Current affairs - Land Value Tax Campaign

The socially useless City

Written on 28 August 2009. Posted in Banking.

Lord Turner, head of Britain’s Financial Services Authority (FSA), this week described much of the City’s activities as “socially useless” and questioned whether it has grown too large. What the City ought to be doing is to arrange finance to enable trade and industry to function smoothly. But what amounts to a casino has grown up on the back of these legitimate functions....

Perfectly muddled thinking

Written on 20 June 2009. Posted in Taxation.

Henry Law’s scathing personal comments on the proposed phone tax can be read on the LVTC blog.

Proposed phone tax

Written on 19 June 2009. Posted in Taxation.

The government is proposing to levy a tax of £6 a year on all telephone lines, to pay for the expansion of high-speed broadband services to give nation-wide coverage. This is an excellent example of the government’s lack of understanding of economic principles. High speed broadband is a good thing, but not everyone wants it, needs it, or is even capable of using it. If people want it they...

Bank regulation will not stop another boom and bust

Written on 19 June 2009. Posted in Banking.

Both in the US and Europe, there is much talk of bank regulation to stop another boom and bust. It will not work. The time will come, perhaps fifteen years from now, when economies will seem to be on a path of steady growth. People will say, yet again, that this time the growth is sustainable. There will be pressure to remove the regulations, which will be seen as unduly restrictive. Politicians...

What alternative to GDP growth?

Written on 1 June 2009. Posted in Economics.

Now that so many countries are officially in “recession”, the main effort of policymakers the world over is to re-establish economies on a path of “growth”. The measure of success here is Gross National Product (GNP), the value of all goods and services produced by the people of a nation. But how much more growth is possible? Or desirable?

Africa almost giving land away, says UN

Written on 25 May 2009. Posted in Welfare.

African countries are giving away vast tracts of farmland to other countries and investors almost for free, with the only benefits consisting of vague promises of jobs and infrastructure, according to a report published on Monday.

Quantitative Easing and Inflation

Written on 10 May 2009. Posted in Banking.

What is Quantitative Easing and will it lead to inflation? Tommas Graves presented these thoughts to a discussion group last week in an attempt to help understanding of the subject, but no firm conclusion was reached in this highly abstract topic… When Quantitative Easing was proposed it was an unknown idea, and many thought it would create inflation. Now that the dust has settled, what are...

Landscape of industrial decay emerges

Written on 5 May 2009. Posted in Economics.

Jonathan Guthrie writes in the FT today “Birmingham was a cradle of the industrial revolution. But neighbourhoods such as Washwood Heath now feel more like its grave. The last of Washwood Heath’s three big factories is on the brink of closure. Unless a buyer rescues LDV, which has 850 staff, the van maker expects to enter administration on Wednesday. “Economists once theorised...

German-Danish bridge bonanza for landowners

Written on 1 May 2009. Posted in Economics.

With the recent confirmation of construction of a 19km long bridge from Puttgarden in Germany to Rødby in Denmark, to be finished in 2018, one of the last train ferries will come to an end. A Danish IC3 train from Hamburg to Copenhagen is seen here on the car deck of the Scandlines ferry. Passengers who enjoy the 45 minute crossing and the comfortable ferry with on-board restaurant may not appreciate...

The Budget 2009 – a broader perspective

Written on 30 April 2009. Posted in Taxation.

Tommas Graves takes a step back from considerations of winners, losers and avoiders, and gives a view of the budget from a broader perspective “Dishonest” says the Economist. Taken together with the steps to deal with the banking crisis, what we can see is the attempt to get the economy back to normal. NORMAL? But what is normal?

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