Inflation & The Bank of England’s New Catch 22
19 October, 2016The British inflation rate for September increased faster than expected to 1% – a two-year high – primarily due to rising prices for clothes, hotel rooms and petrol. While a weaker pound may not explain the latest rise in consumer prices, is the cost of living expected to increase in the future? And what does [...]
Global debt reaches $152 trillion – We need an alternative!
18 October, 2016Global debt has more than doubled in the last 15 years; and according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it’s the highest it’s ever been. Is it any surprise that in the last 40 years we have had some 150 systemic banking crises and 70 sovereign debt crises? Indeed, the Bank of England recently suggested [...]
Wealth ‘halved in a decade’ for people in their 30s: What’s money got to do with it?
30 September, 2016A new report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) shows that people in their early 30s are half as wealthy as people of the same age ten years ago. This has been correctly attributed to a number of factors, but one which is gaining increasing attention is the role of money creation in the [...]
The Launch of Corporate QE: 10 reasons why it’s a bad idea
28 September, 201627th September 2016 marked the launch of the Bank of England’s new Corporate Quantitative Easing (QE) programme. The Bank will now be creating £10bn of new money to buy bonds issued by private companies. While there are much better ways to boost the UK economy, today we give 10 reasons why Corporate QE won’t help [...]
QE 101: What is Quantitative Easing?
17 September, 2016The term Quantitative Easing (QE) is not only hard to say, but it can be a bit of a tricky concept to grasp. It sounds so much like technical jargon that many people - journalists, policy-makers and even economists - are completely put off by it. But at the same time, the UK’s QE programme [...]
“Property better investment than pensions”, says Bank of England’s chief economist – but what about the housing crisis?
7 September, 2016The chief economist of the Bank of England, Andy Haldane, has recently claimed that property is a better investment for retirement than a pension. As long as the Bank of England continues on its current policy path this will most certainly be the case – with even more inequality and higher house prices to boot. [...]
Bank of England announcement: our response
4 August, 2016The Bank of England (BoE) has just announced its new monetary stimulus package. By lowering interest rates and expanding quantitative easing, the stimulus will exacerbate inequality and encourage an already highly-indebted household sector to borrow even more. The new government has pledged to build an economy that works for everyone and has made a strong [...]
Bank of England, if old tools don’t work anymore, consider new ones
2 August, 2016With recent data showing that economic conditions seem to be deteriorating, the Bank of England is expected to lower its UK growth forecasts and come up with a stimulus package to aid the UK economy. Instead of cutting interest rates or pumping more electronic money into financial markets – resulting in higher levels of household [...]
Economic Risks beginning to crystallise: Solution – encourage more private debt!
15 July, 2016The Bank of England says evidence is emerging that risks it identified related to Brexit are beginning to crystallise. One of the risks the Bank identified is high levels of household debt. However, to keep the financial system stable and offset a potential recession it is relaxing regulations to stimulate UK bank lending. In effect, it is [...]