George Osborne 'exaggerated debt crisis risk' says Nobel laureate | Politics. George Osborne was accused today by Britain's new Nobel prize-winning economist of having "exaggerated" the risk of a Greek-style debt crisis. Professor Christopher Pissarides said that the prospects of a sovereign debt crisis hitting Britain - used by the chancellor to justify his spending cuts - were "minimal". In an article for the Sunday Mirror, he warned that Osborne's swingeing cuts package, announced last week in the Commons, was taking "unnecessary risks" with the economy. The chancellor has said drastic action to tackle the deficit was necessary to avoid a Greek-style collapse in investor confidence, leaving Britain facing punitive interest rates to finance its borrowing.
However, Pissarides said he believed that the chancellor had overstated the dangers. "It is important to avoid this 'sovereign risk'. But in my view Britain is a long way from such a threat, and the chancellor has exaggerated the sovereign risks that are threatening the country," he said. Faisal Islam on Economics - Spending cuts target child benefits, tax credits and social housing. The deal is done. The most extensive programme of government cuts since the 1920s was signed off at Chequers today by the ‘quad’ – that is the PM, Chancellor, Deputy PM and the Chief Secretary. Here are some of the headlines: Massive cuts to welfare. The Chancellor talked last month about £4bn extra, in addition to the £11bn announced at the Budget. That £4bn is now ‘markedly’ larger, with one government insider suggesting ‘seven or eight billion’.
Expect a restriction on the age to child benefit to 16-years-old, though slightly mitigated in some way. Expect the tax credit system to be fundamentally reduced in scope and generosity. In theory that should allow the average cut in non protected departments to come closer to 21-22 per cent than the 25 per cent announced at the June Budget. Happy days? Some sub-departments at the Communities Department, and Vince Cable’s Business department face basic decimation. The reason why? Social housing did not score highly on this spreadsheet. House Of Twits - Vote.
Advanced CSS Prettifier. Equality | Society. Save Jobs at the University of Reading - Sign the Petition. The University plans to appoint a reader/professor in theatre and sack one lecturer specialising in film and one lecturer specialising in television. This is part of the University’s plans to both save money and to reshape the University ‘strategically’.
The two lecturers who will be dismissed are most likely to be junior members of staff (the department has a high proportion of young lecturers) and the new reader/professor will certainly be on a much higher pay scale. Therefore, the cost saving objective behind this plan is not apparent. Neither does the ‘reshaping strategy’ (e.g. scaling back film and television while investing in theatre) have any clear reasoning behind it. Repeatedly, the University has claimed that the decision to favour theatre in the current plans is based upon perceptions of relative research strength.
In the current climate, many will feel that financial savings must be made at Reading and at other universities. Please read on... Dear *, Yours * Freakonomics - Opinion - New York Times Blog.