The Southern Hemisphere is not a bad place to be in the wintertime. That is, when it is wintertime in the Northern Hemisphere. By the time the chilly winds from Baltimore reach the southern tip of Africa they have been warmed by the South Atlantic. Flowers bloom. The sun shines. Gentle breezes glide over the fields and parking lots.
January 24th, 2012 | Bill Bonner | 5 comments | ContinuedAustralasia
Commentary on Australian and Asian economics, politics and society by your Daily Reckoning editors in Melbourne, Australia. Still haven’t subscribed to the Daily Reckoning? What are you waiting for… sign up here, it’s free!
A chronological listing of articles is below.
The Downside of a Strong Australian Dollar in the New Brand of Capitalism
The strong Australian dollar makes some export industries chronically uncompetitive. Not only does this make them bad investments, it damages their ability to remain a going concern.
January 24th, 2012 | Dan Denning | 4 comments | Continued
How a Deficit in Capitalism Helped Engender the Financial Crisis
Instead of allowing capitalism to fix the problem, the feds made it worse. They gave more money to the very institutions and managers who had proved they couldn’t be trusted with it.
We don’t want to rehearse the whole sequence of events that got us to where we are. But it’s important to understand what happened.
How Australia’s Terms of Trade is Riding the Dragon
Today’s terms of trade boom exceeds anything Australia has seen in previous booms. The wool booms in the 1920s and the 1950s – both war related – helped Australia ride the sheep’s back to prosperity. This time, Australia is riding the Dragon’s back to prosperity.
January 23rd, 2012 | Dan Denning | 6 comments | Continued
What’s the Plan with War With Iran?
In the face of economic meltdown, pick a fight… A nice list of reasons to worry about a war with Iran was sent to our inbox on Tuesday…
January 21st, 2012 | Nickolai Hubble | 6 comments | Continued
The Final Countdown
Not interfering with the market’s adjustment process is simply allowing Schumpeterian “creative destruction” to operate, and cleanse the forest. But that process is anathema to well-compensated entrenched interests that suckle from the teat of the State. Banks, for example.
January 21st, 2012 | The Daily Reckoning | 1 comment | Continued
China – The BRIC About to Smash Through Australia’s Windscreen
The BRICs – Brazil, Russia, India and China – are supposed to be the upcoming economic boomers of our age. In fact, the BRICs theory was our first exposure to the world of economics. But now part of the story is looking a little shaky.
January 21st, 2012 | Nickolai Hubble | 0 comments | Continued
Why Low Interest Rates are Bad for the Economy
A year ago, the RBA and the horde of market economists who hang on its every word expected interest rates to be higher by now. Even as late as September 2011 the RBA was sitting on its hands, unsure which way to move.
January 20th, 2012 | Greg Canavan | 4 comments | Continued
The Cinderella Story of China’s Economy
One of the big questions of the year is whether China’s economy blows up or not. Hard landing or soft? When will the clock strike midnight on the Chinese? Things are slowing down, and it feels like it’s getting late.
January 18th, 2012 | Chris Mayer | 0 comments | Continued
Debts With Unsolvable Insolvency
Even before debt became such a big problem, real growth had already begun to disappear from the developed world. There has been none in Japan for the last 20 years…and almost no real growth in the US private sector for the last 10 years. In Europe, grosso modo, the story is similar.
January 18th, 2012 | Bill Bonner | 0 comments | Continued
The War Against the Euro
The Americans are trying to discredit the euro in order to perpetuate dollar hegemony, so goes the argument. Hmm. It’s possible. It’s also possible that all central bankers and monetary policy makers are singing from the same hymnal. Their answer to the end of the credit bubble is to try and pump it back up with currency debasement. In that case, this is a war of all against all.
January 18th, 2012 | Dan Denning | 5 comments | Continued
Marines Caught Out in a Dirty War
And all over the world, the press is howling for the heads of the marines seen urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban soldiers on YouTube. Everyone is appalled. They are not defending the country. They are fighting a mean dirty war.
January 17th, 2012 | Bill Bonner | 4 comments | Continued
For the Love of Gold
Signalling a desperation for tangible wealth, customs officials arrested eight South Korean men for smuggling gold out of the country…in their rectums.
January 17th, 2012 | Dan Denning | 1 comment | Continued
Downgrade of European Financial Stability Facility Becomes a Reality
“It won’t be long before the EFSF has its own credit rating cut,” we wrote yesterday. And it wasn’t! Standard and Poor’s delivered the coup de grace yesterday. It downgraded the European Financial Stability Facility from AAA to AA+.
January 17th, 2012 | Dan Denning | 2 comments | Continued
The Growing Energy and Oil Alliance Between China and Saudi Arabia
The oil and energy alliance between China and Saudi has just been strengthened. On Saturday – in the wake of Europe’s debt crisis – Saudi state oil company Aramco signed a deal with China’s Sinopec to build an oil refinery in the Red Sea city of Yanbu.
January 16th, 2012 | Dan Denning | 0 comments | Continued
