government

The programme of US bond purchases, affectionately known as QE2, has only just ended, yet there are already calls in America for a new initiative (presumably to be known as QE3) to be introduced. QE is dead, long live QE!

At any point in time, the engine of economic growth depends on the strength of the four cylinders on which it is driven; the household sector, the banking sector, the government and the non-financial corporate sector.

If bankruptcy is the inability to raise all the money in tax or borrow the money you need to sustain your expenditures from commercial banks and bondholders, then Greece, effectively, went bankrupt last spring.

Various economists and critics of the government are demanding a Plan B. Just one year into a five-year plan of deficit reduction and growth they are worrying the growth rate is slowing.

Threadneedle's Simon Brazier said UK equities are set to rise 17% in 2011 as favourable policies from government and reasonable valuations leave plenty of upside for shares.

One of the neglected figures from the UK government's last Budget book is the figure for total borrowing between 2010 and 2015.

Business secretary Vince Cable has warned politicians have not done enough to emphasise the scale of problems facing the UK economy or prepare consumers for the impact of spending cuts.

EMERGING MARKETS

COALITION ONE YEAR ON

I did not know whether to laugh or let out a sigh of relief when David Cameron let it be known he did not want Gordon Brown taking over at the World Bank.