From the people who govern the financial laws to those who influence the way you spend, a good deal of your income and outgoings are beyond your control. So, who are the people who control your finances?
Alistair Darling
It's a good job that the quiet, thoughtful MP for Edinburgh South West is regarded as a safe pair of hands. He has not only stepped into the prime minister's shadow as chancellor, but he has also inherited the role at a difficult moment. Gordon Brown could boast of economic stability in his time. Darling might not be so lucky. Inflation is threatening, the stock market is wobbly – and then there's Northern Rock. Of course, Darling is not only responsible for our economic health, he also collects our taxes. And Labour has increased its tax take. In fact, total tax receipts have almost doubled over the past ten years from £289 billion in 1996-7 to £520 billion in the last tax year. In other words, families will on average pay £5,600 more in tax in real terms in 2007-8 compared with 1996-7, according to figures from the Institute of Fiscal Studies. Your money is not your own – it belongs to Darling.
Sir Terry Leahy
The life of Sir Terry Leahy reads like a business fairytale. He has risen from a council house in Liverpool to become chief executive of Tesco, which is less like a supermarket and more like a kingdom. Tesco operates in 12 countries with 3,250 stores. Worldwide sales last year were £47bn, with £36bn coming from Britain. It takes a staggering £1 in every £8 spent by shoppers in the UK. Leahy is an unassuming man, but he seems to have nothing less than world domination on his mind. Terry Tesco, as he is widely known, wants the supermarket to generate more than half its turnover from overseas within the next five to ten years. If Tesco's international business "comes of age" as Sir Terry hopes, the Liverpudlian is in line for a windfall. A long-term incentive plan could pay out up to £11.5 million from 2011.
The Beckhams
Is your shopping style more celebrity than surburbia? If so, you are not alone. These days, we don't want to keep up with the Jones family next door, we strive for a Hello magazine lifestyle. Posh & Becks epitomise conspicuous consumption. Last year the 'spendemic' spiralled out of control, with 4.8 million adults spending more than they earned. Spending on luxuries has soared at 2.5 times the rate of inflation over the past decade. Spending on tourism has more than doubled to a typical £89 a month. There has also been a 76% rise in the amount we splash out on recreation and culture. Plus, we fork out £264 a month in restaurants and hotels – a 58% jump over the past decade. Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch, which compiled the figures, says: "Britain is suffering from a bad case of affluenza. We are caught in the grip of a spiral of conspicuous consumption. We want to live like our favourite celebrities. But it's clear that our salaries can't keep up with our Hello lifestyles."
Mervyn King
Another big player on Britain's economic stage is Mervyn King. Earlier this year, the former economics professor defied his critics to win a second term as the governor of the Bank of England. The 59-year-old will now stay in the top job until 2013.The task of any central bank is to safeguard the financial system. So the Northern Rock debacle caused a few blushes at the Bank of England. King is also charged with hitting the government's inflation target – and his weapon is interest rates. The governor recently warned that 2008 "is likely to see higher energy prices, higher food prices and higher import prices". In other words there will be inflationary pressure that could cause interest rates to rise. The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee cut the base rate by 25 points to 5.25% earlier this month. But you have to question how much lower it can go in the current conditions. Still, at least you know who to blame if the cost of your mortgage goes through the roof.
Ben Bernanke
The Federal Reserve is widely acknowledged to have a big impact on the world economy. Ben Bernanke is the man in charge - and he has already come under fire. But since he took over more than two years ago, Bernanke has lived through some tough times. There's the high oil price, the housing market slump, the credit crunch and the volatility in the stock market. Not to mention the decline of the dollar. Bernanke has reacted to the economic downturn in the US by cutting interest rates – and how. He recently chopped rates by 75 points, the deepest cut in more than 20 years. Critics accuse the Fed chairman of panic: if the cut doesn't work, he has nowhere else to go because he has played his ace card. Why does this matter? Well, the US is the world's biggest economy and the engine of global growth. History has shown us all too often that where the US leads, the UK will surely follow.
