Strong and stable government is hard to find these days. It has gone from the US (for now at least). It has all but disappeared in the EU, which as Roger Boyes points out in The Times, is "restless and splintering".
Eastern European political leaders are "casually rejecting the old dream of Europe" and opposing the euro, further integration and EU migrant quotas. And western European countries are clear that they aren't going to tolerate a new world of fiscal transfers. Countries are also falling out internally. Everywhere "thriving provincial cities are in a constant state of tension with their national capitals and with Brussels".
The UK is more stable than the EU being a long-term union with what Nigel Biggar, regius professor of moral and pastoral theology at the University of Oxford calls "a depth of multinational solidarity" of which the European Union and a few other European countries can only dream.
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
However, our current political situation, while democratically interesting, is hardly ideal. And with that in mind, I'd like to suggest that you head to the British Museum. Take a Momentum supporter with you and visit the small exhibition in room 69a The Currency of Communism.
That the exhibition exists at all is interesting in itself. If the state provides all goods and services and ensures that they are shared out equally with the happy co-operation of the population, what need could anyone possibly have for cash? So the fact that none of the 27 self-declared communist states seen so far have managed to eliminate money is proof that communism just doesn't work.
Capitalism (which requires a medium of exchange) always hangs on. Anyone in any doubt should skip the bank note bit of the exhibition and head straight for the display of a ragged Russia avoska the "maybe bag" that everyone carried in the Soviet Union in the hope that they might come across something to buy. Until everyone who thinks that a bout of intense socialism could cure the UK's ills has considered this, our political stability looks likely to remain fairly elusive.
Long-term investment should transcend short-term political concerns, of course. But when most markets are very highly valued, we have to put it into the mix (see Edward Chancellor's article this week).The good news is that there is one place that is neither expensive or politically dodgy: Japan, where Shinzo Abe has just won a third term, giving him the power he needs to carry on with his economic reforms. Valuations are still reasonable, dividends are still rising, corporate governance improving and almost no one needs to visit room 69a. That's as good as it gets these days. Japan remains our favourite market.
-
Beat the cost of living crisis – go on holidayEditor's letter As inflation rages, energy bills soar and the pound tanks, what’s a good way to save money this winter? Go on holiday, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
-
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.
-
Don't be scared by economic forecastingEditor's letter The Bank of England warned last week the UK will tip into recession this year. But predictions about stockmarkets, earnings or macroeconomic trends can be safely ignored, 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”.
-
The wolf returns to the eurozone’s doorEditor's letter The eurozone’s intrinsic flaws have been exposed again as investors’ fears about Italy’s ability to pay its debt sends bond yields soaring.
-
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.
-
Why we need to get a grip on our governmentEditor's letter Our government is trying to do too much, enacting policies that are destructive to the private sector. It needs to drop the the feel-good nonsense and create policies that lead to long-term wealth, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
