This is a must-read article from the Daily Mail. Check it out!
via NHS chief Simon Stevens says: ‘Stop marketing junk food at children’ | Daily Mail Online.
Personally, I wish that policy-makers would stop talking about the dangers of obesity and intervene decisively.
There’s a need for a special tax or levy on junk-food companies and soft-drinks companies. A levy, like on the banks or North Sea oil, would be much more effective than trying to tinker with VAT, which is already very complicated.
This is an outstanding, must-read article from Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, the International Business Editor, published in the Telegraph. Check it out!
via Europe has no choice – it has to save Greece – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – Telegraph.
If you read the article carefully, there’s quite a lot of sympathy for Greece, and criticism of the IMF‘s draconian terms imposed in earlier bailouts. The thrust of the article is that the underlying crisis is with the Euro rather than Greece, therefore the creditors must bailout Greece. The article also speculates on the implications of a Grexit.
Of course, it was Angela Merkel who originally invited the IMF into the Greek debt crisis because she did not entirely trust the European Commission and the European Central Bank not to fudge the situation. The IMF has a long history of being very hard on debtors around the World. Indeed the IMF’s adherence to neoliberal fundamentals has often ignored harsh political and social consequences.
For sure, Greece is just one part of the failed Eurozone experiment. The fiscal constraint is still dictating a prevailing policy of austerity. It’s interesting to compare the Eurozone to the UK – even in George Osborne austere Britain, far higher fiscal imbalances are countenanced than are acceptable in the Eurozone, even in wayward France. The European crisis is already political, with a polarization towards both the hard-right and the hard-left – anarchists are probably lurking in the wings. The middle ground of European politics has been abandoned, with record numbers of young people out of work. Despite an overwhelming case for Keynesian intervention, investing in top quality public infrastructure projects, Europe’s leaders remain in denial. Even in Germany, infrastructure is crumbling and the UK and France are expected to replace Germany as Europe’s powerhouse.
Another fudge seems inevitable, otherwise the whole Euro house of cards is put at risk of collapse.
Thoughts?
Dr Alf's Blog 