Following a sharp rise in inflation precipitated initially by the supply-side disruption as the pandemic ended and supply lagged demand, then the Russian invasion of Ukraine, central banks are tightening policy. The US Federal Reserve is at the forefront of this charge, raising interest rates at the fastest pace since the 1980s. There is no …
Mini Budget 2022: all the money is on tax cuts
Friday’s mini-Budget was anything but small. It’s the biggest tax-cutting Budget since the ‘Barber’ boom Budget of 1972 or 50 years ago. Unfortunately, the parallels are not good, as that Budget did not end well. Eventually, it led to the loss of a general election by Conservative prime minister Ted Heath. Time will …
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UK energy price freeze: the ‘big short’
As was widely expected, the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, has opted for an energy price freeze. It caps the price for the typical energy consumer at £2500 for a unit of energy for two years. But this still represents a sharp increase compared to the previous price cap and the year before. Roughly speaking, …