Business Spectator

Business Spectator was a business news site dedicated to offering readers the most up-to-date market news along with insightful commentary from some of Australia’s most respected journalists. It was integrated into The Australian newspaper in April 2016.

Business Spectator

Don’t put Germany on the economic axis of evil

07/11/2013
Perhaps the next time the US government wants to criticise some European governments for poor economic policies, they could turn their attention to the least competitive ones instead. And the next time the US Treasury submits a report on international currency manipulation, maybe they could have a closer look at what the US Fed is doing. The cause of the problems may be closer to Washington than to Berlin.

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Business Spectator

I spy the demise of the ‘Old West’ alliance

31/10/2013
In the coming months and years, President Obama and his administration will have a lot of work to do if they want to restore trust with their European partners. And they will have to show even more commitment to make them believe they could be friends.

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Business Spectator

Big government makes Europe a no-grow zone

24/10/2013
Stopping the absolute growth of government debt, let alone repaying it, is illusory. Therefore the alternative must be to grow the denominator in the debt to GDP ratio. This would at least allow the eurozone to leave its acute debt problems behind by growing out of them.

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Business Spectator

David Cameron, a Tory reborn

10/10/2013
The next UK election will be about what kind of country Britain wants to be: a country of business or a redistributionist welfare state? Who would have thought David Cameron would ever put this question to the electorate?

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Business Spectator

Political risks will deepen eurozone woes

03/10/2013
At a time when many observers were expecting the next steps in the euro crisis such as the establishment of a ‘banking union’ and the next packages for Greece, Cyprus and Portugal, the political situation has become more complicated.

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Business Spectator

Merkel’s victory will blunt her sword

26/09/2013
There may come a day in the not too distant future when Merkel will rue the day she failed to resuscitate her moribund liberal coalition partner. The rest of Europe, however, can relax. Triumphant Merkel is not nearly as powerful as she now seems.

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Business Spectator

A grey outlook on Europe’s pension reform

19/09/2013
France and Spain give us a taste of what is to come in Europe in the coming decades. What comes across as a relatively theoretical exercise concerning pension levels in the distant future will become a reality within the next ten to twenty years — and not just in these two countries.

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Business Spectator

Merkel, and the end of an ‘ever closer’ EU

12/09/2013
Most followers of the euro crisis agree that the German elections, to be held on September 22, will be a watershed moment. Everything that had been put on hold in the crisis will finally be allowed to happen once Angela Merkel has been returned to power.

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Business Spectator

Beat as, bro! Now New Zealand is more competitive

05/09/2013
Australia and New Zealand: They have been going in different directions for the past five or six years. It will be interesting to see in which direction Australia opts to go on Saturday, and where Australia will be in next year’s competitiveness index.

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