http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/money/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/interest-rate-barney-barely-even-rates-as-interest/ Stop all the cheering, cut off the champagne. Prevent the pollies from barking and silence the drums. The piddling interest rate cut didn’t even happen. Today’s widely expected drop of 25 basis points was the catalyst for plenty of chest beating. Treasurer Wayne Swan tried to unleash righteous fury, the banks tried to cry poor, the unions said the banks are squeezing ordinary Australians, and not in a good way. Nothing happened. The Reserve Bank of Australia decided to keep the cash rate steady. But was all the hullabaloo justified in the first place? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/interest-rate-barney-barely-even-rates-as-interest/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/interest-rate-barney-barely-even-rates-as-interest/#item7700 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 You can’t blame Hope Rinehart for trying to get her Mum to pay for a cook, a housekeeper and a bodyguard. Optimism isn’t even her middle name - it’s right up there. And who among us wouldn’t have a fairly ambitious birthday wish list if Mum was the richest person in Australia? So Hope asked Mum for a cook (AND showed her willingness to negotiate by including a salary ranging from $40,000 to $225,000+ which means she’d presumably gun for Jamie Oliver but be happy with a Subway “sandwich artist”).  http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-rinehart-whine-came-straight-from-the-heart/ You can’t blame Hope Rinehart for trying to get her Mum to pay for a cook, a housekeeper and a bodyguard. Optimism isn’t even her middle name - it’s right up there. And who among us wouldn’t have a fairly ambitious birthday wish list if Mum was the richest person in Australia? So Hope asked Mum for a cook (AND showed her willingness to negotiate by including a salary ranging from $40,000 to $225,000+ which means she’d presumably gun for Jamie Oliver but be happy with a Subway “sandwich artist”).  feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-rinehart-whine-came-straight-from-the-heart/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-rinehart-whine-came-straight-from-the-heart/#item7682 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 You can’t blame Hope Rinehart for trying to get her Mum to pay for a cook, a housekeeper and a bodyguard. Optimism isn’t even her middle name - it’s right up there. And who among us wouldn’t have a fairly ambitious birthday wish list if Mum was the richest person in Australia? So Hope asked Mum for a cook (AND showed her willingness to negotiate by including a salary ranging from $40,000 to $225,000+ which means she’d presumably gun for Jamie Oliver but be happy with a Subway “sandwich artist”).  http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/grey-nomads-choosing-bordeaux-over-play-doh/ She checks what the time is in their far-flung time zone and then looks into the distance. It is so long since they have been back in this city, back at home. What exotic locale are they exploring today? Who are they spending time with? Are they safe?  These could well be the musings of a parent surveying a nest emptied of backpacking children. But they are in fact the reflections of a child, a middle-aged child left in the wake of the fastest growing class of traveller – The Silver Mobility.  The Silver Mobility are superannuated, silver-haired (underneath) and they’ve got very itchy feet.  It’s not only pneumonia that hits seniors hardest - wanderlust is just as bad.  The Silver Mobility sweated it out for over 40 years. They sent more of us than ever to private schools, supported more of us than ever through tertiary education, funded unprecedented material comfort, and then they waited for us to move out. And then they waited some more for the ones that moved out, and then moved back, to move out again. But finally, we’re gone. Which means it’s time to dust off the suitcase, fill a few prescriptions for Brufen and Lipitor and get the hell out of there. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/grey-nomads-choosing-bordeaux-over-play-doh/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/grey-nomads-choosing-bordeaux-over-play-doh/#item7207 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 You can’t blame Hope Rinehart for trying to get her Mum to pay for a cook, a housekeeper and a bodyguard. Optimism isn’t even her middle name - it’s right up there. And who among us wouldn’t have a fairly ambitious birthday wish list if Mum was the richest person in Australia? So Hope asked Mum for a cook (AND showed her willingness to negotiate by including a salary ranging from $40,000 to $225,000+ which means she’d presumably gun for Jamie Oliver but be happy with a Subway “sandwich artist”).  http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-well-deserved-pay-rise-for-these-upstanding-citizens/ Just when we thought that politics had started its summer holidays, and the “big questions” were put aside for a while, the Remuneration Tribunal released its report on Commonwealth parliamentary salaries and entitlements. The public reaction was immediate, and in the overwhelming majority, intensely negative. The cause of the anger was the proposal to lift the basic salary of a member of parliament from $141,000 to $185,000 per year. The Tribunal provided its justification: the need to “remunerate them sufficiently so as to attract and retain men and women of appropriate capacity”. No argument about the aim. We would all like our representatives to have the “appropriate capacity” to serve us. Currently many people who would be good parliamentarians could not tolerate the party apprenticeship demanded to win pre-selection, especially for a safe seat. In the Labor party, the gene pool of “capacity” seems increasingly restricted to those showing dedicated service to the party, a union and/or faction, and often service as a ministerial minder. