Feature Stories

The technology exists to convert coal into oil. It’s not cheap, and requires the crude oil price to exceed about US$50/bbl for the sake of economic viability. Experts have largely given up on seeing that price again in the near future, if ever. And while the world still has plenty of coal, it may not have a lot more oil.

As the US has become the debtor to the world, faith has been lost in the US dollar as a safe haven. The world has turned to hard commodities as investment assets, and gold is primary amongst them. Further fuelling gold’s inevitable rise is one of the greatest marketing ploys in history – the exchange traded fund.

How to Invest in a Brave New World: The series wraps up with the question most pertinent to today’s investment community.

Global Enterprise: Platform companies do not need capital, which is why markets have adjusted to new levels of valuation. When companies and individuals choose to no longer pay tax, the entire Welfare State is in danger.

Blog hysteria is the best way to describe the fear mongering surrounding the yen carry trade and its anticipated demise. What is the yen carry trade, and is the hyperbole at all justified?

If theory matches reality local internet companies should be in for a few years of strong growth. Unfortunately, most will remain under the radar of local securities analysts.

As Australians move more and more away from large pooled super funds into directly managing their own share portfolios, many products have evolved to streamline the process and exploit market expertise. Direct share investment is a fast growing industry.

Redistribution of Employment: Indian call centres are the bane of many in the Western world, but more importantly they represent a loss of local jobs to offshore sources. Aren’t jobs disappearing for those of us left, accelerating income disparity?

Misconceptions: A housing bubble? A current account disaster? The bears are out of date in the new world of the platform company. This time things are different.

Volatility: The rich get richer as the platform company economies export the volatility of wages, employment and profits to the developing world.