The Other Hand

Jim Power & Chris Johns

Finance, Markets, Business, Politics & Economics. Jim & Chris provide a fresh and unique perspective on all this and more.

  • 43 minutes 8 seconds
    Our verdict on Trump 2.0. It's not pretty.
    Well, we said it was the year of election. Now we live with the consequences.

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    7 November 2024, 4:00 am
  • 30 minutes 45 seconds
    Can we bridge the big divides? Whoever wins?
    The fabulous US economy

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    5 November 2024, 5:20 pm
  • 33 minutes 20 seconds
    UK drowns in debt as Ireland wallows in cash - what a contrast. Labour delivers a proper old fashioned class war budget
    The first UK budget ever delivered by a female Chancellor was presented with aplomb and panache. A pity the details didn’t match up to the presentation.

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    2 November 2024, 5:31 am
  • 34 minutes 11 seconds
    Europe's woes deepen. They go back a long way and are suddenly getting worse - Germany's car engine has broken down

    Germany is in economic trouble. Its car industry - 7% of the economy - is being squeezed by struggling exports (to China in particular) and a poorly handled transition to EVs.


    Add in problems that go back decades and maybe its time to become a Eurosceptic again.


    If Trump wins, the Democrats need to look in mirror.

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    30 October 2024, 2:07 pm
  • 35 minutes 51 seconds
    Unchecked power: why do so many men adore The Godfather?

    Loads of men (mostly) say their favourite movie is The Godfather. Plenty also rate the Sopranos as the best TV series ever. Is that because they secretly (and not so secretly these days) would love to have a Mafiosi's unchecked power?


    Brexit is the most contemporary example of people saying the system doesn't work for them and then replacing it with something far worse. The US appears to be on the verge of making the same mistake.


    Unchecked power accompanied by extreme wealth turns people mad.


    The checks and balances built into the US constitution were put there by people who recognised the dark side of human nature. They designed a system with guardrails explicitly put there to protect against someone like Trump rising to power.


    Trump unchained will be nothing like the Trump of his first reign. There is nobody left, even on the Supreme Court, to hold him back.

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    25 October 2024, 3:09 am
  • 50 minutes 29 seconds
    Why do we fight? An exploration of the causes of conflict and war, focussing on a brilliant and important book

    It's easy to conclude that we are a violent species. Just look at the state of the world.


    In a quite brilliant book, Professor Christopher Blattman argues that history books can give a misleading impression: on most days, war doesn't happen.


    Blattman has read everything. He has talked to the street gangs of Chicago and drug lords in Colombia. He summarises his vast knowledge with five main reasons why going to war - rathe than making peace - seems to happen. Armed (pardon the pun) with this knowledge, policy makers can get better at peace making.


    But, he warns, most policies are wrong, or likley to be. Grand, big theories of everything are best avoided. He urges a 'marginal' approach, perhaps best described as 'suck it and see'. Take baby steps and prepare to fail. But keep going. Small steps may mean you won't make big mistakes.


    It's hard to end wars but they always do. It's the terms that matter. It looks like Putin is going to win in Ukraine.


    Even more seriously, are China and America stuck in the same trap that drove ancient Sparta and Athens to war? That's the famous Thucydides Trap.


    A truly fabulous discussion. Our thanks to Shane.

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    23 October 2024, 4:00 am
  • 29 minutes 6 seconds
    The house price boom is getting boomier. Is there still a cost of living crisis?

    Irish house prices are now well in excess of their pre-financial crisis peaks.


    Is the only thing that will get them down an old fashioned recession? More supply is certainly needed but it is far from clear that more houses equals lower prices - other things are not equal


    Why do we still bang on about a cost of living crisis when inflation has fallen towards zero? If not actually zero. May be the answer is really simple: in the US (and probably elsewhere) food and energy price inflation reached 40% in 2022 - higher even than during the great energy shock of 1973.


    Europe has more problems than lower interest rates can solve


    Even if people have more letters after their name than are in their name, they are still capable of saying daft things.

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    19 October 2024, 4:00 am
  • 38 minutes 48 seconds
    Needed: a resilient domestic economy. Shocks are certain. Only question is when

    The arguments over the help needed for the domestic economy run and run


    Is Sinn Fein just a reunification party with a few half-hearted populist policies thrown in to get elected?


    Neither Chris nor Jim won the economics Nobel Prize.


    And much more!

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    16 October 2024, 3:43 am
  • 34 minutes 12 seconds
    Is the Irish economy under-heating? Inflation gets headlines, disinflation not so much.

    Is the Irish inflation rate too low? All economists bar one or two say that the economy is over-heating. Could the opposite be true? Latest data certainly hints in that direction.


    Inflation disappoints, ever so slightly, in the US, where interest rate expectations have shifted again. The European interest rate outlook hasn't shifted at all - rates are coming down. Very soon.


    An important debate is to be had about whether or not pubs, restaurants and hotels need special treatment from the government.


    China would love some over-heating.


    Do we want to drive cars that are potentially controlled from Beijing? Or is that just science fiction?

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    13 October 2024, 5:00 am
  • 37 minutes 30 seconds
    UK politics: dysfunction and chaos. Again already?

    Is Keir Starmer up to the task? The early evidence suggests not?


    Are bankers worth it?

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    9 October 2024, 8:47 am
  • 41 minutes 13 seconds
    The post-budget state of Irish politics: in conversation with leading Irish journalist Sarah Carey
    Has the coalition blown it? Or does the outpouring of budget criticism from official Ireland miss the point: it's what the people wanted?

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    6 October 2024, 5:00 am
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