The Germans are right to be suspicious of government manipulation of money markets

This piece was first published in this week’s issue of The Spectator.

It is easy to mock the most strident critics of capitalism, like Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn. It’s harder to ask whether they might actually have a point. Consider the past ten years of evidence. Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, wages for ordinary workers have been on the floor — even today, the average pay packet in Britain is lower than it was before the crash. The main response to the crisis has been to print money, through quantitative easing and ultra-low rates. This artificially inflates assets. And who benefits? Those who have the most assets: in other words, the very rich.

Since the crash, the amount of wealth in Britain has risen by more than £4 trillion — almost half of which has accrued to the richest 10 per cent of households. The prices of the assets typically owned by the ultra-rich has risen even faster.