Changes recommended in taxation regime

Every now and again there are rumblings about the need to reform the UK tax system: not just income tax and council tax, and more importantly vat, the tax on fuel, and the tax on greenhouse gas emissions. The Mirlees review, to be published on Wednesday, argues that “sweeping reforms” are necessary. To income tax, …

Increasing sentiment against wealthy?

Barack Obama was today expected to say that he would veto any deficit reduction plan that does not explicitly target millionaire taxpayers. And in the UK, rather more weakly perhaps, Vince Cable was expected to “ramp up rhetoric against the wealthy” at the LibDems conference, calling for a ‘consultation’ into executive pay. This follows his …

Carbon trading to hit airline profits

The airline industry is expected to face a €1.1bn bill next year when carriers around the world are brought into the EU carbon trading scheme. This is a quarter of the industry’s estimated profits this year, as estimated by IATA. (The EU decided to make any airline flying into or within the EU will pay …

“Greece should default and abandon the euro”

Here’s one solution to the eurozone crisis: Greece defaults and leaves the eurozone, returning to the drachma, enabling it to weaken its currency to compensate for any future lack of competitiveness (or strengthen in response to excess competitiveness). Existing creditors of the Greek government form an orderly queue and negotiate the existing debts. And holidays …

The supply of money in an energy-scarce world

“Money has no value unless it can be exchanged for goods and services. These cannot be supplied without the use of some form of energy.” “Consequently, if less energy is available in future, the existing stock of money can either lose its value gradually (through inflation). Or if inflation is resisted, [the existing stock of money] …

Ray Anderson

Ray Anderson died recently. He was founder of Interface, a company making industrial-grade carpets from oil. In around 1990 he was writing the ‘sustainability code’ for his own company and he was depressed to find that the best he could come up with was “We will comply with government regulation.” Then Paul Hawken’s “Ecology of …

US corn crop forecast cut, food prices rising, ethanol top user of corn, stocks near-zero

The US government has again cut its forecast for crop yields this year. This is on top of a forecast already reduced in August. On the one hand this might seem not to matter, since the crop is still expected to be the third largest in US history. But reality is that: Use of corn …

Bank of America plans to axe 10,000 jobs

A brief post this one. Bank of America has said that it will cut 10,000 jobs (10.5% of its workforce) in the first phase of its restructuring plan. This will save the company $5bn per year. Why comment on this? It is surely a normal thing to do? Well, yes. And so it is interesting …

New paradigm needed, II

Following our post yesterday on how we need a new paradigm for business, it was interesting to read George Magnus (“the man who predicted the sub-prime crisis”) writing in the FT today saying almost the same thing” “Put simply, the economic model that drove the long boom from the 1980s to 2008, has broken down.” He …