Mid-term blues: it was the economy, stupid

When the news came in from America’s mid-term elections last week, the headlines were pretty clear on what had caused the Republicans’ heavy losses: the war. But that isn’t what the polls of voters really said.

When the news came in from America's mid-term elections last week, the headlines were pretty clear on what had caused the Republicans' heavy losses: the war. But that isn't what the polls of voters really said.

There is something else really beginning to bother the average American: the slow erosion of their standard of living. The US minimum wage is at its lowest level in real terms for 50 years, and 55% of people told one poll their wages weren't keeping up with inflation.

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.