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-well-deserved-pay-rise-for-these-upstanding-citizens/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-well-deserved-pay-rise-for-these-upstanding-citizens/#item7426 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 You can’t blame Hope Rinehart for trying to get her Mum to pay for a cook, a housekeeper and a bodyguard. Optimism isn’t even her middle name - it’s right up there. And who among us wouldn’t have a fairly ambitious birthday wish list if Mum was the richest person in Australia? So Hope asked Mum for a cook (AND showed her willingness to negotiate by including a salary ranging from $40,000 to $225,000+ which means she’d presumably gun for Jamie Oliver but be happy with a Subway “sandwich artist”).  http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-qa-whats-happening-to-our-markets/ Global financial markets are going completely bananas. Again.  Financial experts worldwide are calling on leaders for some direct action to bring certainty to the struggling Greek and southern European economies. So what does all this mean for us? Australian treasurer Wayne Swan has described it as a dangerous new phase, while other economists have urged the RBA to take immediate action to avoid being caught up in the recessionary sweep. Eager to find out what all that actually means, The Punch asked Saul Eslake, senior economist at the Grattan Institute to give us the low down. 1. How much could the current crisis affect Australia? How worried should we be? The current ‘crisis’ reflects (first) the increasing likelihood (as markets see it) that Greece will default on its debts, resulting in losses that may render some banks who hold large amounts of Greek government debt insolvent, and that in the aftermath of a Greek default other countries (Portugal, perhaps Spain or even Italy, the latter two being much larger than Greece) will be more likely to default; and (second) the increasing likelihood that Europe and/or the US may slip into a second recession, in which case governments and central banks would have very little capacity to respond in the normal way (by cutting interest rates or doing fiscal stimulus). feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-qa-whats-happening-to-our-markets/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-qa-whats-happening-to-our-markets/#item6796 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 You can’t blame Hope Rinehart for trying to get her Mum to pay for a cook, a housekeeper and a bodyguard. Optimism isn’t even her middle name - it’s right up there. And who among us wouldn’t have a fairly ambitious birthday wish list if Mum was the richest person in Australia? So Hope asked Mum for a cook (AND showed her willingness to negotiate by including a salary ranging from $40,000 to $225,000+ which means she’d presumably gun for Jamie Oliver but be happy with a Subway “sandwich artist”).  http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dick-smith-takes-a-sledgehammer-to-the-mega-rich/ Dick Smith, the former electronics giant, is a household name, an Australian icon. A former Australian of the Year, he was awarded an Order of Australia in 1999 “as a benefactor to charitable organisations”. By any measure, he has earned the right to vent his opinion in public. His recent argument in favour of naming and shaming Australia’s mega-rich who do not give philanthropy garnered headlines nationwide and would have raised eyebrows – and probably voices – at the top end of town. But we should be grateful for his candour. Few people have such courage, fortitude and leadership. And whether you loved or loathed his comments, he has done an important service in kick-starting a critically important conversation. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dick-smith-takes-a-sledgehammer-to-the-mega-rich/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dick-smith-takes-a-sledgehammer-to-the-mega-rich/#item6781 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 You can’t blame Hope Rinehart for trying to get her Mum to pay for a cook, a housekeeper and a bodyguard. Optimism isn’t even her middle name - it’s right up there. And who among us wouldn’t have a fairly ambitious birthday wish list if Mum was the richest person in Australia? So Hope asked Mum for a cook (AND showed her willingness to negotiate by including a salary ranging from $40,000 to $225,000+ which means she’d presumably gun for Jamie Oliver but be happy with a Subway “sandwich artist”).  http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/were-never-happy-no-matter-how-much-we-earn/ You can list things that “satisfy” on one hand. Snickers bars, finishing a crossword, running a half-marathon after months of training. Your first drink on a Friday afternoon, weekends… But no matter who you are, and what you earn, “salary” will never fall into this category. Money in the hand, is by definition, money to burn; and for this reason, you can never earn enough. Strange then, that researchers at the Household Income and Labour Dynamics Association think it’s perfectly reasonable to have come up with a figure that suggests otherwise. