If there was a medal to be awarded for the best contributor of the week, the Deputy would be most deserving of it because he is a lone voice among many voices whose only inclination and focus is on spending more money, calling on the Government to keep on spending more money and spend as much as we can.
The newly-named Federal Reserve chairman faces an historic challenge that no predecessor has encountered since the years immediately following World War II. In that period, the gigantic spending required to aid our allies and secure military victory saddled the U.S. with towering debt. President Truman-fearing that huge interest costs would swamp the budget-heavily pressured the Fed to hold down rates. Today, the U.S. is wrestling with its biggest budget crisis in 70 years, and we're confronting a similar conundrum.
Public sector net borrowing the difference between spending and income was 11.6bn last month, the Office for National Statistics said, compared with 18.7bn in the same month a year earlier. Economists polled by Reuters had expected borrowing to be 13bn in December. The figure is closely watched by the City as it shows how much the government is borrowing to finance its spending plans and whether it is exceeding its target for the year.
A quarter of countries in the developing world are poorer than they were in 2019 before the Covid pandemic, the World Bank has found. The Washington-based organisation said a large group of low-income countries, many in sub-Saharan Africa, had suffered a negative shock in the six years to the end of last year. The bank said global growth had downshifted since the pandemic, and the pace was now insufficient to reduce extreme poverty and create jobs where they're needed most.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has conveyed to a governing party executive her intention to dissolve parliament's lower house next week, according to the Kyodo news agency, less than three months into her tenure. Citing a source, Kyodo reported on Tuesday that Takaichi plans to declare the dissolution of parliament at the beginning of the regular session of the Diet on January 23.
This was once one of America's whitest states, with far more Scandinavians than the descendants of slaves. It was (and still is) one of the most progressive states in the union. The lack of awareness of the dangers of diversity seemingly encouraged white liberals in the state to try their hand at Scandinavian-style social democracy. Just like in Sweden, it drew some of the worst migrants in the world. Ordinary Minnesotans now pay the price.
The United States' current borrowing trajectory will place an "undue burden on future generations," an economic think tank has warned, with younger generations facing a higher interest rate environment, slower economic growth, and stalling wage increases. The latest research from the American Action Forum chimes with concerns across both the public and private sectors. Everyone from JPMorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon to Fed chairman Jerome Powell is nervously eyeing the nation's $38 trillion debt burden.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
When Rachel Reeves urged Labour MPs at a half-empty private meeting on Monday night to back her high stakes budget, she told them that while they might not like everything in it, she was convinced that overall it was fair. After weeks of anxiety on the backbenches over manifesto breaches and speculation over Keir Starmer's leadership, she was determined to reassure them that her plans were Labour through and through and would give them plenty to offer voters on the doorstep.
It depends how the bond market reacts. If the bond market reacts very badly the government will have to react if bond yields start to go up too much, he said. Zahn suggested that it would be unsustainable if the yield, or interest rate, on either 10-year or 30-year UK bonds reached 6%. Such high interest rates created a death spiral, he warned, meaning the government would hopefully act before yields rose that high.
There is one narrow, perilous route by which Rachel Reeves can successfully deliver her 26 November budget, and it runs right through government bond markets. But the current outbreak of Labour infighting driven by a flurry of pugilistic briefings from inside No 10 risks cutting that route off with two weeks still to go before budget day. Before news broke of an abortive leadership challenge, the chancellor had been carefully laying the groundwork for a tough statement, likely to include busting Labour's manifesto pledges
