Hit over the head with a plasma screen

by | May 31, 2011 | Commentary

Have you noticed? Owning a modern flat screen television proves you are not saving every day in every way – the sacrifice essential for home ownership. This theme is raised again and again by the shills and trolls pouring venom into the debates on the blogs and...

Don’t be surprised if the GDP is shocking

by | May 31, 2011 | Commentary

photo credit: Jasmic Gavin R. Putland in today’s Crikey Enewsletter: Without the benefit of reading today’s balance-of-payments figures from the ABS, I’m expecting tomorrow’s GDP figure for the March quarter to be worse than the median forecast...

Can You Smell the Fear?

by | May 26, 2011 | Commentary

A home should be a secure retreat where owners sleep soundly. Instead, they are waking in a cold sweat to the living nightmare of falling house prices. Values are down but the family mortgage is not. Call it what you like – wealth destruction, equity erasure or...

Australia’s fatal flaw: Negative Gearing

by | May 25, 2011 | Commentary

“You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.” – Warren Buffett, Chairman’s letter 2001. Negatively geared property investors are exposing themselves, the banks and every Australian citizen to capital destruction, a highly infectious...

Tinkering on the Edge

by | May 20, 2011 | Commentary

photo credit: flatworldsedge Economic Answers Way off the Mark by Karl Williams Another neoclassical excuse-maker has just hit the airwaves, claiming to identify the causes of the GFC and even hailing Alan Greenspan as the prophet who was ignored as the GFC loomed!...