There is so much going on in the UK at the moment it's hard to know quite what to comment on first. But if you want to look through the noise to the things that should matter to investors, you should concentrate on UK debt levels, inflation and interest rates. John looks at all this in some detail in this week's cover story, but the key point is that almost without exception all UK politicians now believe the UK is "tired of austerity" and wants to see a sharp rise in UK government spending.
We don't know for sure why they believe this, given that working hard to balance the books fast was not one of the options given to the UK voter in the last election. Osborne never actually produced real spending cuts and May's manifesto pretty much abandoned the idea that it was worth the bother. Still, there it is. That's what they believe.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
-
Tariffs 'were a terrible idea but shunning the US is a big mistake'Opinion Manufacturers and investors have pivoted away from the US, the world’s biggest economy. That’s a mistake, says Matthew Lynn
-
End of “fleecehold”: Will leasehold reforms bring an end to the UK's feudal system?Britain’s feudal system of property ownership is being overhauled. It's about time, says Simon Wilson
-
How capitalism has been undermined by poor governanceEditor's letter Capitalism’s “ruthless efficiency” has been undermined by poor governance, a lack of competition and central banks’ over-enthusiastic money printing, says Andrew Van Sickle.
-
The biggest change in the last 17 years – the death of the “Greenspan put”Editor's letter Since I joined MoneyWeek 17 years ago, says John Stepek, we’ve seen a global financial crisis, a eurozone sovereign debt crisis , several Chinese growth scares, a global pandemic, and a land war in Europe. But the biggest change is the death of the “Greenspan put”.
-
Things won't just return to normal – that's not how inflation worksEditor's letter You might think that, if inflation is indeed “transitory”, we just need to wait and everything will return to “normal”. But this is a grave misunderstanding of how inflation works, says John Stepek.
-
Car hire and the strangeness of the post-pandemic economyEditor's letter A global shortage of hire cars and unusually high hotel occupancy rates sum up the post-pandemic global economy in a nutshell, says Merryn Somerset Webb, with enhanced demand meeting restricted supply.
-
Everything is getting more expensive – including moneyEditor's letter Investors are about to start feeling rather more pain, says Merryn Somerset Webb – from the rising price of money.
-
We may be heading for recession – and it will be no ordinary recessionEditor's letter Just as the downturn in 2020 was not a typical recession. the next downturn could be very different too, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
-
What companies should be prioritising this decadeEditor's letter In a world beset by uncertainty, companies should be prioritising slack over efficiency, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
-
Inflation could soon start to hurtEditor's letter Inflation is not going away. And with people's wages not keeping up, things are going to start to hurt, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
