In an age where price-point mass consumerism favours cheap imports, the eccentric tradition of Josiah Wedgwood has no place, writes Michael Feller.
Economy business
Mayne Report’s 2008 year ender and last minute sell-down
Whilst Obama was huge, the biggest story of the year was undoubtedly the global financial crisis, writes Stephen Mayne.
Investing myths busted in 2008 — a Crikey list
Rudd has blown $10 billion on politically targeted handouts, rather than value-creating investment, writes Adam Schwab.
Telstra’s tantrum leaves it out in the cold
Whenever Telstra has taken on the government it has lost, writes Tony Boyd.
Big Groceries and Big Petrol meet Big Airline
Just why big brands should be permitted to extend an iron grip over the once simple process of buying everyday needs to be examined, writes Ben Sandilands.
Kohler: China cracks
There must now be serious doubt about whether the crash in commodity prices since July is a short-term correction, writes Alan Kohler.
Keen: Of confidence and debt
Will confidence win out, or will debt bury us? asks Steve Keen.
Jigging auction numbers
A Crikey study of the auction clearance rate reveals that the figures claimed by the REIV and reported by The Sunday Age are misleading, writes Adam Schwab.
OZ minerals gambled shareholder’s equity and lost
The OZ Minerals story appears to be one of gross managerial incompetence, writes Adam Schwab.
Qantas throws a match into bonfire of the airlines
The QF+BA “merger of equals” discussion, which sources credit to former Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon, is to consolidation what the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was to world peace in 1914, writes Ben Sandilands.
The Oz Minerals dream is turning into a nightmare
The dream of creating a diversified, cashed-up miner has quickly turned into a nightmare, with Oz Minerals shares closing at only $0.63 cents yesterday, writes Adam Schwab.
Bickering over the cost of climate change
The emissions trading debate has been a boon for economic consultants, writes Bernard Keane.
The commentators who were seduced by Eddy Groves
Several high profile finance reporters were only too happy to praise Eddy Groves when being rich was as easy as ABC, writes Neil Walker.
Real economy 2: Truth is we’re treading water
The economy is lukewarm to tepid, but not dead. At worst, the national economy appears to be treading water, writes Possum Comitatus.
NSW, the premier state: for unemployment, dysfunction …
Yesterday’s news of a fall in retail sales in NSW in the September quarter points to the extraordinarily serious problems the NSW economy currently faces, writes Bernard Keane.
Millions at risk in ATO security bungle
Millions of taxpayer dollars are at risk from criminal gangs accessing private tax details due to a serious Australian Taxation Office security bungle, writes Chris Seague.
Macquarie’s stress test
Why would the manager of a fund like MIG, which last year paid Macquarie $56 million in management fees, leave itself open to losing management control asks Tony Boyd.
Kohler: Pawning the global economy
Yes, the world’s governments did well to save the banking system from catastrophe, but it was already too late to save the economy, writes Alan Kohler.
Frozen redemptions — it all comes down to too much debt
If Kevin Rudd wasn’t obsessed about buttering up media moguls he would probably launch an attack on Challenger Financial Group today, writes Stephen Mayne.
Wheatley guns down Wickenby then leaves the country
Were Wheatley’s words the rants of someone holding a grudge against the system that sent him to the big house or should we listen carefully to what he said, asks Chris Seage.
Exec salaries: Rudd opens fire on the business community
One day Kevin Rudd’s blasting extreme capitalism and bank pay packets and the next he’s sitting down with 150 business leaders as commander in chief during a rolling economic security crisis, writes Stephen Mayne.
A prime time flop from Kerry and Kevin
How could a 10-minute exchange between Kerry O’Brien and Kevin Rudd not once bring in the key issue of Australia’s free-falling currency, asks Stephen Mayne.
Unemployment rate up as economy slows
A small rise in the number of new jobs was outweighed by a sharp rise in the number of people unemployed writes Glenn Dyer.
Hold your nerve for some great buying opportunities
It is important to stress that no-one outside of Iceland has yet lost any money on deposit as government guarantees rain down upon the global banking system, writes Stephen Mayne.
Kohler: Politicians are dragging us down
The world’s politicians are uncoordinated and applying a wide variety of different coloured band-aids to the financial system, writes Alan Kohler.
