Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My focus today is the re-emergence of China and India and its effect on Australia.

Why does aggro on the Arab street mean we pay more at the bowser? The answer might not be as clear cut as you think.

Batten down the hatches and strap yourself in; there's a super cycle a comin'.

Recent natural disasters in unnatural numbers have naturally left the global food chain unnaturally stretched.

As we survey the physical and emotional havoc wreaked by recent floods and cyclone, let's take a moment to consider the economic impacts.

Sorry folks, the pre-GFC halcyon days of low interest rates are gonski.

The peace and prosperity we've enjoyed since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 (and arguably since the end of WWII) is unparalleled. But like air, you'll only notice when it's gone. Having world-leading powers - Germany, Japan and the U.S. - all bonded by the mutual assurance of prosperity and peace will come to be seen as an historical oddity.

What a year, eh? It was bigger than China's GDP, crazier than Greece's meltdown, more fragile than America's recovery and angrier than the super profits tax fight.

Look in the mirror - see anything different? No, I'm not talking about wrinkles. The change is in what you're doing with your change. Yep, thanks to the shock and awe of the GFC you're saving more.

RBA Head Glen Stevens' is on the money with his recent suggestion that Australia put some of the proceeds of the resources boom into a prosperity fund for a rainy day.

How did Ireland suddenly go from the Celtic tiger to the Celtic basket case?

Are the banks just gouging scoundrels or is there something to this "funding costs" malarkey?

James Wolfensohn - not the 1950s Chicago blues legend - reckons Australia is missing the Asian boat and that the US will be stuffed for years.

Should Glen Stevens and the RBA board be stamping our interest rates "Made in China"? Me thinks so.

According to a new book the train has sailed and the ship has left the station. So batten down the hatched eggs and start counting cooks in the kitchen because an economic storm is going to spoil the broth.

No, it doesn't involve diggers in trenches hurling 20c pieces at Germans.

With so much talk about interest rates I thought it apt to take a look at some of the basics of the whole shebang.

It seems like just a few weeks ago that the dollar was sub USD 90c...hang on that WAS just a few weeks ago!!

For the years leading up to the financial crisis banks across the world had been progressively thinning out how much money they had up their sleeves for the day things turned ugly. As we know that ended predictably but last week the regulators finally struck back.

Hello readers and Selamat pagi. I've just returned from Indonesia where interest rates aren't the only way they keep inflation under wraps.

The political kafuffle and those pesky global jitters have seen the AUD come off the boil a tad. But for an export-dependent country like ours this isn't a bad thing.

Interest rates will stay steadyish until the end of the year when the economy picks up again and people start buying plasmas, doing those overdue renovations and generally consuming stuff.

With the US consumer crippled by debt and Europe going pear shaped, the Chinese have been looking for new markets. And they're finding them in their own backyard.

The Libs say the stimulus package only played a small role in getting us over the line and it was a dog's breakfast anyway. Labor points out that ours was the shortest and shallowest downturn in the industrialised world - end of argument. Whoever you support here's your script for this weekend's BBQ. (Sorry for not including the Greens.)

Sure China's going gangbusters, but the US still accounts for 25% of global output making it the world's largest economy by a country mile. So weakness there means weakness here. Capice?

What are we going to do when the music stops and we're forced to sit down on our carbon-fibre chairs and look for something to fill in the crater that was the great resources boom?

The long-awaited Cooper Review of our $1.3 trillion superannuation industry has come up with 177 recommendations to revolutionise how the whole game is managed. It also found that super bores most of us witless.

No it's got nothing to do with hanging money out to dry or even laundering it. Please let me explain.

Rarely does tax wield such as axe. But we're one PM down and will soon be picking another. Julia's new ballad to the tax man goes something like this.

Is it a bird, is it a plane? No it's a President, he spells of BO and he's taking an axe to Wall Street! Ya thoughts?

By 2050 25% of Australians will be over 65 and we'll have twice as many 80-year-olds. Are you ready to work until you're 100? Well are ya?

Europe going belly up affects us in many ways, some obvious, some not, but all form part of what's called contagion.

"bettystedman" posted this the other day. "There's a lot of use of the expression 'sovereign debt'. Would you please define it exactly? Thank you." No probs Betty, done and done!

I saw a really interesting interview on Lateline the other night with a guy who explained why he reckons GFC happened.

What happened?! One minute we're charging towards parity, next minute we're down like shot ducks. Well there's a string of reasons and they go something like this.

Right now Barrack Obama is turning his steely gaze to Wall Street. Specifically how to rein in the use of what are called derivatives and today I want to take a plain English gander at one derivative called a futures contract.

