The myth of growth

Some good news for the US economy. The Federal deficit shrank for the fourth month in a row. Employment is picking up. The economy is booming. The Fox News team is comfortably convinced that when the

Figures for the level and rate of growth of gross domestic product (GDP) are quoted ubiquitously, including in this magazine. They are widely agreed to tell us something of importance. But there is a

One of the least financially literate people I have ever met was a friend who as a teenager accumulated an unarranged overdraft of £50 on her newly opened bank account. Having been told she must recti

Here’s a “market paradox”, says Craig Mellow in Barron’s. The more the US government “trash talks Europe, the better it is for the euro”. The single currency has gained 13% against the greenback since

The final days of June last year were a wonderful time for vicarious lovers of bling. On the 22nd, the third season of Julian Fellowes’s lavish TV series, The Gilded Age, dropped on HBO. Just days lat

“Was that it?” A friend who used to be in the oil business and has seen quite a few spikes in the oil price was underwhelmed by Monday’s increase of around 7% in the price of Brent crude. The move was