The 10 Biggest Energy Company Bankruptcies
Running a multi-billion dollar energy company isn’t easy. Just ask the executives in the corner suites of some of the energy companies that have gone bust over the years. Some, like Enron, were brought down because of insider malfeasance. A few, like ATP, blamed damaging government policies, while others went off the rails due to…
Losing ourselves to technology
Millie’s vision became blurred and then she lost consciousness. Stressed and overworked, she took two weeks off, booked herself into a retreat, and slowly regained a sense of what she thought she’d lost. She’d been nothing more than an information processor for ten years. Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan realised 30 years before the emergence of…
There’s more to personality than a test score
By Luke Smillie, University of Melbourne Have you ever completed a personality test and felt dissatisfied with your scores? Maybe you’ve quibbled with the low score you received on extroversion – a personality trait reflecting outgoing and gregarious behaviour. Well, fine, you’re not a party animal, but when you are out with your friends you…
What is and isn’t a ‘sovereign risk’
By Margaret McKenzie, Deakin University The use of the term “sovereign risk” by Trade Minister Andrew Robb to describe the federal budget stalling in the senate shows just how fast and loosely the term has come to be used. But to whom is the risk? Who would bear the cost of the downside? What caused…
Social media and the loss of ideals
Sum yourself up in a couple of words. Users of social media do it to introduce themselves online. “Surfer, father, writer, film director.” “Yogi, vego, humanitarian.” “Banker, golfer, traveller.” You’re unlikely to see someone list their personal ideals, the goals to which they strive, or the principles that govern their behaviour – “Integrity, Love of…
Renewed interest in gold
The gold stocks are almost certainly in the early stages of a major new upleg. Given the widespread apathy and antipathy still plaguing this beaten-down sector, that’s hard for most traders to swallow. But the gold stocks’ performance this year has already been outstanding. And heading into gold’s strong season, their gains should only accelerate. …
The B20 summit: where cashed-up lobbyists meet to write trade rules
By Remy Davison, Monash University The Business 20 (B20) summit typically attracts the global corporate glitterati, as the usual suspects assemble in alpine retreats like Davos; cinema-infused beach towns like Cannes; or sunny Mexican resorts, such as Los Cabos. Except this year. The G20 will meet in Brisbane. Yes, Brisbane. It’s no surprise, then, that…
Why growth can’t continue indefinitely
In today’s world, we have a huge amount of debt outstanding. Academic researchers Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff have become famous for their book This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly and their earlier paper This Time is Different: A Panoramic View of Eight Centuries of Financial Crises. Their point, of course, is…
Warm countries to dominate the world economy as energy prices rise
The story of energy and the economy seems to be an obvious common sense one: some sources of energy are becoming scarce or overly polluting, so we need to develop new ones. The new ones may be more expensive, but the world will adapt. Prices will rise and people will learn to do more with…
Is the LNG Boom on Life Support?
Australian investors in LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) stocks hoping to cash in on the alleged “golden age of gas” got a little worried when Russian natural gas behemoth Gazprom signed a 30 year deal to pipe gas into China. The deal is valued at around $400 billion and the worry for our LNG exports is…
