Okay, it is not easy to keep on top of this stuff from Hawaii (where I’m vacationing at the moment), but a few comments on the question of whether Treasurer Wayne Swan should reappoint Professor Warwick McKibbin to the Board of the RBA. First, McKibbin is far and away Australia's best and most respected academic […]

On Sunday, Treasurer Wayne Swan announced a series of reforms to promote a “competitive and sustainable banking system” following an intense debate initiated by the Shadow Treasurer, Joe Hockey. The package has significant strengths and weaknesses, and is somewhat undermined by much superficial padding (that is, allowing building societies to change their name, getting taxpayers […]

With mid-term elections just around the corner here in the United States, we’re coming up half to the half time hooter in the main game. Let’s look at the scoreboard. The healthcare bill still confusing small (and large) business The small businesses stimulus package not so stimulating to many The banks still holding on to […]

I had been waiting for some news to update my column on this site. Last month I said it was too hard to call the market without more clarity on the RSPT (resource tax). Well, we got that yesterday morning in spades. Kevin was shown the red card and Julia scored in injury time only […]

The news is out. US prosecutors are investigating several Morgan Stanley CDOs. Like the Abacus inquiry at Goldman Sachs, the issue is what representations Morgan Stanley made to clients. How did the bank market those Weapons of Money Destruction? Here’s what The Wall Street Journal reports: Among the deals that have been scrutinized are two […]

In an effort to drive the US economy, Washington continues its quest to get big banks to offer more to small business lines of credit, and week on week it seems to get more challenging. The lenders are just not buying into the rally. And in part I can see why. For one, why would […]

Last week I like the rest of the world, sat watching President Obama delivering his State Of The Union speech. And it missed the mark for me. Like 23 million other small business owners across America, I watched in anticipation for the nuts and bolts of what the small business stimulus package might do for […]

It’s interesting, 12 months ago while the world waited for a new President to appear in the United States, I was on radio across the US saying business people across the country here needed to simply claim some personal responsibility for their destiny, put their head down and the tails up, and run their own […]