This has to go down as one of the most amazing elections in Australian history. In it neither of the alternative Prime Ministers have said anything remotely bold – until today. Julia Gillard said that she would stop following the script and be herself. Does that mean that she might say something exciting or memorable? [...]
Yep, the other day, my partner brought home a newspaper from Franklins.I asked her, of course, “Why did you buy that?”“I didn’t” she replied, “They offered it to me free because I spent more than five dollars and I only got it so we could line the pet cages.”So there you have it. SMH has [...]
It is often said that our future is in our past. I find it it interesting that there are parallels between children’s Nursery Rhymes and our current fiscal situation. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King's horses, And all the King's men Couldn't put Humpty together [...]
Yesterday whilst blogging – out slipped one of those little gems that I just couldn’t resist revisiting. We all know that an army marches on its stomach and that a nation’s GDP is dependent on the output of its citizens. So what happens when young people don’t get in the family way anymore? [...]
I bumped into one of the local real estate agents from our area yesterday while Robyn and I were out walking the dog. He told us he is taking five weeks off – the market is so flat that it isn't worth his while to go into the office. By the way this guy was [...]
Over the last week the world has watched in awe as the big swinging dicks on Wall Street have been humbled. I predicted that there would be a crash several years ago, but had no idea that when it happened it would happen so fast. And it has really only just begun. But now is [...]
Its probably not surprising that the really important news is hardly ever to be found at the front of the newspaper – if in the newspaper at all! Take the current global fascination with the fall of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Most people outside of America were unfamiliar with the names up until a [...]
Went down to Kangaroo Valley yesterday and looked at real estate. Talked to a realtor down there who told me that in the last 4 – 6 weeks the market has just started to move after about 12 months of being flat. He thought that the changes to superannuation legislation have finally worked their way [...]
Last year, on FirstMonday, I wrote: “Many bands and artists take advantage of the net by using it to advertise their performances, at which they sell their CDs. This can be very effective and the major record companies are becoming less relevant to artists. However, despite the apparent success of aggregators like iTunes, few independent [...]
Why is it that we allow governments to stay in power when they can’t manage? In Australia over the last month or so we have had the NSW government promote and try to sell off the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Business, which is a public utility. It appears that the primary reason for them wanting – [...]