Spud tells us it’s a crisis of capitalism and therefore he should be Fat Controller.
This vicious circle was kicked into motion by the gradual disappearance of a key buyer of domestic stocks. Defined-benefit (db) pension schemes, today worth £1.5trn, have gone from having around a quarter of their assets invested in London-listed shares in 2008 to less than 2% in 2022.A combination of regulatory incentives and the db schemes’ increasing maturity drove them away from the risk and growth potential of stocks and towards the safety of bonds.
Who to believe, eh, who to believe?
“Who to believe, eh, who to believe?”
I’m not a great believer in the Economist. I used to take it but got fed up with its smug Infallibility.
I’m not a great believer in the Economist. I used to take it but got fed up with its smug Infallibility.
Indeed, quite tough when it’s Spud on one side and The Economist on the other. You want to dream up an explanation that shows they’re both wrong.
Henry Kissinger’s remark on the First Gulf War (It’s a shame they can’t both lose) has become a bit of a cliche. It was widely quoted when the Blair Government and the BBC were at loggerheads over the Second Gulf War.
I think Kissmyassinger’s remark was made during the Iran / Irak war actually.
The big shock for Aust pension funds over Covid was the government allowed very limited withdrawals from compulsory superannuation (two tranches of $10k per person). Tiny amount of money compared to funds under management, but it hit their liquidity hard. Their investments were in lots of office buildings, infrastructure, and such that they couldn’t easily divest, especially under the circumstances.
I see everyone seems to agree with me about the Economist.
And re the Iran-Iraq war, I’d argue that the Russians and OPEC, as well as Iran and Iraq all lost in that one. I’ve always assumed the Russians egged their ally Saddam on to have a go at Iran, since it was supporting the Afghan shia. And thus shot themselves in the head.
The Economist (like the FT) used to be required reading for anyone with an interest in financial matters. But it’s fallen to the woke kiddies, and is now full of blatherings about the climate ‘catastrophe’ alongside ESG, DIE and any other trendy TLA that passes by.