The Congressional Budget Office produced an in depth study into inequality in the US. They concluded inequality has widened in the US in the past three decades. In particular, the biggest growth in income has come from the top 1% of the population. See full report at: Trends in US income inequality (CBO)

Summary of Report

CBO finds that, between 1979 and 2007, income grew by:

• 275 percent for the top 1 percent of households,
• 65 percent for the next 19 percent,
• Just under 40 percent for the next 60 percent, and
• 18 percent for the bottom 20 percent.

Top 1% see biggest growth in share of National Income

Inequality in US

inequality trends in US

Top 1% gained increased share of income, bottom 80% saw marked fall.

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Readers Question: What on Earth is the point of the Eurozone borrowing money from China when the ECB can print any amount of money it wants any time? Of course the effect of the ECB printing money donating it to indebted Euro countries and/or the banks holding those countries’ bonds is likely to be inflationary (absent some compensating deflationary instrument), but you’d get exactly the same inflationary effect from borrowing money from China and throwing it around all over the place. (from Euro Bailout)

I think part of the issue is psychology. The ECB doesn’t want to contemplate ‘printing money’ It claims printing money is not in its remit, but even if it was, I doubt they would want to do it. (I do believe that in current crisis, it would make sense for the ECB to create money and be involved in bond purchases.)

In the current climate, printing money may create some inflation. (see: why printing money causes inflation) However, given the stagnant nature of the European economy, this inflationary effect is likely to be muted. This is especially the case in Southern Europe where austerity measures (spending cuts) are causing lower aggregate demand, weaker growth and pushing inflation below target.

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Readers question: What exactly are the solutions to the EU crisis?

It is a difficult question to answer. The dynamics of the single currency mean that many of the conventional solutions to economic problems cannot be used. The difficult task is to reduce levels of government borrowing whilst also managing to target economic recovery and lower unemployment.

Problems Facing EU

If you looked at an economy such as Ireland, Greece Portugal, or Spain. They face these problems

• High unemployment
• Stagnant economic growth, and the chance of prolonged recession.
• Very large current account deficit due to loss of competitiveness.
• High government borrowing. Higher interest rates on government bonds because of fears over default.

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A joke – Three guys walk into a bakery; an investment banker, a government employee, and a tea partier. The lady behind the counter puts out a dozen cookies. The investment banker pockets 11 and tells the tea partier the damn government worker is trying to steal his cookie.

There was a time when bank managers were seen as the most upstanding member of the community (I think of Captain Waring in Dad’s Army). The bank manager may have been very strict about not giving you a loan to buy a new car, but you knew he was going to be fair. You certainly didn’t expect your bank manager to borrow from an international money market and use the loan to buy into some crazy sub-prime mortgage bundles from Florida.

But, times change. The last two to three decades have seen a real change in the way banking has operated. In the UK, building societies were replaced by PLCs intent on maximising growth and profit. Traditional banking models evolved into more risky models where prudence was given less importance and risk-taking was encouraged. This evolution in banking and finance took place against a backdrop of financial deregulation and widening income inequality. The (largely uncontested idea) was that if firms could make excess profit they could deserve to keep the proceeds. There was a certain logic to allowing free market forces to dictate profits, wages, bonuses and banking activity. Why should government try to regulate an industry they didn’t really understand?

The credit crisis of 2008 exposed these new positions and attitudes as being highly risky and misguided. It led to catastrophic losses in the financial sector, which threatened to undermine our financial and economic system.

Usually in a free market, if a firm goes bankrupt because of misguided investment decisions, that’s it – tough luck. But, in the case of the banking system, banks were seen as too important to fail. Therefore, throughout the Western World, taxpayers were forced to bailout banks to prevent them going out of business.  The logic of the free market was turned on its head. In the good times financers benefitted from huge bonuses, but when things went bad they were bailed out. Heads you win, tails someone else loses.

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Readers Question: What is economic analysis? Can you give some examples? Kindly refer me to an easy to read book on economic analysis.

Economic analysis involves examining issues and problems from the perspective of an economist. Economic analysis would involve some or all of the following:

• Examining the opportunity cost of a decision. (e.g. if the government spend more money on trains it would mean higher taxes or less government spending for other projects)
• Examining whether decisions increase economic welfare (e.g. does the utility to the consumer exceed the marginal cost of producing it?)
• Examining all social costs and benefits in producing a particular good. E.g. is a congestion charge on motorists justified given the external costs of driving into the city centre?
• Examining the wider impact on issues just as equity and fairness (e.g. an increase in congestion charges could cause increased income inequality)
• Using models such as supply and demand to illustrate what could be happening in a particular market or wider economy.