Anyone old enough to have been around in the last century will affirm that 3.25% is a pretty pathetic rate of inflation. We remember when price rises were price rises and 10% would have been a blessing. No more cheap labour, cheese, toys and electrical stuff from our friends across the channel and enemies in China, alas, and we’re suddenly in the real world. What about interest rates? They are ridiculously low, they will go up, but a move to 0.25 or 0.5% would not be the end of the world. And we now have a government which is using fiscal as well as monetary policy. In other words, Tories who are willing to put taxes up. So I think we can take it in our stride. Nil desperandum.
“Tariffs through time: have they ever worked?”
History may not repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes. Is what Trump is doing as ‘unprecedented’ as every headline proclaims? I’m sure other wiser writers have spotted some of these historical echoes, but let’s remember some headlines from US history.
