Owen Tudor

Just before Christmas, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued yet another call for the global economy to be “re-balanced” – by which they mean that net borrowing/importing countries like the UK and the US need to be encouraged to save more and borrow less, and net lending/exporting countries like China need to be encouraged to spend more and save less. As usual, as my source Peter Bakvis (Washington officer of the global union family) says, “declines to put forward specific measures” among its discussion of policy implications. The real solution, which applies in both types of country, is clear – workers need a wage rise. Here’s why….

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Nigel Stanley

The Sunday Times has some shock horror statistics about the public sector today – and I suspect because they know they are dodgy – they have got Straight Statistics to validate them. The Sunday Times says:

The analysis was validated by Straight Statistics, a group that campaigns for the accurate reporting of official data.”

Straight Statistics say:

Straight Statistics is a pressure group whose aim is to detect and expose the distortion and misuse of statistical information, and identify those responsible.

Yet this article contains very few straight statistics – it both distorts and misuses official statistics. I hope that the group has been guilty of naivety by allowing their name to be used in an article whose final text they  did not see. If they did approve the final text, then they have some serious questions to answer.

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