President Hu Jintao
Many wouldn't have heard of him, but the Chinese leader is one of the most powerful men in the world. He rules more than a billion people, runs the world's largest army, and controls the fourth biggest economy. President Hu is pretty reclusive, even by Communist standards, but he has recently secured his place at the top until 2012. The president certainly has ambitions for a country that is already turning into an economic powerhouse. For a start, he wants to quadruple China's year 2000 per capita gross domestic product by 2020. But Hu Jintao faces a daunting series of challenges, including rising inflation, swelling bubbles in the stock and property markets and the possibility of social unrest as the gap between rich and poor grows ever wider. Then there's the environment. He also has to manoeuvre between the conservatives, who want to block even the tiniest changes, and the reformers, who seek greater economic and political openness. We cannot be certain that he will succeed. But one thing's for sure - the decisions of President Hu Jintao ultimately affect us all.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin
You could take the founders of Google home to meet your parents. They are not only rich; they are also hard working, intelligent, and seem, well, nice. Ok, so you can accuse them of selling out to commercialism, but you can hardly blame them. The college buddies apparently bonded while developing their new system of Internet search from their dormitory. They named it Google, dropped out of college and launched the site from a friend's garage in 1998 with $1 million backing from family, friends and other investors. The rest, as they say, is history. Google now dominates the web, controlling about 50% of the search market and so has a firm grip on advertising. The online advertising market is now worth $80 billion and Google is keen to exploit its position with several recent acquisitions. Of course, the Internet is about more than advertisers selling us stuff. It is fast infiltrating our daily lives so can influence our spending habits in more subtle ways. Google is not immune from competition and critics argue it is a one-trick pony. But it's a hell of a trick – and it leaves its rivals standing, at least for the moment.
Chakib Khelil
The head of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) has the whole world literally in his hands. Opec controls oil supplies and therefore prices. And the price of oil has recently shot up to around $100 a barrel, causing consumer misery in oil-guzzling nations such as America and Britain. High oil prices do not only mean high petrol prices. We use oil in almost every manufacturing and transport process, so it can push up the cost of almost every single item on your shopping list. So who's at fault? Opec blames speculators for the wild swings in the oil price. We can also point to political unrest in some of the oil-producing nations, the growing worldwide demand for crude and the weak dollar. But the cartel cannot absolve itself entirely of blame. It has, for example, resisted pleas from the US to step up production. Why? The answer is not simple. Opec must not only balance oil prices, but it must also balance the different political interests of its members. Iran and Venezuela, for example, are more hostile to the US than Saudi Arabia. The result is that oil supplies have moved by stealth into markets that poorly manage demand. So, the flow of oil is less controlled - and so are prices. We can only hope that Chakib Khelil can walk the fine line between Opec interests and the interests of consumers worldwide.
Jamie Oliver
The celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has transformed from a cheeky cockney chappie into a serious food campaigner. His mission is to change the way we eat. It started with his TV series Jamie's School Dinners, which launched an assault on school canteens and turkey twizzlers. The series was so successful that Oliver managed to squeeze an extra £280 million over three years out of the government to improve food standards. He has now moved onto chickens and wants us all to shun the cheap birds that fill the supermarket shelves. Of course, his latest campaign hasn't stopped him advertising Sainsbury's products – or is that the £1.2m advertising deal? Then there's the books: Oliver sells around 2.5m cookbooks a year. And you should never underestimate the power of a recipe. When Oliver suggested we cook with goose fat, it flew off the shelves. As I said, he's more than just a chef.
Rupert Murdoch
Love him or hate him – and most people hate him – the Australian-born media tycoon wields enormous influence. His $70 billion publishing empire stretches across the globe and includes the Fox movie studio and television network, satellite TV systems in Europe and Asia, more than 100 newspapers and a fast-growing Internet division with a stake in MySpace. News Corp also recently took over Dow Jones & Co, and its crown jewel, the Wall Street Journal. Murdoch is perhaps best known in Britain for his ownership of Sky TV and four newspapers – The Times, The Sunday Times, The News of the World and The Sun. And that gives him an enviable power base. His influences are not only financial, social and cultural, but also political. Murdoch can decide election results by nudging one of more of his editors. And that's real power.
