This post was originally published on Michael West.
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Card machines might be an alternative for Australians who rely on spare change from strangers to stay afloat in today’s increasingly cashless economy, but is this the best way to get ahead?
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Gaping loopholes, earnest advisers and an international reputation for stability have made Australia a place of choice for illicit funds. Despite a crackdown on the foreign ownership of established houses, there are still many ways for crooks to score a piece of the action, no matter which government is in power
This post was originally published on Michael West.
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Australians are getting a rude shock as they open their superannuation statements. For most, it was a rare year of losses. Only three funds ended in the black. Callum Foote and Michael West investigate super returns and the best performing fund of them all.
This post was originally published on Michael West.
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Two Sydneysiders made their fortune on the back of short-term loans to cash-strapped customers. JobKeeper helped. Callum Foote reports on executive pay and public subsidies.
This post was originally published on Michael West.
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Recession is likely. Share markets, bonds, property, crypto; it’s all falling, just as the cost of living is soaring. Michael West checks out the outlook.
This post was originally published on Michael West.
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Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg may have railroaded an anti-competitive banking cartel through parliament without waiting for approval from the ACCC, with Treasury potentially covering its tracks. Callum Foote investigates. Last month the Morrison-initiated Australian Business Growth Fund made its third investment, $11 million to local software company Capsifi. The fund provides investments to small […]
This post was originally published on Michael West.
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The Reserve Bank of Australia will pay the big banks $10 billion a year in interest for money the banks have sitting in deposit. Callum Foote and Michael West look at why the RBA has chosen to start paying interest on almost half a trillion dollars sitting in its settlement accounts.
This post was originally published on Michael West.
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It may be the only campaign tactic they have left, and it’s a lie, but the media laps it up and Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg are flogging it hard. That’s the claim that the Coalition are “superior economic managers” and Labor can’t be trusted to run the economy. Alan Austin looks at International Monetary Fund data and puts the case that Labor have been far superior economic managers.
This post was originally published on Michael West.
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Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg will ramp up their “superior economic managers” rhetoric now that the government’s defence credentials are so badly damaged by China’s pact with the Solomon Islands. Michael West looks at their track record.
This post was originally published on Michael West.
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One guy prosecuted for allegedly running a company while bankrupt, ten Crown directors off scot free for washing $70bn through casinos for Chinese Triads, drug and sex traffickers and other assorted criminals. One rule for rich and powerful, another for the rest. Michael West reports on the world of deluxe double standards.
This post was originally published on Michael West Media.
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Josh Frydenberg has again claimed Australia is “outperforming all other major advanced economies” in a Liberal Party missive to supporters which cherry-picks 12 bright spots. Alan Austin details the 12 other things you need to know about Australia’s poor economic management.
This post was originally published on Michael West Media.
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The Coalition as “superior economic managers”? The data demonstrates the polar opposite. Alan Austin looks at the leading measures of economic performance over 10 years and finds Australia has slumped sharply against other nations. The bright spot? Corporate profits.
This post was originally published on Michael West Media.
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Josh Frydenberg’s embarrassing take-down by the Senate this week over a bizarre plot to over-regulate proxy advisers has left this government with no economic agenda, indeed a record of failure on the economy. Alan Austin investigates the claim of “massive” jobs growth and finds it, like many of this government’s claims, does not stack up.
This post was originally published on Michael West Media.
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Home ownership has plunged from 43% of Australians to just 30% in 20 years, while mortgages and renting has jumped.
This post was originally published on Michael West Media.
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The drop in skilled workers arriving in Australia has hit the economy, and it began many years before the Pandemic. Alan Austin reports on the decline of innovation.
This post was originally published on Michael West Media.
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Elected on a promise to eliminate Labor’s ”debt disaster”, the Coalition has added $600 billlion to the national ledger.
This post was originally published on Michael West Media.
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They sure were feeding the chooks last night. Rupert Murdoch’s The Australian went live with its “exclusive” story at midnight: “Covid-19, NDIS, in $50bn blow to mid-year budget”. Michael West takes a light look at the Morrison government’s media and marketing tactics.
This post was originally published on Michael West Media.
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Extraordinary details have emerged of how the Reserve Bank intervened to stop Treasurer Josh Frydenberg crashing the economy as the pandemic took grip, how, contrary to their fable of “superior economic management”, the Morrison Coalition pursued political gain over good government, and how they have been borrowing its billions almost for free.
This post was originally published on Michael West Media.
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Does the Liberal Party’s claim to be “superior economic managers” stack up? No. We dig back to Harold Holt, through 60 years of Australia’s Treasurers, to find the best and worst. A Callum Foote investigation.
This post was originally published on Michael West Media.
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The Covid pandemic has affected several industries and data sets. But it does not explain Australia falling down the global tables on economic performance.
This post was originally published on Michael West Media.
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Sharemarket pirates have cashed in on Australia’s unemployed. They are targeting the disabled and the elderly next. Callum Foote and Michael West investigate the monumental fee gouge by freshly floated APM and other job agencies
This post was originally published on Michael West Media.
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The takeover bid for Sydney Airport all but done, a takeover frenzy grips the sharemarket. Investors, foreign and local, know Australian governments are an easy touch, that they allow their citizens to be pillaged, that some of them actually believe the bankers’ myth that privatisation means efficiency. Michael West reports
This post was originally published on Michael West Media.
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Why the blazes was Telstra slotted $1.6bn by the government to buy Digicell and annoy the Chinese, and how is it Telstra shares slumped by one-third during the bull market when they cooly took $100bn in public money? Kim Wingerei checks on the charmed existence of chief executive Andy Penn
This post was originally published on Michael West Media.
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The impending $972m float of employment services provider APM is a classic case of foreign financiers dumping their stock into the laps of unwitting sharemarket investors. Callum Foote, Stephanie Tran and Michael West report on a bonanza for middle-people
This post was originally published on Michael West Media.
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Workers now have the lowest share ever of the nation’s earnings. Under-employment is even worse now than it was late last year. Alan Austin looks behind the spin to report the true state of unemployment and economic management in Australia
This post was originally published on Michael West Media.
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The shift of wealth to the wealthier is driving interest in Universal Basic Income and Job Guarantee proposals as millions of Australians are being left behind by Australia’s mean welfare system. Can Labor do better? Brian Toohey reports.
This post was originally published on Michael West Media.
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Is the ACCC helping the Government get the best price for the sale of NBNCo? The competition regulators are doing consumers no favours hindering investment in new telco infrastructure. Who is looking after the interests of telco consumers? asks former NBNCo CTO Gary McLaren.
This post was originally published on Michael West.
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As NSW plunges back into lockdown, the banks have been warned to prepare for negative interest rates. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank has quietly conceded the banks have not lent the $188 billion pandemic stimulus, parking it in their $314b war-chest at the central bank earning no interest. Michael West on the looming storm-clouds for the Australian economy.
This post was originally published on Michael West.
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Like the muddy hand from the grave, Macquarie is suddenly circling Sydney Airport again. Michael West reports on the ultimate circus of privatisation, where Macquarie pillaged the most prized asset in Australia, the unregulated monopoly which is this country’s gateway to the world, and is shaping up to do it again.
This post was originally published on Michael West.
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The new “Your Future, Your Super” legislation avoided the most egregious of changes proposed by the LNP Government. YFYS will simplify and streamline the $3 trillion super system, fix “zombie accounts” and spark fund takeovers, writes Harry Chemay. The changes go some way to addressing a key question posed during the Hayne Royal Commission: “what do trustees do in the dark with our super?”
This post was originally published on Michael West.