Irwin Stelzer - Times Online - WBLG

Father Christmas Heads for America

I won’t repeat here the outlook for Christmas sales reported in my Sunday Times column (26 November, 06) except to say that retailers seem to have big smiles on their usually sad faces. Porsche dealers in New York can’t wait until those multi-million dollar bonus checks begin raining down on Wall Street’s brokers and bankers. Property agents are scouring the market for “merchandise” to show customers interested in mini- and not so mini-palaces in New York’s finest buildings, especially those with spectacular views of Central Park. Five million gets you a “fixer-up” that your decorator might be able to turn into a habitable abode to which you will be willing to invite colleagues to view your latest acquisition-at-auction of a painting by an artist whose name might still be an art-world by-word a decade hence -- or who it is equally likely will have descended to the ranks of the obscure.

Raise Green Taxes, Lower Others

Sure we need green taxes.  But that’s not a green light for the Government to dip its fingers even deeper into our wallets and purses. Britain is already one of the highest taxed countries in Europe, and heading up while others are heading down. If the Government can’t get by taking over 40% of all the wealth the private sector creates, we should get a new Government.