The Renegade Economist

Have You Been Sold Short?

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:25:36 0000

HAVE YOU been short-changed by financiers in the City of London? The chances are that, one way or another, you are a victim. But no official investigation has been launched to pin the blame on the culprits. Those culprits should be named and shamed. But, first, let's look at the face-saving action by the City regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

"Bankrupt" bank policies. Really?

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:03:54 0000

HSBC chairman Stephen Green claims that the banking model that gave us sub-prime mortgages "is gone because it is bankrupt". He appears to speak with authority.

Banking on Land: Why Builders Couldn't Care Less

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:02:24 0000

BRITAIN'S house-builders are not in the business of constructing houses. That's why they are now facing their worst financial crisis since 1931.

The Macho Duo's Magic Mantra

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:12:32 0000

The mantra that lost its magic - it did not stop the housing boom/bust - has been recycled to threaten people who seek compensation for rising food and petrol prices.

Ex-Governor's flat-earth theory of economics

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:32:16 0000

LORD Eddie George now admits the Bank of England under his stewardship (he was governor from 1993 to 2003) failed to anticipate the impact of low interest rates on house prices.

We'll all pay a high price for boom and bust

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:55:06 0000

BRITAIN had three years to prepare for the crisis now wrecking the financial markets. In April 2005 my article in The Sunday Post warned that the house price boom would continue until the bubble was pricked in the winter of 2007/08. In fact, my forecast of the present crisis was originally published in 1997, just as New Labour was taking over in Downing Street.

Whatever happened to the Soft Landing?

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:36:06 0000

NATIONWIDE’S economists maintained the stiff upper lip as house prices weakened last winter – the mortgage bank kept insisting that Britain was in for a mild “correction” in house prices.

The house price crash starts in 2008

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:39:03 0000

Ten years ago, in my book The Chaos Makers, I forecast what would happen to the economy in 2008: a house-price crash ahead of a wider recession. My prediction looks like being confirmed: the latest survey of the housing market shows house prices stalling in most parts of the country, with predictions of a fall next year. Meanwhile, the Chartered Institute of Personnel now expects unemployment to rise by 150,000 — taking the number of people out of work to its highest level since 1997.

House Prices: Expect the Worst

Fri, 2 Nov 2007 11:39:03 0000

In August 2005, I told MoneyWeek that the UK property boom would last for another three years, before ending in 2008. Here I update my forecast.

Bust will follow Boom - but when?

Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:39:03 0000

Many think that the global real-estate bubble has nearly run its course. I disagree. I think it has another three years to run.