The unprecedented spending in the budget is both unavoidable and necessary. But it is building a debt mountain that will have to be climbed and is all based on the absolutely critical assumption that we get an effective vaccine, writes Terry McCrann.
As predicted, the RBA has kept the official interest rate unchanged and is now very likely to deliver a ‘rate cut plus’ on Cup Day, writes Terry McCrann.
Federal government spending this year will be around 34 per cent of GDP. No previous treasurer has got remotely close to that before. But the big cash splash is a no-brainer for two reasons, writes Terry McCrann.
The real surprise in Josh Frydenberg’s second budget on Tuesday will be that a treasurer who was only going to have surpluses will now own the biggest deficit — something north of $200 billion, writes Terry McCrann.
Almost one in ten Australians remained jobless in September, despite most of the economy outside Victoria starting to open up. And while the data is trending downwards, one expert says it may actually be bad news for the country’s post-virus recovery.
The Prime Minister’s $1.5b manufacturing plan is a pointless joke. We’ve already traded away our key global advantage — cheap coal-fired electricity, writes Terry McCrann.
When it comes to the NBN, policy dictates we have to totally embrace the technology of the 21st century. Yet with electricity we are told we must go back to windmills or the sun. It’s time for some reality, writes Terry McCrann.
Premier Daniel Andrews’ decision to remove the curfew restriction for Victorians was the single most useless thing he could change — with zero benefit to the virus fight or to jobs and the survival of tens of thousands of businesses, writes Terry McCrann.
Next week’s federal budget is being held hostage by an incompetent and dictatorial Victorian premier, writes Terry McCrann.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has unveiled two very big and significant moves aimed directly at helping the economy, small businesses and individuals get through the present crisis. But have not doubt there are some risks in these reforms, writes Terry McCrann.
Both CBA and Westpac were caught cold breaking the law and the penalties were appropriate but why did nobody at Austrac even think of asking what was happening? Now it gets to “bury” its incompetence in multibillion-dollar settlements, writes Terry McCrann.
Westpac’s chief economist Bill Evans has joined NAB’s Alan Oster in predicting a rate cut from the Reserve Bank at its next meeting Tuesday week. But there is no good reason for the RBA to make any cuts, writes Terry McCrann.
Unless and until Victoria — one-quarter of the national economy, to say nothing of 6.5 million individuals — is released from home imprisonment, the national economy can’t get back to healthy activity, writes Terry McCrann.
The NBN has just come through the most extreme ‘stress test’ anyone could have been imagined and it came through spectacularly. And now customers are going to be the big winners, writes Terry McCrann.
Harvey Norman’s results show JobKeeper and JobSeeker have worked spectacularly well. As taxpayer handouts are wound back, JobSeeker should not be cut to pre-virus rates, writes Terry McCrann.
Thanks to Victoria’s Lockdown, one state is keeping both itself and the nation locked in the worst recession in nearly 100 years, writes Terry McCrann.
The “fake” jobless numbers from the ABS weren’t good news, unless you define good as being anywhere better than dreadful, writes Terry McCrann.
Back in June, Britain was the poster child for the “coal-free” power generation. But, the brave new UK coal-free future lasted less than a week, writes Terry McCrann.
Our denial of coal as the first-best solution to Australia’s energy troubles is madness, when it provides cheap, reliable and plentiful electricity, writes Terry McCrann.
There’s a whole raft of reasons Scott Morrison’s ‘commitment’ to a new major gas-fired power station is laughable, writes Terry McCrann.
No one will shed a tear over the sacking of the Rio chief who presided over the blowing up of an Indigenous heritage site and the chair should go too, writes Terry McCrann.
The government’s $3 billion so-called “Business Survival and Adaptation Package” was the absolute bare minimum that could be done to keep alive the businesses and jobs our incompetent Premier has destroyed. To call it a Band-Aid solution would be generous, writes Terry McCrann.
Two years on from the royal commission it seems the banks have learnt nothing with the release of their latest ‘innovation’ in credit cards. Despite promises of no interest and no annual fees, here’s why you shouldn’t be fooled, writes Terry McCrann.
The bromance between Myer’s biggest shareholder Solomon Lew and its imported CEO, John King, is well and truly over, writes Terry McCrann.
Daniel Andrews’ handling of the coronavirus pandemic is not just a literally existential problem for 6.5 million Victorians — it is a very serious problem for the entire nation, writes Terry McCrann.
