AltAusterity Digest #10 August 17-23, 2017

A review of Canada’s seniors benefits program is predicting all-time highs in spending levels in the coming years as baby boomers reach retirement age. The increased costs are slated to be offset with continuing economic growth and increased employer and employee premiums. The expectation is that younger workers will rely less on old age security by paying more into the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP).

The President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, has defended the quantitative easing policies of the ECB, claiming they have “made the world more resilient”. Central bankers from around the world are meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming later this week to discuss rolling back QE without hurting their economies.

The UK has run its first July budget surplus in 15 years. While City economists had predicted a £1bn deficit, the UK was back in the black with a surplus of £184m. This surplus is being credited to the £8bn from self-assessed income tax in July, the highest level since records began in 1999, demonstrating the substantial increase in self-employed workers.

French President Emmanuel Macron is taking a three-day tour of Central and Eastern Europe as a part of his promise to tackle “social dumping”, a process of recruiting cheap labour. Backlash is mounting in Western Europe as employers are taking advantage of the rules to hire low-wage foreigners rather than local citizens.

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