http://www.ft.com/comment/columnists/clivecrookhttp://www.ft.com/rss/comment/columnists/clivecrookFT.com - Clive Crooken© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2009. "FT" and "Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. See http://www.ft.com/servicestools/help/terms#legal1 for the terms and conditions of reuse.client.support@ft.com (Client Support)Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:25:28 +0000Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:36:55 +0000Newspapers60http://news.ft.com/cms/d1f3ce1a-6bbe-11da-bb53-0000779e2340.gifhttp://www.ft.com/comment/columnists/clivecrook(PICS-1.1 "http://www.classify.org/safesurf/" L gen true for "http://www.ft.com/" r (SS~~000 1))http://traxfer.ft.com/cms/s/0/91123d9c-d216-11de-a0f0-00144feabdc0.html?o=%2Frss%2Fcomment%2Fcolumnists%2Fclivecrookhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/91123d9c-d216-11de-a0f0-00144feabdc0.htmlThe great virtue of this book – a comprehensive policy manual and the outline of a new social contract – is not just in recognising that upward mobility is less than it should be, but is in calling for action, and in insisting on fiscal discipline, writes Clive Crook Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:25:28 +0000http://traxfer.ft.com/cms/s/0/a73d73b0-cc9a-11de-8e30-00144feabdc0.html?o=%2Frss%2Fcomment%2Fcolumnists%2Fclivecrookhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a73d73b0-cc9a-11de-8e30-00144feabdc0.htmlLast week's elections went badly for the Democrats. Victory in New York was the exception – unless Democrats expect their opponents to field two warring candidates in every seat. The Republican party is leaderless and incompetent, but not insane – and not, by the way, as divided as the Democrats. For the Republicans the New York loss was salutary, and the lesson inescapable: unite or lose, writes Clive Crook Sun, 8 Nov 2009 19:21:32 +0000http://traxfer.ft.com/cms/s/0/9507be24-c70b-11de-bb6f-00144feab49a.html?o=%2Frss%2Fcomment%2Fcolumnists%2Fclivecrookhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9507be24-c70b-11de-bb6f-00144feab49a.htmlMore than a year after the US financial emergency went critical, the underlying causes have yet to be addressed. When it comes to improving financial regulation, the crux of the matter, there has been a lot of talk – usually about the wrong things – and next to no action, writes Clive Crook Sun, 1 Nov 2009 18:38:07 +0000http://traxfer.ft.com/cms/s/2/878df56c-c4e3-11de-8d54-00144feab49a.html?o=%2Frss%2Fcomment%2Fcolumnists%2Fclivecrookhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/878df56c-c4e3-11de-8d54-00144feab49a.htmlThe multi-instrumentalist is playing again for tiny audiences at his Woodstock home – and he's as good as ever, writes Clive Crook Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:41:33 +0000http://traxfer.ft.com/cms/s/0/a058902a-c196-11de-b86b-00144feab49a.html?o=%2Frss%2Fcomment%2Fcolumnists%2Fclivecrookhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a058902a-c196-11de-b86b-00144feab49a.htmlMr Obama must choose a strategy on the war in Afghanistan and persist with it – and to persist with it he must sell it to the American and Afghan people and to the rest of the world. Delay and indecision will make that harder, writes Clive Crook Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:17:16 +0000http://traxfer.ft.com/cms/s/0/bba37528-bc02-11de-9426-00144feab49a.html?o=%2Frss%2Fcomment%2Fcolumnists%2Fclivecrookhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bba37528-bc02-11de-9426-00144feab49a.htmlOne thing this bill will not do if passed is end the controversy over US healthcare. The argument over paying for it would become more intense: while the bill conforms to Obama's demand that it be 'deficit-neutral', for the most part it only pretends to deal with the costs, writes Clive Crook Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:51:20 +0100http://traxfer.ft.com/cms/s/0/7176a3c8-b679-11de-8a28-00144feab49a.html?o=%2Frss%2Fcomment%2Fcolumnists%2Fclivecrookhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7176a3c8-b679-11de-8a28-00144feab49a.htmlThe president's wisest course was to have turned the prize down, saying he had not had time to accomplish the things he wanted to. Accepting the world's praise for having done nothing looks vain and is not without risk, writes Clive Crook Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:57:47 +0100http://traxfer.ft.com/cms/s/0/2ca5e1e4-b112-11de-b06b-00144feabdc0.html?o=%2Frss%2Fcomment%2Fcolumnists%2Fclivecrookhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2ca5e1e4-b112-11de-b06b-00144feabdc0.htmlIn the coming years, the US has enormous challenges to face – not least, like Britain before it, the trauma of relative economic decline. Right now, its polity looks unfit to cope. 