Removing Daniel Andrews as Victorian Premier is about holding to account a leader who has presided over the worst public policy catastrophe in modern Australian history. And it’s crucial we choose the right replacement, writes Terry McCrann.
The relaunch of Virgin 2.0 is built on halving the size of the fleet and basically giving the leased aircraft and parts back to their investor-owners. But this will come at a significant cost, writes Terry McCrann.
Sunday’s announcement of an extension to Victoria’s lockdown was all about incompetent government — and Daniel Andrews must walk, writes Terry McCrann.
Victorian businesses have got the certainty some of their representatives have demanded. It is the certainty of devastation and not just in hospitality, retail and tourism, writes Terry McCrann.
Never before has the government ordered the economy into recession; ordered businesses to close, ordered people to lose their jobs — and while they did it with the best intentions, now they must order us out of this mess, writes Terry McCrann.
Whether Paul Keating and Kevin Rudd, are correct demanding super contributions rise to 12 per cent, they certainly are on the right side of politics because to abandon this would be political suicide, writes Terry McCrann.
The government ordered us into this recession and it is entirely within their power to order us out. What happens next is up to Victoria, writes Terry McCrann.
When Australia plunged into recession in the June quarter the brutal reality of businesses shuttering and workers losing jobs was like nothing we had ever experienced. Now one thing will limit how far and how quickly the nation snaps back, writes Terry McCrann.
On Tuesday we saw a current account surplus number of $36bn for the financial year. The last time we saw a surplus was back in 1973, which makes these numbers extraordinary, writes Terry McCrann.
IOOF’s funding of its acquisition of MLC is a rip-off of retail shareholders sanctioned by ASIC and ASX, writes Terry McCrann.
We’ve never before seen governments ordering the destruction of businesses and jobs, right across the economy, like we have during this pandemic. Now the only thing clear for investors is that there is no “safe harbour” on the other side, writes Terry McCrann.
How dare the WA government, with implied approval from the federal government, legislate to deny Clive Palmer his right to seek and win damages against the state of Western Australia, writes Terry McCrann.
The Melbourne-Sydney route – the third busiest in the entire world, when of course the planes are flying – is absolutely pivotal to the survival of Virgin 2.0, writes Terry McCrann.
The administrators of failed airline Virgin have finally revealed the most closely guarded secret in downunder business, and it’s not good news for everybody, writes Terry McCrann.
BHP and Rio are bigger and older, but only Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue, with its lower-grade ore, has turned this time of recession into a handsome profit, writes Terry McCrann.
One single American company is now worth 50 per cent more than the entire value of all the shares of all the companies listed on our market, proving our future belongs to tech, writes Terry McCrann.
Alan Joyce and the Qantas frequent flyer program are the reason the airline will thrive and make the future of a rebooted Virgin Australia questionable, writes Terry McCrann.
Our four big banks are so similar. They have the same business profiles. They charge (and pay) the same interest rates. And they make the same mistakes, writes Terry McCrann.
BHP’s results have been shaped completely by the forces unleashed by the coronavirus and the mandatory government-ordered lockdowns, writes Terry McCrann.
Virgin Australia’s administrator has let slip in court that the airline’s sale is a done deal and can’t be undone. So it beggars belief he won’t reveal the details, writes Terry McCrann.
Many Australians have cut their superannuation balance down to zero and will essentially never get anywhere near a balance sufficient to replace the pension. Now the Prime Minister is hinting at stopping contributions at 9.5 per cent, so it’s time for us to have a real discussion about our super system, writes Terry McCrann.
The Victorian government said the state was heading for 20,000 new coronavirus cases a day — far more than than the peak of 1100 forecast in other modelling. So who to believe, asks Terry McCrann.
ABS data says the jobless rate was just 7.5 per cent in the first two weeks of July; Roy Morgan’s figure was 12.5 per cent through July. But the real figure was actually closer to 16.5 per cent, writes Terry McCrann.
Right now Australia’s Commonwealth Bank is quite probably the most profitable big bank in the entire world. Terry McCrann explains why.
Queensland billionaire Clive Palmer has sued the WA Government for a purported $28bn. In an outrageous abuse of power, its response is to legislate to prohibit him from winning, writes Terry McCrann.
Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/business/terry-mccrann/page/16