A report on the level of foreign ownership in our food industry produced some inconvenient facts for food security hysterics.
Business / Markets
Keane on SOPA: Big Copyright will continue to endanger basic rights
The copyright industry has rejected the opportunity to profit from online content and insisted on maintaining its analog business model.
Joye: rate cut consensus awaits real-world momentum
After the flood-induced downdraft in housing prices, loan approvals on existing homes have been rising steadily since March. An interest rate cut is no certainty, says Christopher Joye of Property Observer.
Kohler: lights out on an Aussie jobs bonanza
It’s hard to avoid concluding that employment and commercial property returns in Australia are going to come under a lot of pressure this year and beyond.
How startups can take on the big guys
By global standards Australia is considered an easy place to start a business, but regardless new ventures are regularly confronted by the big guys by means fair or foul, writes Oliver Milman.
Essential: for big retailers, price and service are a key problem
New Essential Report data backs what we know about the changes in Australian retail, but with an interesting age-related twist.
Market darling QBE hurt by surge in catastrophe claims
For almost a decade, Sydney-based insurer QBE has a market darling.
Kohler: did you hear the one about the bond market?
Up to January, the European Central Bank lent European private banks about €500 billion at 1% interest.
Is the housing bubble a myth? Sure is, if it’s different
It has been said that the four most dangerous words in investing are “this time it’s different”.
OECD: slowdown in most major economies continues
Designed to anticipate turning points in economic activity relative to trend, the OECD point to slowdown in economic activity in most major economies, reports Richard Farmer.
Unions: put your money where your mouths are on cars
There’s a great way for unions to directly support the automotive sector themselves. Wonder why they’re not using it, ask Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane?
Take a raincheck on that private equity move into retail
Private equity has performed poorly in old retail. There’s no reason why it will do any better as the sector faces major change.
GST push on overseas purchases least of retail’s woes
The push by some Australian retailers for the government to apply GST on overseas retail purchases continues in earnest, despite the cost of the proposals.
Bartholomeusz: guns drawn in a Spotless stand-off
Pacific Equity Partners’ attempt to pressure Spotless group into embracing a takeover is at an impasse, with only three obvious mechanisms for resolving it.
The car industry’s (not so) merry-go-round
It’s only three years since the car industry was last rescued. Meantime, other parts of manufacturing have got on with the job of lifting productivity.
Is Australia’s housing bubble finally close to bursting?
One of the world’s last and greatest house price bubbles is finally ending, argues economist Steve Keen.
Sweeping the net: the economies of scale of filtering
The web filtering industry ranges from the innocuous to the ruthless in its quest to censor the internet.
Bartholomeusz: strong hands for Pacific Brands
The confirmation from Pacific Brands that it has been approached by KKR raises the very real possibility that for the second time in less than a decade the consumer brands group could find itself in private equity hands.
Tracking the trackers: the cyber snoops working in Australia
Companies that have provided surveillance equipment to some of the world’s worst régimes are operating in Australia
Joye: why lower risks mean lower bank returns
Despite much public interest in, and debate around, the major banks’ purported “gouging” and taxpayer-guaranteed status, some very fundamental questions remain unanswered, says Christopher Joye on Property Observer.
The race against a Greek debt clock
Investors are growing increasingly worried about a looming Greek debt default, as the country’s deepening recession means lenders are being asked to agree to even steeper write-offs.
House prices hit a debt ceiling
Mortgage debt is by far the largest component of debt in Australia today – government debt, which is the focus of political debate, is trivial by comparison, writes Steve Keen.
Retail data: an industry changing, not collapsing
Ignore the doomsters: Australia retail is doing OK — it’s just changing, and not in a way the Gerry Harveys of the world like.
Housing shortage or a glut — just who do you believe?
The question of whether Australia is suffering a housing shortage continues to be hotly disputed.