'A house divided against itself', said Abraham Lincoln, 'cannot stand', writes Clive Crook Sun, 4 Oct 2009 20:39:31 +0100http://traxfer.ft.com/cms/s/0/76d615f8-a619-11de-8c92-00144feabdc0.html?o=%2Frss%2Fcomment%2Fcolumnists%2Fclivecrookhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/76d615f8-a619-11de-8c92-00144feabdc0.htmlWith an economic recovery under way, the finance industry's reticence, such as it is, will disappear – as that happens, the G20 governments must stick together in facing down the pressure for a less onerous bank capital regime, writes Clive Crook Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:36:13 +0100http://traxfer.ft.com/cms/s/0/903cab26-a095-11de-b9ef-00144feabdc0.html?o=%2Frss%2Fcomment%2Fcolumnists%2Fclivecrookhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/903cab26-a095-11de-b9ef-00144feabdc0.htmlThe US economy's immediate problem is stagnant output, not surging prices – but you do not need extraordinary foresight to see how this could change. It is too soon to worry about inflation in the same way it was too soon in 2005 to be concerned about securitised mortgages and house-price bubbles, writes Clive Crook Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:52:28 +0100http://traxfer.ft.com/cms/s/0/83e53752-9b0f-11de-a3a1-00144feabdc0.html?o=%2Frss%2Fcomment%2Fcolumnists%2Fclivecrookhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/83e53752-9b0f-11de-a3a1-00144feabdc0.htmlDespite the heat that the public-option debate is generating, resolving it may not be the key to getting moderates behind both his healthcare project and his presidency. His broader political difficulties arise from his leaning left on so many other policies, writes Clive Crook Sun, 6 Sep 2009 19:50:49 +0100http://traxfer.ft.com/cms/s/0/d636d14e-9594-11de-90e0-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=fc518950-1dda-11de-830b-00144feabdc0.html?o=%2Frss%2Fcomment%2Fcolumnists%2Fclivecrookhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d636d14e-9594-11de-90e0-00144feabdc0.htmlVictory will be impossible without greater expense of lives and money, withdrawal involves great dangers and, to complete the president's quandary, his rationale for fighting does not convince, writes Clive Crook Sun, 30 Aug 2009 19:51:17 +0100http://traxfer.ft.com/cms/s/0/9878d9be-900e-11de-bc59-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=fc518950-1dda-11de-830b-00144feabdc0.html?o=%2Frss%2Fcomment%2Fcolumnists%2Fclivecrookhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9878d9be-900e-11de-bc59-00144feabdc0.htmlThe White House has tripped up over healthcare reform – an initiative that the US both wants and needs, and which was at the centre of Barack Obama's stunningly successful election campaign. The administration has no one to blame but itself, writes Clive Crook Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:25:43 +0100http://traxfer.ft.com/cms/s/0/f2c1fb7c-8a8b-11de-ad08-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=fc518950-1dda-11de-830b-00144feabdc0.html?o=%2Frss%2Fcomment%2Fcolumnists%2Fclivecrookhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f2c1fb7c-8a8b-11de-ad08-00144feabdc0.htmlDespite independent analysis, the president is continuing to insist that control of costs is the principal reason for embarking on reform. This is worrying moderates, the very people whose support is needed to bring about change, writes Clive Crook Sun, 16 Aug 2009 19:01:56 +0100http://traxfer.ft.com/cms/s/0/2b802ecc-8512-11de-9a64-00144feabdc0.html?o=%2Frss%2Fcomment%2Fcolumnists%2Fclivecrookhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2b802ecc-8512-11de-9a64-00144feabdc0.htmlDuring his run for the White House, Barack Obama promised that taxes would not rise for families making less than $250,000 a year. The biggest worry is not that the president will break his word on taxes, but that he will try to keep it, writes Clive Crook Sun, 9 Aug 2009 19:30:39 +0100