Alan Kohler is one of Australia’s most experienced commentators and journalists. Alan is the founder of Eureka Report, Australia’s most successful investment newsletter, and Business Spectator, a 24-hour free business news and commentary website. He also hosts Inside Business, a half-hour Sunday programme on the ABC, is the finance presenter on the ABC News - and producer of the nightly graph (or two).
In this week's essential reading guide Bartholomeusz predicts a Ford domino effect, Koukoulas runs the ruler over Australia's economy, Burgess foresees a carbon flip and Irvine surveys a Bernanke brainwave.
There is room for reform at the nation's tax office but Joe Hockey's proposal to knock tax administration and policing into place could be counterproductive.
In this week's essential reading guide Bartholomeusz predicts a Ford domino effect, Koukoulas runs the ruler over Australia's economy, Burgess foresees a carbon flip and Irvine surveys a Bernanke brainwave.
There is room for reform at the nation's tax office but Joe Hockey's proposal to knock tax administration and policing into place could be counterproductive.
In the ultra-fluid technology sector, many an acquisition shock has paid off – and vice versa. Yahoo's big cheque for Tumblr isn’t the only deal that may be judged differently in hindsight.
The cloud ERP vendor is starting to move up the software as a service food chain but it will have to surmount a few hurdles before its ready for big time.
The Solar 2013 conference in Melbourne carries the theme of an industry trying to prevent a possible race to the bottom, where weaker firms damage the industry in compromising quality for price.
The reverberations from the Newman government’s bulldozing of Queensland’s vegetation protection laws will be felt in Canberra, with the Coalition's Direct Action plan now at risk of a $1 billion budget blow-out.
CEOs outline changing views on corporate spending and profits, their economic expectations and political dissatisfaction, including advice for Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott.
UK-based Zeebox wants to be the intermediary for all social media-television interactions. It will not only have to lure viewers, but the networks themselves.
Whether shares continue to rise has much to do with new technology and innovation. For Ben Bernanke, we may still be in the early days of IT revolution.
Tony Abbott’s budget reply showed the Opposition leader changing tack at the right time, from negative strategy to a more ‘adult’, consultative attitude.
The federal budget lock-up is a strange place where 'parameter variations' are king and phoneless journalists fight over warm sushi and moneyed cliches.
A surplus in the forward estimates will be the centerpiece of this year’s budget, because the alternative, in the long-term, would be even more painful for Labor.
Either low interest rates are already working or monetary policy is broken. It's decision time for the Reserve Bank and its next move will have huge implications.
Lending more is far from the only response Europe’s banks could take to negative interest rates. They could equally hoard paper, or pass the cost of negative rates on to customers.
GST hikes are the Lord Voldemort of tax reform – seen by many as too awful to mention. But they’re the smartest option for any government that wants to get serious about the budget.
It's high time European leaders acknowledge they are slipping from recession into a depression. It may be the jolt required to tackle the issues that got them here for once and all.
A budget storm is brewing. The mining boom is winding down and Australians will have to pay back what they were given in personal tax cuts, stimulus cheques, one-off bonuses and household compensation.
New research has found several errors in Carmen Reinhard and Kenneth Rogoff’s theory of national growth and government debt, opening up a new wave of economic debate.
As the mining boom winds down and high nominal GDP growth falls behind us, Wayne Swan's sixth budget may well be a bloodbath. But the Labor Party's future rests on his efforts.
At three times the cost of the NBN, high-speed rail on Australia's eastern seaboard faces heavy opposition. But the long-term economics are compelling.
Margaret Thatcher's policies on deregulation, government spending and union power were hard for England to swallow. But the Iron Lady dragged down inflation, shaped a market-oriented era and inspired some great rock songs.
With Kevin Rudd’s support improved since February, he and his backers will skulk away to the back bench and wait for their next opportunity. As long as he's in parliament, Rudd remains alternative leader.
Between European decisions that have reignited the region's worst fears, and Labor leadership speculation at home, it looks as though the world has jumped back to 2010.
Australia's property market is rebounding but a structural shift in dwelling approvals towards apartments and away from detached houses will have serious implications for the industry.
Encouraging employment figures out of the US are boosting confidence but they mask a deeper issue in the job market — older workers, both in the US and Australia, are giving the game away.
You wouldn't know it from news reports, but a cyclical improvement in productivity growth appears to be underway. This sudden turnaround has been a long time in the making.
