Cracking the happiness code
Imagine holding in your hand a winning lottery ticket of $1 million. This is the ticket that will empower you to live out your dreams. You will be able to buy and do whatever you please. Life will be happy forever after. Or not? The quest for happiness reminds me of that song, “Somewhere Over…
Investor Signposts: Week Beginning December 21 2015
Savanth Sebastian – Economist – CommSec The final countdown · The cupboard is largely bare in terms of key domestic economic indicators or events until January 4. Still, the private sector credit or lending figures are released on New Year’s Eve. · In terms of private sector credit, lending…
How 1.5 became the most important number at the Paris climate talks
One of the final obstacles in the way of a binding agreement at the Paris climate talks comes down to a simple number: 1.5. Limiting warming to a 1.5? temperature rise above pre-industrial levels is one of three potential targets on the table as negotiations approach the crucial final days. The other options are a…
Australia still dragging its feet on climate change
Marc Hudson, University of Manchester A divided government firmly on the back foot ahead of a major climate conference, its green credentials shaky, and riven with bubbling tensions between those who want serious climate action and those resistant to it. Sound familiar? But the government I’m describing is not today’s version, but Bob Hawke’s federal…
Housing (and home loan) affordability … again
By Wealth Foundations The “experts” claim housing is as affordable as it was in the 1980’s … We have discussed housing affordability, either directly or indirectly, in a number of previous articles e.g. “Are Australian house prices too high?” of August 2012. Our view of almost three years ago was that housing prices then were…
Life in a windowless box: the vertical slums of Melbourne
Ralph Horne, RMIT University and Megan Nethercote, RMIT University Australia’s apartment boom is in full swing. Nationally, 40% of new dwellings are now apartments or units, and building approvals outnumber those for houses. Melbourne and Brisbane are the most extreme cases, but these trends are national; and they are fundamentally reshaping the future of urban…
You are your life, and nothing else
Existentialist philosophers teach us that we alone are responsible for creating a meaningful life in an absurd and unfair world. Standing on a cliff, a sense of disorientation and confusion cloud you. Not only are you afraid of falling, you also fear succumbing to the impulse of throwing yourself off. Nothing is holding you back….
Fortescue’s roster changes signal waning of the cashed-up FIFO era
Margaret Giles, Edith Cowan University Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group will change their rostering system in an effort to drive down their wages bill. It’s a move likely to be seen as good news by shareholders, and made as iron ore prices fall, demand for commodities softens, growth in China slows and as ratings…
The problems with relying on the bank of mum and dad
Mamiza Haq, The University of Queensland Ask a parent how far they would go to support the financial aspirations of their children, and chances are they will say: “Yes, if I had the money I would be happy to act as a guarantor for my children to purchase a property.” Australian capital city house prices…
Everyone Is Guessing When It Comes To Oil Prices
Predicting and diagnosing the trajectory of oil prices has become something of a cottage industry in the past year. But along with all of the excess crude flowing from the oil patch, there is also an abundance of market indicators that while important, tend to produce a lot of noise that makes any accurate estimate…
