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Book review – Heavens on Earth, How to create mass prosperity by J P Floru

In the midst of the row about welfare reform, I finished J P Floru’s excellent new book, Heavens on Earth: How To Create Mass Prosperity. JP surveys the salient history of eight relevant countries: the USA, Germany, the UK, Hong Kong, China, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore. In every case, people were lifted out of poverty by wealth creation through free enterprise. Mass prosperity was not created by the equal sharing of misery, by redistributing what others had, but by [...]

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More unexpected borrowing?

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Yesterday, we learned “public sector net borrowing was £0.6 billion in July 2012; this is £3.4 billion higher net borrowing than in July 2011, when net borrowing was -£2.8 billion (a repayment)”. Compared to say May, when we borrowed £17.9 billion, £600 million seems relatively modest. It’s still the gross annual earnings at the national average wage of over 23,000 people. Apparently, it was a surprise to economists (again). They expected the usual July surplus. As far as I recall, [...]

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Opening the Made In Wycombe Exhibition

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Today, The Made in Wycombe Exhibition opened to the public at the Arts 4 Every 1 Centre on Desborough Road. This is a new venture to promote the brands, products and services produced in Wycombe District. Wycombe hosts furniture, food and drink, software, engineering, design, arts, education and other firms and institutions. As it says on the website: Wycombe has a proud heritage in manufacturing, not just furniture but engineering and many other sectors. We are looking to create a group [...]

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Banking: from Goldman Sachs to David Fishwick?

Two days ago, Greg Smith, a Goldman Sachs executive director, resigned in sensational fashion, writing a column in the New York Times. In the article, he laid out the reasons for his resignation, citing the change in culture at the firm over the ten years he worked there. He wrote, It might sound surprising to a skeptical public, but culture was always a vital part of Goldman Sachs’s success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always [...]

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Wishing everyone a prosperous new year

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After so much economic turmoil, the traditional wish for a prosperous new year can be given with considerable vigour. The 2010 Legatum Prosperity Index (PDF) – “the world’s only global assessment of wealth and wellbeing” – showed that entrepreneurship and opportunity are the primary keys to prosperity, that they correlate more closely to a nation’s overall prosperity than any other factor. In particular, Legatum found that: Prosperity is found in entrepreneurial democracies that have strong social fabrics. Prosperity is a blend [...]

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Apprenticeships in Wycombe increase by over 50%

The latest figures for apprenticeships show an above average increase across Buckinghamshire. The average South East increase of 44% was also bettered by our neighbours in Beaconsfield (50%) and Chesham and Amersham (53%). Wycombe’s own increase of 51% should also be seen against the total number of places. We saw an increase from 420 to 640 places: over 200 more places than our neighbouring constituencies. This shows that youth employment prospects in the South East are increasing through business investing in local [...]

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LearnLiberty.org – Learn about the ideas of a free society

Via LearnLiberty.org, a great project from the Institute for Humane Studies, Dr Nigel Ashford explains classical liberalism, the doctrine of freedom: The ten principles from the video are: Liberty as the primary political value Individualism Skepticism about power Rule of Law Civil Society Spontaneous Order Free Markets Toleration Peace Limited Government Dr Ashford’s short book Principles for a Free Society is highly recommended too.

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Three economic dragons and a three-pronged plan

Via Future Conservatism | Conservative Home. The three economic dragons: Britain faces much more than a debt challenge. Through no fault of their own Cameron and Osborne have inherited three historic economic challenges: massive levels of personal and government debt; the Eurozone crisis; and the long-term rise of China, India and other emerging economies. Taken together these challenges threaten to make the British economy dangerously uncompetitive in the years ahead. Meanwhile, for the FT (£), the Prime Minister writes: The eurozone crisis has [...]

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Is A Gold Standard Deflationary? – Forbes.com

Via Is A Gold Standard Deflationary? Forbes.com: What causes contraction and decline is not using a gold standard system. In the forty years since floating currencies began in 1971, the average American family has made no progress at all–even with two incomes, instead of one. If you measure income in terms of ounces of gold, we are back to early-1950s levels. Although there were many ups and downs over the last two centuries, including a Civil War and a Great Depression, [...]

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Capitalism is untouchable for human development

The plight of the Dalits, those whom the Hindu caste system considers outcastes and hence Untouchables, was a rallying cry of Hindu reformers and Indian leftists for half a century. But today these victims of the caste system are finding that free markets and development bring advancement faster than government programs. via B. Chandrasekaran: The Untouchable Case for Indian Capitalism – WSJ.com, which I thoroughly recommend.

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Steve Baker is MP for Wycombe. He was previously an RAF officer then a business software consultant. Find out more...

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