Category: Economics
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More on the Northern Ireland corporation tax debate
A couple of new snippets on the debate about a lower corporation tax regime for Northern Ireland. First, Colm Heatley interviews Indian businessman Lord Diljit Rana. ‘It isn’t realistic to expect to get £6 billion a year from the government for too much longer, so we need to develop our entrepreneurial skills, private enterprise, and…
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Will Brown give Northern Ireland a Corporation Tax cut?
One interesting feature of the St Andrews Agreement is the commitment that Gordon Brown will “meet all parties to consider proposals – including those from the Assembly subgroup on economic challenges facing Northern Ireland – that make the most of new opportunities arising from greater peace and stability.” Although there is no mention of it…
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Is Doha failure a sign of hegemonic decline?
Tim Worstall points us to an interesting piece on global trade negotiations by Martin Jacques in the Guardian today: The irony of Doha is that it is being killed by western disinterest in the face of the growing power of the developing world. The rise of China and, to a lesser extent India, is likely…
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UUP backs SNP on tax
The UUP have issued a remarkable press release which perhaps bears out Mick Fealty’s claim that its Northern Ireland’s unionists who are making the running in demanding more fiscal autonomy from Westminster.
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Black market globalisation
America’s NPR website carries the first chapter of a new book that looks likely to become required reading: Illicit: How Smugglers, Hijackers and Copycats are hijacking the Global Economy. Thanks to al-Qaeda the world now knows what a network of highly motivated individuals owing allegiance to no nation and empowered by globalization can do. The…
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Capitalism’s shifting centre
Mick Hume at Spiked Online has a wide-ranging essay on changing trends in the world economy. One of his interesting arguments is that the decline of class conflict has contributed to a shallower business cycle.
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Giant in decline
Not to labour the point, but here’s another essay from the Asia Times on the decline of US hegemony. This one is from money manager Marshall Auerbeck who has a great 2001 quote from former Secretary of State James Baker, a close ally of the Bush family: Strong economic growth across the globe and new…
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Bloomberg columnist attacks Bush on Social Security
It really shows how right-wing President Bush is when you find the financial press coming to the defence of America’s welfare programs. Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) — President George W. Bush’s assertions that Social Security faces a crisis and is “flat bust, bankrupt” are patently false. Bush and other administration officials are greatly exaggerating potential problems…
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Is the US an emperor with no clothes?
Interesting two-parter from veteran academic Andre Gunder Frank at the Asia Times. Frank argues that both the main planks of US global dominance, military supremacy and the Dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency, are under threat. In the 21st century, the centre of global power is likely to return to East Asia, where it…