Ann Pettifor

British Banking

It’s not the public, but the private finance sector, stupid.

The Autumn Statement reveals but one thing: the Chancellor and his advisers are both ill-advised and dangerously ill-prepared for the forthcoming prolonged Depression. (And if you think I exaggerate, let me remind you that 20 years after the Japanese debt bubble burst, Tokyo house prices are still falling, and the stock market is worth 60% less […]

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Osborne: Speaking truth to wealth and power? Really?

George Osborne was presumably aiming at himself and his friends, when he vowed “to speak truth to power and wealth” at the Tory party conference this week, but dare he speak economic truth to the rest of us? – simultaneously published on Left Foot Forward > On the narrowest of bases, he might still claim

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My verdict on Ed Balls’ conference speech – apologies are not enough

Published in the Guardian Cif alongside responses from Jonathon Freedland and Sheila Lawlor: Ed Balls said sorry for Labour’s record on ultra-light-touch financial regulation, and that must be acknowledged. But apologies are just not enough. He and Ed Miliband must stop attacking his electoral base, “hardworking families”, many of whom are trades unionists. As Balls

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What a financial tailspin may mean for you and me

Wall Street plummeted as concerns over European debt and the US economic downturn spurred a broad sell-off. Photograph: Shen Hong/Xinhua Press/Corbis Read my article from Guardian Cif, Friday 19th August: As bank shares and stock markets plummet, and investors flock to the safety of government bonds; as obstinate EU leaders crucify their countries in a

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Savings and the alchemy of credit – my article for Aviva

Aviva has brought together a collection of prominent thinkers to provoke renewed debate and fresh ideas about future prosperity and creating a culture of sustainable savings. The group, names the ‘Future Prosperity Panel‘, published their report ‘Big picture thinking – Towards sustainable savings’. My article is called ‘Savings and the alchemy of credit’ and is published

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Austerity: OECD economists show clear signs of ‘cold feet’ for austerity

(Photo: REUTERS / Yiorgos Karahalis ) A Greek riot policeman stands in front of graffiti written on the wall of a bank during violent demonstrations over austerity measures in Athens, May 5, 2010. Greece faced a day of violent protests and a nationwide strike by civil servants outraged by the announcement of draconian austeristy measures.

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Is the banking system broke, as well as broken?

Much of the news of the last few weeks – the financialised commodities mania; the disgraceful abuse by the banks of payment protection insurance; the mortgage fraud which led US banks to rush through foreclosures without proper process and evict people from their homes;and their  decision reported  in the WSJ to offer a miserly $5 billion to

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Is George Osborne a radical Chancellor? – far from it

I was on Newsnight last week, to comment on the Budget. (You can watch it with the BBC’s iPlayer..our slot is about 35 minutes into the show.) Newsnight’s Jeremy Paxman posed a question to the panel, which included Lord Lamont, ex-Chancellor, and Irwin Steltzer. He asked: is George Osborne a radical Chancellor?” Radical, according to the dictionary definition

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Update: bankers complete capture of UK Treasury – & attack Cable

So Sir James Sassoon has joined the Eton boy, Osborne, and the Barclays banker, David Laws, at the Treasury, as Commercial Secretary – a post invented and designed for him.  Sir James was vice chairman Investment Banking at UBS Warburg between1985-2002, where he specialised in privatisations.  The capture of the Treasury by the City of

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Bankers tighten their grip

13 May, 2010 With a backdrop of bankers looting the EU’s Treasuries (via a bailout that rivals George Bush’s TARP) let us consider one of the most significant Dem-Con appointments (and a non-appointment) to the British cabinet. That of someone who until now was invisible: David Laws the new Chief Secretary to the Treasury. His

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