The RSPT has split the electorate and there are good arguments on both sides. Read on for the plain English version.

Unless you live in a cave with a Syrian hermit you will have heard of the Henry Tax Review. I've cherry-picked a few highlights with the Ubanker firmly in mind.

This week I thought we'd check out the latest quarterly NAB Business Confidence Survey to see how the patient is faring.

They were pivotal in bringing on the GFC and have surfaced as a powerful, mysterious force behind the European default jitters. But does anyone out there actually know what a credit default swap is? Read on for the plain English version.

Right now our economy needs antipsychotics. It's a babbling mess, unsure if it's Arthur or Martha.

What's the best way to deal with the current house price surge? Frankly I dunno but here are some cave drawings I prepared earlier.

Ever heard the saying 'don't put all your eggs in one tanker'? Probably not, as I just made it up, but the idea should be obvious enough.

THE GFC has changed how banks raise money. While this isn't great for borrowers it's boon time for savers.

The Aussie economic recovery is going so well that some are tipping Wayne may bring down a budget surplus next year instead of 2015 as previously forecast. Let's call it a Swan dive.

Last month saw a record 20% rise in the ANZ job ad index. The latest NAB business confidence survey figures are the highest they've been in eight years and retail spending is up. This latest round of data continues a dazzling turnaround for the Aussie economy that has taken us from fears of a bust to threats of a runaway boom. But alas there's a down side.

Last month saw a record 20% rise in the ANZ job ad index. The latest NAB business confidence survey figures are the highest they've been in eight years and retail spending is up. This latest round of data continues a dazzling turnaround for the Aussie economy that has taken us from fears of a bust to threats of a runaway boom. But alas there's a down side.

The profile of superannuation has increased dramatically in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). It is not merely a subject discussed by accountants, financial planners, government bodies or economists. Individuals now care about what happens to their super and freely discuss the impact of the GFC, fees and other issues associated with their retirement nest egg.

Hello UBankers (don't read that aloud too fast as it may sound like an insult). This week I will continue this blog's firm political stance on not having a firm political stance and take a gander at the ads and disads of the political football that is immigration. Tony kicks to Kev, Kev kicks to Tony...

Heard about the unfolding Big Fat Greek Meltdown yet? If not, may I suggest you read on because if it goes the way some are suggesting it could kickstart the second wave of the GFC. Yes that's right the second wave.

Hello Valentine's week lovers, it's the cupid of economics here fearlessly firing weekly arrows of love (mixed in with the odd one of despair) into the digital ether. In this Valentine's week I want to talk to you about your relationship. No not that one; it's the one you're rekindling with debt and spending that concerns me.

Despite the "smart" money plunging, hurtling, even careering behind a rate hike all week the RBA board has gone against the script and in doing so has proved every economist surveyed wrong. Perhaps John Kenneth Galbraith was right when he said "the purpose of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable".

As we launch into another trip around the sun I thought it appropriate to explore both the doom or zoom scenario for 2010. This blog will present the reasons why we won't have another recession in 2010 and next week I argue why we will. Meanwhile I'm off to see a movie with my split personality.

Please excuse me while I put on my horns, crank up the fires of Hades and assume the role of devil's advocate for a double dip in 2010 - folks, the recovery is an illusion David Copperfield would be proud of and 2010 will be a shocker.

To paraphrase Elton John in Son of Your Father circa 1970 bricks and mortar take blood and water . Indeed Elty is right. Buying a house takes a lot of work and while those galloping prices will slow a tad the trajectory for 2010 will, like Superman, continue to be up, up and away.

Now that you have recovered from your annual Christmas dose of family enmity I want to chat to you about moral hazard. And, no, this is not a sermon on your behaviour over the break; it's a finance term and it will be a big issue this year.

As they say get two economists in a room and you'll get ten different answers to the same question. But what the heck, it's the time of the year to gaze into the crystal ball, read the tea leaves and pore over the goat entrails to boldly predict what lies ahead for 2010.

What a difference a year makes. We started firmly astride the seven horses of the apocalypse galloping right into the belly of the beast where we sat frozen by what looked like the headlights of doom but turned out to be shards of sunlight blazing though the woods from which we are now emerging. In other words, the sky didn't fall in; it just passed quite close.

To parity and beyond! No this ain't Toy Story, it's the real world and it's great news for the great Aussie consumer who this Christmas will be piling those cheap imports under the Christmas tree, near the new stereo on top the Playstation resting on the new European designer table.

Tis the season to join the maddening hordes and shop. Don't complain; it's part of living in an industrialised western consumer society. Other advantages include rule of law, health care and reality TV. But you need a strategy and mine goes something like this.