Category: A sustainable economy

Australia Feels Chill as China’s Economic Shadow grows

admin /4 June, 2009

From New York Times

Australia Feels Chill as China’s Economic Shadow Grows 
By MICHAEL WINES 

(NB Rudd is already fluent in Mandarin, makes one think)

SYDNEY, Australia — If outlanders tend to associate Australia with kangaroos, broad-brim leather hats and an opera house, many Australians are different. They think of iron ore and bauxite, copper and coal, nickel, gold and uranium, a trove of mineral riches that is their nation’s birthright and the bedrock of its prosperity.

Uneasy Engagement

Seller’s Remorse

This is the first in a series of articles examining stresses and strains of China’s emergence as a global power.

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Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg News

Australia vetoed part of a $1.8 billion bid for Oz, a large zinc miner, because the military raised the prospect of Chinese espionage at an Oz mine not far from an aerospace test site.

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Which explains much of the breast-beating that has ensued since the Chinese announced plans this year to buy a big chunk of it.

Since three state owned Chinese companies said they would buy stakes in Australia’s storied mining industry totaling $22 billion — as much as China’s entire investment here in the last three years — some of this nation’s 21.3 million people have reacted with aggrieved nationalism.

Govt defends overseas stimulus blunder

admin /2 June, 2009

Govt defends overseas stimulus blunder

( NOTE THIS COMES FROM TAXPAYERS MONEY. RATHER IRRESPONSIBLE)

Posted 19 minutes ago

Federal Government officials have revealed $75 million from the Government’s first stimulus package went to pensioners who were living or holidaying overseas.

The Government had hoped the money from its stimulus spending would be spent in Australia to boost the local economy.

It has been criticised by the Opposition for allowing millions of dollars to go to Australians overseas and to dead people.

NSW burden drags nation deeper into strife

admin /1 June, 2009

NSW burden drags nation deeper into strife

Jessica Irvine

June 1, 2009

Business is calling for a radical intervention to stop the former premier state’s decline, reports Jessica Irvine, Economics Editor.

The decade-long slide by NSW into economic oblivion, if not arrested, may stymie the Rudd Government’s attempts to kick start the national economy out of recession.

The once “premier state” has been going backwards, compared to other states since the Sydney Olympics, on key indicators of economic health including growth, business investment, jobs, home building and wages, a Herald analysis of official figures has found.

The Business Council of Australia, which represents the country’s top 100 companies – most of which call Sydney home – is calling for a “radical” intervention by the Rudd Government before the NSW state budget, due on June 16, to help the state deliver a credible plan for future infrastructure delivery.

Stimulus went to 16.000 dead people

admin /28 May, 2009

Stimulus went to 16,000 dead people

AAP May 28, 2009, 6:03 am 
As many as 16,000 dead people and 27,000 expatriate Australians have received a total of $40 million worth of federal government stimulus payments.

  The Australian Tax Office says the cost of the payments made to the dead is likely to exceed $14 million.

The payments of $900 each were made to deceased estates and are unlikely to be spent as part of the government’s $42 billion stimulus package, the Daily Telegraph reports

The office revealed that 15,934 payments have so far been made to deceased estates and that figure could rise sharply with 47,111 deceased estates lodging a tax return for the eligible period.

Owner of Coles imposes salary freeze for board members, senior executives

admin /22 May, 2009

Owner of Coles imposes salary freeze for board members, senior managers

Cynthia Koons | May 22, 2009

Article from:  Dow Jones Newswires

THE board and senior management at Wesfarmers have agreed to a freeze in their salaries and a reduction in bonuses.

Wesfarmers freezes executive salaries

Stopped: Coles-owner Wesfarmers has frozen salaries and bonuses for senior management amid the global economic downturn. Picture: Bloomberg

The decision at Wesfarmers, owner of the Coles supermarket-chain, came as a result of the economic climate, according to a letter to staff sent today by managing director Richard Goyder.

Salaries will be frozen at 2008 levels and won’t be reviewed until October 2010, a spokesman for Wesfarmers said.

In his letter, My Goyder said: “I want to emphasise that the group overall continues to travel relatively well given the economic conditions, with solid performances across a number of our divisions.

“However, I believe the decision to freeze salaries at 2008 levels for the group’s most senior executive managers, as well as not pay the discretionary component of their annual bonuses this year, is a responsible one given the current economic climate.”

Failure of BankUnited shows troubles still persist

admin /22 May, 2009

Failure of BankUnited shows troubles persist

Damian Paletta and Joe Bel Bruno | May 22, 2009

Article from:  The Wall Street Journal

FEDERAL regulators seized today Florida’s BankUnited FSB, the biggest bank failure in the US this year and one the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation estimated will cost its weakened insurance fund $US4.9 billion ($6.3 billion).

BankUnited, whose holding company is BankUnited Financial Corporation, is the second-costliest bank failure of the financial crisis, trumped only by IndyMac, which failed in July at an estimated cost to the FDIC of about $US11 billion. BankUnited’s failure underscores how hard it is for weak banks to survive after years of bad bets on real estate.

The FDIC sold the company’s banking operations to a private-equity team headed by John Kanas, the former head of North Fork Bank. The bank’s 85 branches will reopen during normal business hours under the same name. BankUnited had $US12.8 billion of assets and $US8.6 billion in deposits, and regulators said it was critically undercapitalised.

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