How much longer can the banks carry on stealing from savers?
The world's central banks are going to go on printing the money. I think we pretty much knew that already, but it has become even clearer in the past few days.
The world's central banks are going to go on printing the money. I think we pretty much knew that already, but it has become even clearer in the past few days.
Scotland's voters will be asked to make a political decision in its referendum on independence, but it will be a decision coloured inevitably by economics – or at least economic perceptions, for the long-term economic impact of independence is far from clear.
It is time to look forward – and not only because 2011 has been a deeply disappointing year.
Just print the money! One of the things that a central bank can do and do without limit is to flood the markets with liquidity. To give you an order of magnitude, this latest £75 billion of quantitative easing is equivalent to 5 per cent of GDP – maybe not quite a flood of money but a decent wodge none the less.
This is not just about the indebtedness of Greece; nor that of the other weak eurozone countries; nor about the future of the euro; nor, as we will learn today, that the liabilities of the British Government are far higher than the official figures suggest; nor even the real possibility that the US itself may default in the next three weeks if Congress cannot agree to an increase in its borrowing limit.
Economics always eventually trumps politics, as the Republic of Ireland's experience shows.
The Group of Twenty meeting in Seoul is important – but not because anything important is likely to come out of it.
The Republic of Ireland has taken a lot of stick from the market in recent months and last week the beating ratcheted up a few more points. Not good. The headlines said the country now had to pay around 8 per cent for its debt, way up from levels of even a week or two ago.
So now we know. The cuts are indeed deep, and – more important – will become progressively deeper as we move through this Parliament.
It will be a close-run thing but the Republic should make it.
Unemployment is Europe's catastrophe. Many aspects of the European economy over the past half-century have been a triumph: rising standards of living, good working conditions, high productivity and good leisure provision.
So how has the summer been for the tourist industry?
Hols are over, so welcome back to the world of work and to whatever autumn may hold.
The Government is seeking to rebalance Britain's trading relations away from slow-growing Europe to the emerging economies, of which Brazil, Russia, India and China are the largest, and that makes obvious sense.
Think of the next five years as a mountain that we as a country have to climb.
Something nearer home: The Future of News and the Internet. That is the title of a new report by the OECD. Its main message is that "large country-by-country and title-by-title differences and the data currently do not lend themselves to make the case for 'the death of the newspaper', in particular if non-OECD countries and potential positive effects of the economic recovery are taken into account".
This Tuesday we get the emergency Budget with its tax increases, cuts in public spending and all that.
Fears about the future of the euro have helped plunge global markets into chaos, with share prices around the world reacting to the possibility that the eurozone will break up and that several of its member countries may default on their debts.
And now to that disagreeable process called “fiscal consolidation”. That will be the governing theme of public affairs for the next decade throughout the developed world.
Second day thoughts on Budgets are usually better than initial ones, for the devil is usually in the detail. But this year it is different.
A well-known Belfast nightspot has gone on the market with a price tag of £300,000.
Budget airline Ryanair pilots have been told not to sign a letter to airline regulators expressing concern that the airline’s employment practices could jeopardise passenger safety.
NORTHERN Ireland's construction firms should continue to look to emerging markets for opportunities, the head of a professional organisation said.
THOMAS Cook took another step towards calmer waters be announcing a £425m fundraising with shareholders in a bid to cut debt.
A local independent specialist tour operator has launched a new dedicated air holiday division.
Not actually Balmoral in Belfast – that's the smell of leafy streets and manicured lawns – but the new, vast Maze site where the show of the same name was in full swing.