on Sunday was by the Trade Union leaders of Scotland to support the “NO” campaign. One …
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It will be hard to build the Socialist Republic of Scotland if you are relying so much on other peoples’ money
Leave a commentSeptember 10, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
One of the reasons for the momentum that the “Yes” vote has been gaining has been the switch of allegiances …
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Social mobility can be helped by levelling up, not levelling down
2September 7, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Of the people I know, it is only those who have already made it to the top or those who …
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Kansas tax cuts show that the Laffer curve works both ways
Leave a commentSeptember 6, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
Being a great fan of seeing economic theory in action, I can’t help revelling in watching what is happening in …
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