Comment, analysis and other offerings from Friday’s FT,
Philip Stephens: UK government heads towards cliff edge
Save for a handful of cases where the claims of MPs were probably fraudulent, the uproar over expenses said as much about the state of the national psyche as about the integrity of its politics.
Give the people their resource wealth
Nicholas Shaxson, associate fellow, Chatham House, says whether oil prices are high or low, natural resources such as minerals or oil are a mixed blessing for ordinary people in countries that sell them.
The main tasks for Sweden’s EU presidency
Fredrik Reinfeldt and Anders Borg, Swedish prime minister and finance minister respectively, write that two challenges stand out for Sweden’s EU presidency: restoring the functioning of, and confidence in, financial markets, and countering the negative impact on employment and growth.
Editorial comment: Europe must not let Latvia fall
The costs of letting Latvia devalue its currency would outweigh the benefits. Once the peg went, a small adjustment would not quell downward pressure on the lats. And a large fall would do devastating damage to private sector balance sheets.
Letters: Pensions expert Ros Altman begs to differ with Martin Wolf
The rise in government bond yields does not prove policy is “working”. It proves that policy is overdone. The markets are waking up to the enormous size of the sums involved in recent panic policy easing and they don’t like what they see.
Letters: Niall Ferguson also begs to differ with Martin Wolf
Third, the normally hard-headed Mr Wolf must be dreaming if he thinks fiscal (as opposed to monetary) policy is not going to be “persistently loose”. Of course it is. Just look at the budget – not to mention the Congress.
Lex on Countrywide and the SEC
Pressing ahead with this civil case suggests a newly aggressive approach from the SEC with Mary Shapiro in the chair – and, perhaps, a determination to bring high-profile cases resulting from the financial crisis to fruition swiftly.
Gillian Tett: The risk of auction fatigue?
Even if the DMOs cancel their summer holidays – which some will – it may be tough to schedule all these looming sales.
Lombard: Rio investors can start celebrating a famous victory
Shareholders must be starting to feel the same about Rio Tinto’s directors as Winston Churchill felt about the Americans: they can always be counted on to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all other possibilities.