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/were-never-happy-no-matter-how-much-we-earn/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/were-never-happy-no-matter-how-much-we-earn/#item6139 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 You can’t blame Hope Rinehart for trying to get her Mum to pay for a cook, a housekeeper and a bodyguard. Optimism isn’t even her middle name - it’s right up there. And who among us wouldn’t have a fairly ambitious birthday wish list if Mum was the richest person in Australia? So Hope asked Mum for a cook (AND showed her willingness to negotiate by including a salary ranging from $40,000 to $225,000+ which means she’d presumably gun for Jamie Oliver but be happy with a Subway “sandwich artist”).  http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/hairs-how-to-raise-more-money/ Asking people to do anything is tough. Asking them to give you money is even harder. Yet that’s what charity and social cause organisations have to do every day. Nearly all of their advertising focuses on one of two ways to unlock peoples’ wallets to raise money. It’s either: 1) A rational message: Providing statistics that show how important the charity is, and how large the task at hand is. For example, how many lives are at risk, how many people have died, how many degrees the earth has warmed up and so on. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/hairs-how-to-raise-more-money/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/hairs-how-to-raise-more-money/#item6099 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 You can’t blame Hope Rinehart for trying to get her Mum to pay for a cook, a housekeeper and a bodyguard. Optimism isn’t even her middle name - it’s right up there. And who among us wouldn’t have a fairly ambitious birthday wish list if Mum was the richest person in Australia? So Hope asked Mum for a cook (AND showed her willingness to negotiate by including a salary ranging from $40,000 to $225,000+ which means she’d presumably gun for Jamie Oliver but be happy with a Subway “sandwich artist”).  http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/robbing-your-guests-and-other-modern-wedding-tips/ When former Sydney real estate agent Mary Donaldson married Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik in 2004, one of the couple’s first, big post-honeymoon tasks was to sort through the monster pile of wedding gifts. Apparently their haul included five cars (including a stretch limousine and a Saab convertible), a $200,000 yacht, six bicycles, a row boat, two Harley-Davidson motorcycle jackets, a traditional sealskin outfit from Greenland, 93 ceramic badges, a $3 million crockery set, a handcrafted Iranian rug, a miniature lounge suite for a royal baby, and a 120-kilogram stone swan. In addition to the 37,000 gifts sent by Danish subjects, offerings from Australia included an anthology of Tasmanian love poems (from a writing centre), a stand of trees (from the government) and a hamper of Tim Tams (from Arnott’s). feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/robbing-your-guests-and-other-modern-wedding-tips/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/robbing-your-guests-and-other-modern-wedding-tips/#item5680 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 You can’t blame Hope Rinehart for trying to get her Mum to pay for a cook, a housekeeper and a bodyguard. Optimism isn’t even her middle name - it’s right up there. And who among us wouldn’t have a fairly ambitious birthday wish list if Mum was the richest person in Australia? So Hope asked Mum for a cook (AND showed her willingness to negotiate by including a salary ranging from $40,000 to $225,000+ which means she’d presumably gun for Jamie Oliver but be happy with a Subway “sandwich artist”).  http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/financial-responsibility-can-reward-when-disaster-strikes/ My wife and I came from traditional working class backgrounds and single income families. We are now considered middle class as we live in our own home, we own a newish car and enjoy a comfortable lifestyle because we have worked hard and saved for the future.  Our home, car and assets are insured and we have managed our finances carefully in order to access such benefits as private health insurance. In the current economic climate we are regarded as “haves” but we seem despised by some elements of the community who consider themselves the “have nots” American pollster John Zogby sees a growing number of the community falling into the “have not” category. He calls them the “Dreamless Dead” being those who no longer believe in the existence of hard work to achieve success in life. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/financial-responsibility-can-reward-when-disaster-strikes/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/financial-responsibility-can-reward-when-disaster-strikes/#item5686 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 You can’t blame Hope Rinehart for trying to get her Mum to pay for a cook, a housekeeper and a bodyguard. Optimism isn’t even her middle name - it’s right up there. And who among us wouldn’t have a fairly ambitious birthday wish list if Mum was the richest person in Australia? So Hope asked Mum for a cook (AND showed her willingness to negotiate by including a salary ranging from $40,000 to $225,000+ which means she’d presumably gun for Jamie Oliver but be happy with a Subway “sandwich artist”).