A billion means: 1,000 million = 1,000,000,000. In 2017 In dollars, a billion Pounds is the equivalent of $1,350,000,000 In Euros, a billion pounds is currently: €1,120,000,000 Examples of billion In August 2017, UK public sector net debt was £1,773 billion equivalent to 88% of UK GDP In 2015/16 the UK government is forecast to …
It is difficult to predict the dollar because there are few different factors pulling the dollar in different directions. Firstly, the dollar has been surprisingly resilient since the US slipped into its worst recession and US interest rates tumbled to near 0%. The resilience of the dollar is not based on economic fundamentals but, a …
Will Printing Money and QE cause Runaway Inflation?Watch this video on YouTube After the First World War, the German government were left with huge debts and reparation payments to the Allies. Faced with striking workers the government began printing money to pay workers higher salaries. It gave the government a temporary breathing space, …
US Debt is Set to Massively INCREASE – Does it Matter?Watch this video on YouTube As a share of GDP, US debt is forecast to rise from the current level of 100% of GDP towards 180% by 2050. This is unprecedented – higher than the second world war. However, the recent budget resolution to …
When displaying time series data, it often makes sense to use index numbers. Index numbers are a simple way of making it easier to compare numbers over a period of time. Index numbers measure relative changes in the price of a sum of representative data. For example, the FTSE-100 is an index displaying the average …
UK Billionaire Jim Radcliffe recently complained London streets were not safe and it is true, in recent years, knife crime has increased and the justice system remains underfunded, overcrowded with a backlog of cases. But can we actually afford better public services? How the Rich Avoid Paying TaxWatch this video on YouTube Despite stagnant incomes, …
In the 1970s Venezuela was widely admired for its functional democracy and the highest living standards in Latin America. There was good reasons to be optimistic. Venezuela has the largest known reserves of oil in the world. Greater than Saudi Arabia, Iran and the US. Yet in recent decades, the economy has lurched from crisis …
Inflation is a situation of rising prices in the economy. A more exact definition of inflation is a sustained increase in the general price level in an economy. Inflation means an increase in the cost of living as the price of goods and services rise. The rate of inflation measures the annual percentage change in …