Economy
Universities make astounding discovery: AUKUS lacks a social licence!
A not-so-happy anniversary: Usually, a first anniversary is an occasion for all-round rejoicing and back-slapping. So, it was to be expected that there’d be universal self-congratulation on the first anniversary of Anthony Albanese’s, Rishi Sunak’s and Joe Biden’s announcement on 13 March 2023 that Australia would purchase nuclear-powered attack-class submarines from the US as part Continue reading »
Global economic and financial review
The American economy is strong, Australia’s economy has slowed to a standstill, and Xi Jinping is proving to be a dry economic rationalist rather than a warm indulgent socialist. Read on for this week’s global economic and financial review. USA, Europe, and Japan American economy is strong, and its inflation is accelerating. Yet its share Continue reading »
How our tax system is making the rich richer. And the poor poorer
Australians frozen out of the housing market cannot expect that government is going to do anything that effectively closes the gap between current house prices and what most of the unhoused could afford as a deposit. Modern politicians of all stripes are all agreed that their political survival depends on doing the maximum to sustain Continue reading »
Changing mindsets: From wealth creation to delivering retirement incomes
Australia’s superannuation system is based upon defined contributions, largely because that avoids the main weakness of many overseas systems based on defined benefits of rising costs for future generations. The tendency, however, is to focus on the wealth creation from the defined contributions, not on the delivery of secure retirement incomes that is the focus Continue reading »
China’s falling exports to EU, US signals West’s economic decline
We have all no doubt have seen the bad news that China’s exports to the EU have reduced, China’s exports to the US are declining rapidly and, as a result of it, we’re being told by Western media that China is on the verge of collapse. Well, here’s a statement that was released just a Continue reading »
ASEAN carpet baggers
Without a hint of embarrassment, Australian Treasurer Chalmers declared that ASEAN was ripe for the plucking by Australian business turbocharged by a AUD$2 billion fund. “This is where the action is – in ASEAN – and we want to get a bigger slice of that action” he said. Addressing 100 chief executives from Australia and Continue reading »
Hong Kong is losing competitiveness to cities on the mainland
The danger Hong Kong faces is not that it might become ‘just another mainland city’, but that it is already subpar to many of its urban cousins across the border. People always fret about Hong Kong’s eroding competitiveness compared to other leading Asian cities. But the clear and present danger may be its lack of Continue reading »
Questioning one’s views as circumstances evolve can be a good thing
Economics has achieved much; there are large bodies of often nonobvious theoretical understandings and of careful and sometimes compelling empirical evidence. The profession knows and understands many things. Yet today we are in some disarray. We did not collectively predict the financial crisis and, worse still, we may have contributed to it through an overenthusiastic Continue reading »
Aged Care funding taskforce fails to do its task
There is no argument that funding for aged care has to increase or that equitable funding requires that those with higher means pay more. The recommendations of the Aged Care Funding Taskforce fail to provide solutions on both counts, for older people needing care and their carers, providers, taxpayers, or government. The first fail is Continue reading »
Do China’s leaders fully grasp foreigners’ concerns about the country?
Beijing has been slow to address the visa and e-payment woes of foreign travellers, and some officials remain complacent about the exodus of foreign investment. China’s Luckin Coffee, founded in 2017, is the country’s largest coffee chain, with more stores and higher revenue than Starbucks. Its cashless grab-and-go model, where customers order on the app Continue reading »