What do Greece and an unemployed homeowner in Arizona have in common? They are both bankrupt with no hope of ever being able to pay back what they owe. As I wrote this, I realised it sounded as though I were making a joke (and a bad one at that). The reality is, unfortunately, not funny in any sense, but actually far more worrying.
Despite the US-led invasion of Afghanistan starting back in October 2001, around 9,000 British soldiers still remain stationed in the country to this day, with a remit of training up local military forces to take over security by the end of 2014.
The ten things you need to know on 30 April 2013... 1) COME 2015, IT'LL BE 'TIME FOR A CHANGE' The right-wing media echo chamber keeps telling u...
Britain's finances remain under intense pressure after figures today showed annual net borrowing managed only a slight dip to £120.6 billion in the f...
Nearly 700 jobs are at risk at Morrisons, the supermarket where last week George Osborne made a speech in defence of cutting benefits, saying he would...
George Osborne has rejected calls from the right-wing of the Conservative Party that he administer "shock therapy" to the economy in order to kickstar...
The George Osborne budget was tepid and utterly uninspiring. To paraphrase Fraser Nelson of the Spectator, the budget was devoid of substance and replete with gestures.
I'm not in the habit of quoting Shakespeare to people, I've always had a sneaking suspicion that people who quote Shakespeare are the kind of people w...
There once were two great cities: Athens and Sparta. The Athenians were the first to achieve impressive wealth and for a generation the Spartans could do no more than look on in envious admiration. What was their secret, the Spartan leaders asked?
To paraphrase Plato - austerity is the mother of invention and one invention moving from revolution to movement is the share economy.
Doom-mongers believe politicians will choose the easy way out and put pressure on central banks to crank up the printing presses. They often point to the weakness of the international monetary system, because it is based on fiat (soft) money, which is not backed by the value from tangible materials like gold. The pessimists think a monetary system based on fiat money will rarely, if ever, exist for long because hyperinflation is inevitable.
What we know for sure, what we know for certain, is that destiny is in our hands as never before. We know that if knowledge is power then economic knowledge must be economic power and we are certain that those who raise their knowledge will be at a distinct advantage. Those that don't grab it will only have themselves to blame.
In times of crisis, the need for clear information is more important than ever. Crunching the numbers in a transparent way is one of the best methods of public policy formation available to us, and data concerning jobs and growth has informed many reasonable economic arguments in recent years.
If GDP also shrinks in the first quarter of 2013, then the economy will be back in technical recession - the third recession in the space of five years. However, this still remains speculation. We will not know for sure whether the economy is back in recession for another three months.
Asking adults aged 24 and above to pay to work, through a student loan, risks putting many people off undertaking apprenticeships and contributing towards the development of our skilled workforce. Asking people earning this level of pay to further take out a loan in order to work is simply unacceptable.
David Cameron has been accused of misleading voters after claiming the government was “paying down Britain’s debt”. During a Conservative Par...
According to Which magazine, almost 50% of Brits funded Christmas 2012 with credit. Be it a credit card, or payday loans, which almost a million families used, there will be millions of people for whom Christmas 2012 is a 2013 problem.
The UK government's decision to resume fracking has been welcomed by the oil industry, and widely lambasted by environmental campaigners. But to a large extent the debate about the potential of shale gas in this country has completely missed the point.
A 23-year-old student took his own life after writing a suicide note on the back of a letter from the bank asking for him to repay his £3,000 overdra...
I think it's really important to remember the reason for the season - whether you share the Christian faith or not. At the heart of Christianity are three words: love, peace and forgiveness. My thinking is that over indulging in any of these things is unlikely to result in stress, debt - or indigestion.
We are making progress in our understanding of poverty, but insisting on a single solution risks everyone falling through the net.
If Argentina decides to carry out its promise not to repay vulture funds, it will come under huge international pressure and economic destabilisation. If we believe that the state's first duty to its citizens' welfare rather than international markets, we must support Argentina in spite of the propaganda.
Pressure is mounting on the House of Lords to approve tough new regulations for payday lenders like Wonga, as more than 40,000 people sign a petition ...
Benjamin Strong was the first governor of the Federal Reserve from 1914 to 1928. He was also the first economist to use the interest rate to control the aggregate price of goods (the level of inflation), using credit based mechanisms called open market operations as the main tool to achieve his objective.
Payday loans companies charge high late payment fees, interest rates of around 4000% APR, and can push many people deeper into a spiral of debt which ...
