Having recently written a long piece about the origin of what was termed neoliberal economics and how it inevitably led to a disgraceful, vacuous, malignant narcissist like Trump being elected to the US presidency1, I decided to have a crack at looking at the effects it has had on the UK and the US populace. This is Part 1 and deals with income inequality, wage stagnation, job insecurity and declining union influence.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has slashed the official cash rate by 2.5% since July 2024. As illustrated below by Justin Fabo from Antipodean Macro, the decline in New Zealand’s official cash rate has sent mortgage rates sharply lower: Historically, falling interest rates have been associated with rising home prices, as increased mortgage serviceability
Victoria’s finances are dire. The state has the nation’s lowest credit rating and the highest per capita debt. The major rating agencies have warned that unless Victoria gets its debt under control, it will face more ratings downgrades. Interest repayments on the state’s debt, already forecast to reach $10.6 billion annually by FY 2029, would
Ferrous madness continues as steel margins collapse. Scuttlbutt is nonsense. Miner Rio Tinto could be forced to build refiners for the Simandou ore in Guinea, Australia’s Financial Review reported on Sunday. The Simandou iron ore project, with an annual production capacity of 120 million metric tons, is expected first ore shipment in November, and put
Japan wants security of supply. Australia risks failing to capitalise on the unpredictability of US energy exports under President Trump because of uncertainty on the rules for its east coast gas market and the world’s toughest emissions limits for LNG, the head of a Tokyo-based energy think-tank has warned. Tatsuya Terazawa, chairman and chief executive
Australian dwelling values hit a new record high in August. The national final auction clearance rate also averaged 69% in August, the strongest result since February 2024. The bounce in dwelling values and auction clearance rates follows three 25 bp rate cuts delivered by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) since February, taking the official
Over the last 25 years, China has undergone an absolute meteoric rise as an industrial and economic power, inadvertently dragging Australia along for the ride. At the turn of the new millennium, China possessed the sixth-largest economy in the world, sandwiched between Italy and France in the rankings and possessing an economy just one-quarter the
The solution to Australia’s rental crisis is being played out in real time in Canada. Rents in Canada soared to a record high in response to the country’s largest immigration influx in history. Last year, the Canadian government imposed a three-year pause on population growth to relieve the strains on housing and infrastructure. In the
Israel has conducted a “precise strike”against the “senior leadership of Hamas,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Tuesday, shortly after multiple blasts rocked the headquarters of the Palestinian militant group in Doha, Qatar.
The Israeli military said it carried out the operation in coordination with the Shin Bet security agency (ISA). The IDF did not name the exact location targeted in the strike.