This chart is 2021/22 - undoubtedly hugely distorted by the benefits paid during the disastrous pandemic, during which the Americans and Italians were particularly profligate. A much more interesting… (View Post)

FPT You don't seem to understand what the IMF is or what it does. It is there to help (mostly developing) countries on fixed exchange rates, which we don't have, out of temporary liquidity difficulti… (View Post)

Yes the LibDem/Coalition policy adopted by the Conservatives of taking people out of tax by raising thresholds in the 2010s was a disaster. It increased the number of freeloaders who can vote for hig… (View Post)

The betting markets are like the financial futures market - they are an great indicator of the mood of the present and a phenomenally crap guide to events in the future. (View Post)

Most of that is because of ruinously expensive housing and most of the rest is because we pretend to old people that they can live forever in comfort without working largely at public expense. (View Post)