It is fair to say that Bernie Sanders has received a quite sensational surge in popularity over recent months. His increased popularity comes as a result of the idealism which he exhibits, which has appealed to many a disaffected American. However, while this surge in popularity could come as a newfound victory for American progressivism as a whole, it means that not enough people are taking the time and effort to properly analyse his economic policies, which are quite frankly ludicrous and absurd. While I admit that some of his progressive policies, such as to greatly decrease unnecessary government spending, would actually help the economy, most of the policies which he goes on and on about are simply not going to work. The first absurd policy of his, which I will hopefully try to debunk here, is the Robin Hood tax on Wall Street speculators. Continue reading “Why Bernie Sanders would be bad for the U.S. economy”
Month: August 2015
Why we should introduce tax relief for corporations that pay the National Living Wage to people aged 18-24
From April 2016, a new National Living Wage of £7.20 an hour for those aged 25 and over will be introduced. This will rise to over £9 an hour by 2020. This National Living Wage alleges to be enough to suffice for the cost of living in England, however, much controversy has ensued as to whether this is actually the case. Regardless, in this article, I will operate on the premise that it is, in fact, enough to pay the bills in England, although I acknowledge that this may not be the case. I feel that it is ludicrous to only give a National Living Wage to people above 25, and that the government needs to think of young workers as well, as they work just as hard, if not harder. Continue reading “Why we should introduce tax relief for corporations that pay the National Living Wage to people aged 18-24”
Why Jeremy Corbyn could ruin the UK
As of now, the majority of the opinion polls regarding the Labour leadership elections have Jeremy Corbyn on top by a substantial margin. Although he is definitely not so popular with former Labour leaders such as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, he looks to have swayed the Labour masses into voting for him as their next leader. However, in my opinion, they are not taking into account the substantial damage that Corbyn looks set to do to the economy, if elected as Prime Minister in 2020 (already an incredibly fanciful scenario, must I add). I, more than anyone, realise the drawbacks that David Cameron and the Conservative party may have, however, it is unequivocal that they are helping the economy, and if elected, Jeremy Corbyn will undo all of that economic good which has been so painfully strived for by the opposing centre-right party. The first way in which he will do this is to raise taxes for the rich. Continue reading “Why Jeremy Corbyn could ruin the UK”
A few of my suggestions to perhaps make housing more affordable
Over recent years, one of the major stories reported by news channels has been the rise in house prices. In the UK, with the average salary being around £25,000 and the average house price rapidly approaching £200,000, it is incontestable that the majority of the general populace will not be able to buy a property. However, this is not the biggest problem. Indeed, the most pertinent problem is that this problem is not looking like it will be fixed any time soon. House prices in the UK are set to rise 25% over the next five years, according to The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), with wage growth seemingly not able to match that. This is largely due to a large imbalance between supply and demand, so the logical first step to make housing more affordable has to be to increase the supply of housing. Continue reading “A few of my suggestions to perhaps make housing more affordable”
Lessons learnt from a 15 year old’s voyage into the financial markets
Having traded the financial markets in my holidays, and having made a little over five figures in that time, I feel that not only have I found a gratifying pastime, but also that my knowledge about financial markets has been vastly increased, from many mornings spent watching Bloomberg on a TV screen. The gains have been marvellous, the losses not so much. My general knowledge of global events and their repercussions to the markets has also increased. Above all, however, the most salient thing is that a sound base of knowledge has been built for, hopefully, a lifetime of trading on the financial markets. Many lessons have been learnt from experience, incipiently to ignore the brunt of what the news says. Continue reading “Lessons learnt from a 15 year old’s voyage into the financial markets”
How I think we can reduce absolute poverty
There is no denying that poverty is an absolute cancer of society. The fact that even one person does not have the resources necessary to sustain life is categorically abhorrent, let alone millions. Some say that absolute poverty will always exist, but to that, I quote the prominent lecturer Charles Aked, who said that “the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing”. As such, I have immortalised my musings on the matter below. I must stress, before I get to the proverbial meat of this article, that these are simply my thoughts on the topic, and I do not proclaim them to be unequivocally correct in the slightest. In actuality, I am welcome to any elucidations or critiques of my thoughts in the comment section below. Continue reading “How I think we can reduce absolute poverty”
