Tag Archives: Economics

Many users of Social Media have stated that they cannot find any reason for Independence.  Here are some of the main reasons with links to further articles that explain them more fully. The immediate reason for Brexit is the Lisbon Treaty (2009) and the completion of the transitional arrangements that phased …

Why does the UK import and export meat? The world around us sparks up curiosities. Twitter is a mine for curiosity, throwing up some great questions which sometimes we take for granted. Recently, this question appeared: “Can someone explain to me why we import meat please?” Going beyond the brief, …

This article will provide clear, click through links to all of its source data.  Click on these links whenever you feel that you must check a source. First of all, what are the current economists’ predictions for the UK economy for 2019 to 2020? These predictions are all sourced, click …

Governments are very powerful in Britain. The power of Parliament on the other hand is limited. It can pass or fail to pass laws and it can vote a Government down. Governments have been able to declare war and make peace without asking the opinion of Parliament. What this means …

The graphs below summarise the current state of the UK economy: The central, grey line is the Purchase Power Parity (PPP) of the pound – what the pound is really worth when buying things in the UK, this is the real value of the pound. The coloured lines show when …

Prior to considering any of the predictions for a No Deal Brexit it is worthwhile to get a sense of perspective about the role of the EU in the UK economy. In 2016 exports to the EU constituted only 12% of UK GDP. ( See Exports of Goods and Services to …

The bulk of those who support Remain want to hear why we are embarking on Brexit.  They really do not know.  Boris Johnson must explain why leaving the EU is essential. The most important reason for leaving the EU is that it has been given power over most aspects of …

This article was written 30th April 2019, let it not be said that no-one could have foreseen the coming difficulties. The most worrying indicator is global trade volume: This has had the expected effect on global industrial production: Notice that the downturn is affecting all economic regions this time around.  …

My opposition to the EU is essentially down to the fact that it works badly. Everything that the UK government does not do well at, the EU does even worse. Let me list some prominent examples… Single currency (Eurozone):Normally, an ailing economy’s currency depreciates, which encourages inward investment and domestic …

News has broken that in the event of “No Deal”, up to 90 % of tariffs will be removed. Confirmation seems to have come from a refusal to deny from Greg Clark, Business Secretary. Naturally, views have been expressed, from all political vantage points. The opposition can be expected to …

On an online exchange, a lefty illustrated the distinctions between those three concepts as such:State capitalism – private ownership with significant govt intervention.Socialism – democratic ownership of production.Communism – stateless, moneyless, classless society. Boiling it down to fundamentals, here are the distinctions according to their definitions:State capitalism – state? yes; private ownership? yesSocialism – state? …

Since the European Union Referendum in 2016, stories about companies fleeing the UK and abandoning their UK manufacturing operations have been commonplace in the media. These events are often reported in isolation, and stories about companies moving to the UK, setting up new operations or expanding existing ones have not …

Predictably, Remainers blamed Brexit for Nissan’s decision not to produce its new X-Trail vehicle in its Sunderland plant: Nissan chooses Japan over UK to build new X-Trail car. But scrutinise this allegation just a little, and you’ll find that it doesn’t hold water. Given that Japan and EU has just concluded …

Is the Internet another “industrial revolution” that is increasing prosperity for all or is it simply a new way of selling goods? The answer seems to be that Internet sales are displacing purchases from physical stores to online stores: Had the Internet increased the growth in the total value of …

The most striking event of the past year and, in retrospect, of the decade, is the continuing rise of the Media Industry (Television, Film, News, Advertising, Social Media, Internet Sales, Computer Games etc).  It is now worth over $2 trillion worldwide.  In the UK alone it is worth about £100 bn.  This …

Since the Referendum we can already see that wages are rising in real terms: The Referendum has brought us the highest level of real earnings since November 2010. According to the BBC article Wage Rises Accelerate to the Fastest Pace since 2008:  ‘Howard Archer, chief economic adviser to the EY Item …

The Bank of England published this graph showing the effect of leaving the EU with no deal in its report: EU withdrawal scenarios and monetary and financial stability: The graph is designed to look as scary as possible.  However, when we read the notes on page 53 we find this little …

I have been thinking about John McDonnel’s proposed four-day week. Obviously, I’d have got this piece out yesterday except it was one of my down days. I’m guessing the same excuse would become commonplace with clients demanding service – how dare they? The possibilities are endless: The production line, dispatch, …

I would hazard a guess that most people have heard the refrain “greedy bankers” to denigrate the wealthy individuals who work in the financial sector. However, how many are actually aware of what these people do, and what role does investment banking actually play in the economy? Not ‘just’ greedy …

I have just finished reading yet another article on how Trade Deficits are harmless or even good for a country (The Trade Deficit Matters, But Not How You Think by Jeffrey Dorfman). Trade deficits happen when a country imports more than it exports, the excess imports need to be purchased …