Alistair Darling
It's a good job that the quiet, thoughtful MP for Edinburgh South West is regarded as a safe pair of hands. He has not only stepped into the prime minister's shadow as chancellor, but he has also inherited the role at a difficult moment. Gordon Brown could boast of economic stability in his time. Darling might not be so lucky. Inflation is threatening, the stock market is wobbly – and then there's Northern Rock. Of course, Darling is not only responsible for our economic health, he also collects our taxes. And Labour has increased its tax take. In fact, total tax receipts have almost doubled over the past ten years from £289 billion in 1996-7 to £520 billion in the last tax year. In other words, families will on average pay £5,600 more in tax in real terms in 2007-8 compared with 1996-7, according to figures from the Institute of Fiscal Studies. Your money is not your own – it belongs to Darling.
Sir Terry Leahy
The life of Sir Terry Leahy reads like a business fairytale. He has risen from a council house in Liverpool to become chief executive of Tesco, which is less like a supermarket and more like a kingdom. Tesco operates in 12 countries with 3,250 stores. Worldwide sales last year were £47bn, with £36bn coming from Britain. It takes a staggering £1 in every £8 spent by shoppers in the UK. Leahy is an unassuming man, but he seems to have nothing less than world domination on his mind. Terry Tesco, as he is widely known, wants the supermarket to generate more than half its turnover from overseas within the next five to ten years. If Tesco's international business "comes of age" as Sir Terry hopes, the Liverpudlian is in line for a windfall. A long-term incentive plan could pay out up to £11.5 million from 2011.
The Beckhams
Is your shopping style more celebrity than surburbia? If so, you are not alone. These days, we don't want to keep up with the Jones family next door, we strive for a Hello magazine lifestyle. Posh & Becks epitomise conspicuous consumption. Last year the 'spendemic' spiralled out of control, with 4.8 million adults spending more than they earned. Spending on luxuries has soared at 2.5 times the rate of inflation over the past decade. Spending on tourism has more than doubled to a typical £89 a month. There has also been a 76% rise in the amount we splash out on recreation and culture. Plus, we fork out £264 a month in restaurants and hotels – a 58% jump over the past decade. Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch, which compiled the figures, says: "Britain is suffering from a bad case of affluenza. We are caught in the grip of a spiral of conspicuous consumption. We want to live like our favourite celebrities. But it's clear that our salaries can't keep up with our Hello lifestyles."
Mervyn King
Another big player on Britain's economic stage is Mervyn King. Earlier this year, the former economics professor defied his critics to win a second term as the governor of the Bank of England. The 59-year-old will now stay in the top job until 2013.The task of any central bank is to safeguard the financial system. So the Northern Rock debacle caused a few blushes at the Bank of England. King is also charged with hitting the government's inflation target – and his weapon is interest rates. The governor recently warned that 2008 "is likely to see higher energy prices, higher food prices and higher import prices". In other words there will be inflationary pressure that could cause interest rates to rise. The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee cut the base rate by 25 points to 5.25% earlier this month. But you have to question how much lower it can go in the current conditions. Still, at least you know who to blame if the cost of your mortgage goes through the roof.
Ben Bernanke
The Federal Reserve is widely acknowledged to have a big impact on the world economy. Ben Bernanke is the man in charge - and he has already come under fire. But since he took over more than two years ago, Bernanke has lived through some tough times. There's the high oil price, the housing market slump, the credit crunch and the volatility in the stock market. Not to mention the decline of the dollar. Bernanke has reacted to the economic downturn in the US by cutting interest rates – and how. He recently chopped rates by 75 points, the deepest cut in more than 20 years. Critics accuse the Fed chairman of panic: if the cut doesn't work, he has nowhere else to go because he has played his ace card. Why does this matter? Well, the US is the world's biggest economy and the engine of global growth. History has shown us all too often that where the US leads, the UK will surely follow.
