TINA (There Is No Alternative)
Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013), the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, often said that “there is no alternative” to her monetary policies. “SOME OF Mrs. Thatcher’s less reverent colleagues have adopted a new nickname for her—Tina—short for the Prime Minister’s favourite rebuttal to criticisms of her economic policies: There is no alternative” was printed in The Observer (London, UK) on December 14, 1980. “.. the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Geoffrey Howe. Some credit him with too, the name Tina for the Prime Minister (there is no alternative)” was printed in The Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland) on January 10, 1981.
The terms “TINA” and “TINA (stock) market)” became popular in the United States in 2013. “TINA investing. ‘There Is No Alternative’ to stocks. JPMorgan’s David Kelly on @CNNYourMoney” was posted on Twitter by Christine Romans on March 2, 2013. “This is a TINA stock market: there is no alternative” was posted on Twitter by Rich Marino on March 5, 2013.
Wikipedia: There is no alternative
“There is no alternative” (shortened as TINA) was a slogan often used by the Conservative British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
The phrase was used to signify Thatcher’s claim that the market economy is the only system that works, and that debate about this is over. One critic characterised the meaning of the slogan as “Globalised capitalism, so called free-markets and free trade were the best ways to build wealth, distribute services and grow a society’s economy. Deregulation’s good, if not God.” By contrast, Thatcher described her support of markets as flowing from a more basic moral argument. Specifically she argued that the market-principle of choice flows from the moral principle that for human behavior to be moral requires free-choice by people.
18 November 1879, The Observer (London, UK), “Thatcher’s firm touch on the tiller” by John Cole, pg. 10, col. 4:
The rock to which the Chancellor clings in his misfortunes is that there is no alternative to present policies.
14 December 1980, The Observer (London, UK), “Perils of ‘Tina’ stir Tory backbenchers” by Adam Raphael, pg. 5, col. 7:
SOME OF Mrs. Thatcher’s less reverent colleagues have adopted a new nickname for her—Tina—short for the Prime Minister’s favourite rebuttal to criticisms of her economic policies: There is no alternative.
27 December 1980, The Globe and Mail (Toronto, ON), “Tina and her foes dig a hole that might trap them” by Norman Webster, pg. P9:
Margaret Thatcher scorns the fainthearts. Her response is so invariable that her new nickname around Westminster is Tina - short for “there is no alternative”. She has just added a rigid monetarist to her staff as personal economic adviser.
10 January 1981, The Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland), “The Saturday Column,” pg. 12, col. 3:
.. the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Geoffrey Howe. Some credit him with too, the name Tina for the Prime Minister (there is no alternative).
7 October 1981, The Advocate (Stamford, CT), “Heath opens attack on Thatcher policies” (The Baltimore Sun), pg. A9, col. 2:
Some critics call Mrs. Thatcher “Tina,” a nickname arising from her assertion that “there is no alternative” to the monetarist theory of controlling the economy by controlling the supply of money.
OCLC WorldCat record
The TINA-THEMBA debate : there is no alternative : there must be an alternative
Author: P Bond
Edition/Format: Article Article : English
Publication: New ground, v8 n37 (Aug 1992):21-24
Summary:
Examines the debate over Basic Needs versus Export-Oriented economic strategy. States the leading economies in the world, especially in East Asia, were based on keeping the multinationals out. Reckons foreign investors take more out of an economy in the long-term than they put in
OCLC WorldCat record
The Canary Wharf debacle : from ‘TINA’ - there is no alternative - to ‘THEMBA’ - there must be an alternative.
Author: Andy Merrifield
Publisher: London : Pion, 1993.
Edition/Format: Print book : English
OCLC WorldCat record
TINA: There Is No Alternative to Social Security
Author: C E Weller; M Bragg
Edition/Format: Article Article : English
Publication: SOCIAL POLICY, 32, Part 2 (2001): 61
OCLC WorldCat record
“There is no alternative” : why Margaret Thatcher matters
Author: Claire Berlinski
Publisher: New York (N.Y.) : Basic Books. copyright 2008.
Edition/Format: Print book : Biography : English
Summary:
Examines the life and legacy of one of the most fascinating and controversial figures of the twentieth century, Margaret Thatcher. This biography offers a portrait of a woman whose influence extends far beyond Great Britain, and far beyond her moment of power.
Twitter
Christine Romans
@ChristineRomans
TINA investing. “There Is No Alternative” to stocks. JPMorgan’s David Kelly on @CNNYourMoney.
1:54 PM - 2 Mar 2013
Twitter
Rich Marino
@rlouismarino
This is a TINA stock market: there is no alternative.
9:24 PM - 5 Mar 2013
Twitter
Laura Goldman
@laurasgoldman
When people ask me where 2 #invest I say #stocks due to TINA- There Is No Alternative #interestrates r 2 low
10:13 PM - 5 Mar 2013
Twitter
Lauren Young
@LaurenYoung
RT @carlquintanilla: Strategas’ Jason Trennert calls it a “TINA market”—there is no alternative [to stocks]. @SquawkStreet
10:16 AM - 25 Mar 2013
Forbes
Nov 27, 2018, 03:20am
The End Of TINA—Or ‘There Is No Alternative’ To Equity Buying
Carrie McCabe
Investors have complained for years about “TINA” – or “There Is No Alternative” other than to buy more equities.
Twitter
Hippie Speedball
@laughinghyena13
“When rates were near zero, investors used the acronym TINA to describe the sentiment that “there is no alternative” to stocks. Today, it’s more like TASS—the alternatives still stink.”
11:00 AM - 3 Feb 2019
Twitter
M/I_Investments
@MI_Investments
This is what the Fed has turned markets into…..‘Bad news is good news!’ “Dash for trash,” “Don’t fight the Fed,” “Most shorted stocks the leading advancers” “FAANG,” “Chase for high yielding stocks” “There is no alternative! (TINA)” #idiocy
9:57 AM - 10 Feb 2019
Investopedia
TINA: There Is No Alternative
REVIEWED BY JAMES CHEN Updated Mar 29, 2019
What is TINA: There Is No Alternative
“There is no alternative,” often abbreviated to “TINA,” is a phrase that originated with the Victorian philosopher Herbert Spencer and became a slogan of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. Today, it is often used by investors to explain a less-than-ideal portfolio allocation, usually of stocks, because other asset classes offer even worse returns. This situation, and the subsequent decisions of investors, can lead to the “Tina Effect” whereby stocks rise only because investors have no viable alternative.
12 July 2019, New York (NY) Times< "DealBook Briefing: Why Are Stocks Still Rising?" (online):
But they feel that there is no alternative — TINA, in Wall Street speak — to investing in stocks. Lower interest rates mean that borrowing costs will be low, which means that investing in bonds is less attractive than in equities.
It’s not as if investors are popping champagne. “They are very aware of the signs that an economic slowdown is taking place,” JC O’Hara, the chief market technician at MKM Partners, told Mr. Grocer. “But in a TINA market, where are they going to put their money?”
Switzer Daily
Don’t just sit on cash: if you do, you’re going backwards
Andrew Main
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
A recent article in the New York Times mentioned TINA, which stands for There Is No Alternative (to equities, in this case).