Another letter, this one from today's Times. It makes a simple point, but one that frustratingly few seem to grasp: financial services do not create wealth, but merely shuffle it about: Sir, Manufacturing remains one of the few ways of creating wealth for the country. Financial services do not — they recycle other people’s wealth. And when people have less to recycle, or when they choose to re...

I am a sovereign wealth fund. This is a position that I never expected to be in. I and every other British taxpayer. I have been told that this was necessary or indescribable consequences entailing the destruction of my life and welfare would have followed. This hypothesis was not tested, due to the supposed costs, and, therefore, I became a sovereign wealth fund. This sovereign wealth fund is not...

At the ASI. Maybe it’s not the level of wealth that produces the happiness but the direction of wealth….rising wealth producing more happiness?

A plea to the next president not to forget the wealth creators in our economy.

Duncan argues that a wealth tax might be a good way of raising more revenue post-recession. There is a lot of discussion about how income tax is evaded and avoided. A wealth tax may well face the same problems - however it also offers the potential to tax accumulated wealth that may not have faced income tax. It also widens the tax burden to cover those who may have large amounts of assets but are...

The simple truth is that you cannot run an economy without creating real wealth. Real wealth has not and never will be created from financial speculation. Aristotle made that point some time ago. He was right at the time and he is right now. Labour generates wealth by the application of

Eh? Not all Britons are homeowners, of course, and a decrease in the value of assets does not have to mean a decline in wealth, as long as incomes are stable. Anyone want to explain that piece of gobbledegook? Erm wealth is the value of net assets. If those values fall then yes, wealth does indeed decrease. They’re right

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71% agree with a new wealth tax on earnings above £250,000; Wealth is a stock, income or earnings a flow. A wealth tax is thus a tax on the stock of stuff that people already have. A tax on earnings would be a tax on the flow and would be an earnings or an income tax. A "wealth

I was discussing politics with a friend the other day and he said that he supports equality of wealth. Not similarity of wealth, but equality. So that got me thinking: How would it work? Could it work? Personally I am not convinced that it is desirable, let alone achievable. However, personal politics aside, I thought that this would be a good place to discuss the issue. What are the pros (and con...