President Hu Jintao
Many wouldn't have heard of him, but the Chinese leader is one of the most powerful men in the world. He rules more than a billion people, runs the world's largest army, and controls the fourth biggest economy. President Hu is pretty reclusive, even by Communist standards, but he has recently secured his place at the top until 2012. The president certainly has ambitions for a country that is already turning into an economic powerhouse. For a start, he wants to quadruple China's year 2000 per capita gross domestic product by 2020. But Hu Jintao faces a daunting series of challenges, including rising inflation, swelling bubbles in the stock and property markets and the possibility of social unrest as the gap between rich and poor grows ever wider. Then there's the environment. He also has to manoeuvre between the conservatives, who want to block even the tiniest changes, and the reformers, who seek greater economic and political openness. We cannot be certain that he will succeed. But one thing's for sure - the decisions of President Hu Jintao ultimately affect us all.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin
You could take the founders of Google home to meet your parents. They are not only rich; they are also hard working, intelligent, and seem, well, nice. Ok, so you can accuse them of selling out to commercialism, but you can hardly blame them. The college buddies apparently bonded while developing their new system of Internet search from their dormitory. They named it Google, dropped out of college and launched the site from a friend's garage in 1998 with $1 million backing from family, friends and other investors. The rest, as they say, is history. Google now dominates the web, controlling about 50% of the search market and so has a firm grip on advertising. The online advertising market is now worth $80 billion and Google is keen to exploit its position with several recent acquisitions. Of course, the Internet is about more than advertisers selling us stuff. It is fast infiltrating our daily lives so can influence our spending habits in more subtle ways. Google is not immune from competition and critics argue it is a one-trick pony. But it's a hell of a trick – and it leaves its rivals standing, at least for the moment.
Chakib Khelil
The head of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) has the whole world literally in his hands. Opec controls oil supplies and therefore prices. And the price of oil has recently shot up to around $100 a barrel, causing consumer misery in oil-guzzling nations such as America and Britain. High oil prices do not only mean high petrol prices. We use oil in almost every manufacturing and transport process, so it can push up the cost of almost every single item on your shopping list. So who's at fault? Opec blames speculators for the wild swings in the oil price. We can also point to political unrest in some of the oil-producing nations, the growing worldwide demand for crude and the weak dollar. But the cartel cannot absolve itself entirely of blame. It has, for example, resisted pleas from the US to step up production. Why? The answer is not simple. Opec must not only balance oil prices, but it must also balance the different political interests of its members. Iran and Venezuela, for example, are more hostile to the US than Saudi Arabia. The result is that oil supplies have moved by stealth into markets that poorly manage demand. So, the flow of oil is less controlled - and so are prices. We can only hope that Chakib Khelil can walk the fine line between Opec interests and the interests of consumers worldwide.
Jamie Oliver
The celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has transformed from a cheeky cockney chappie into a serious food campaigner. His mission is to change the way we eat. It started with his TV series Jamie's School Dinners, which launched an assault on school canteens and turkey twizzlers. The series was so successful that Oliver managed to squeeze an extra £280 million over three years out of the government to improve food standards. He has now moved onto chickens and wants us all to shun the cheap birds that fill the supermarket shelves. Of course, his latest campaign hasn't stopped him advertising Sainsbury's products – or is that the £1.2m advertising deal? Then there's the books: Oliver sells around 2.5m cookbooks a year. And you should never underestimate the power of a recipe. When Oliver suggested we cook with goose fat, it flew off the shelves. As I said, he's more than just a chef.
Rupert Murdoch
Love him or hate him – and most people hate him – the Australian-born media tycoon wields enormous influence. His $70 billion publishing empire stretches across the globe and includes the Fox movie studio and television network, satellite TV systems in Europe and Asia, more than 100 newspapers and a fast-growing Internet division with a stake in MySpace. News Corp also recently took over Dow Jones & Co, and its crown jewel, the Wall Street Journal. Murdoch is perhaps best known in Britain for his ownership of Sky TV and four newspapers – The Times, The Sunday Times, The News of the World and The Sun. And that gives him an enviable power base. His influences are not only financial, social and cultural, but also political. Murdoch can decide election results by nudging one of more of his editors. And that's real power.
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