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Showing 2611 - 2620 of 3072 results for "Benjamin"

Pain in Spain

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 13 MAY 2010
How do you say ouch in Spanish? They say money can buy happiness... but only if you have more than your neighbours. Or twisted to reflect the current environment of fiscal restraint -- Aussies still whinging at the absence of big give-away door prizes ...

Do nothing budget

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 12 MAY 2010
"Those looking for a big spending pre-election budget won't find one." This is what Australian Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan told Parliament on Budget night. And he wasn't kidding. Sure there were a few government giveaways... a few takes, but compared ...

Trillion dollar kitchen sink

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 11 MAY 2010
In the words of Coney Francis, "Who's sorry now?" "I tried to warn you somehow You had your way Who's sorry now..." Shocked and awed. Yes, Virginia, this was how speculators felt when they were forced to cover their short positions after the European ...

Feeding the fear

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 10 MAY 2010
Feeding the fear. Times like these, it's not so difficult to do. Just replace the word "Greece" with "global" in Greece sovereign crisis and what do you have? You have Global Sovereign Crisis and the attendant panic and volatility in the financial markets ...

Death by algorithm

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 7 MAY 2010
What does it take to wipe out more than US$1,000,000,000,000 on Wall Street? Punching "B" instead of "M" on your keyboard. Panic set on Wall Street overnight as the Dow went into a freefall to record its worst ever intra-day drop of 998.5 points. Was ...

Global Sovereign Crisis

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 6 MAY 2010
How do you solve a problem like Athena? The bears are slowly coming back from the woodworks as the vigilantes of the bond market train their crosshairs from Greece to other Eurozone countries. And we're all getting caught in the crossfire. Is that doom ...

Sell in May

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 5 MAY 2010
"Sell in May then go away." It has to happen this month, doesn't it? Every time the fifth moon of the year is upon us, theories, studies and reports proving or disproving this quotation come a-visiting. By merely stating this observation, I guess I ...

Too clever by half

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 4 MAY 2010
Thanks but no thanks! This is the Australian financial markets response to the government's response to the Henry Tax Review. BHP and RIO and other profitable miners are up in arms over Krudd's proposed 40 per cent tax on their "super profits." Investors ...

Simple tax is too taxing

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 3 MAY 2010
If I didn't know better, I would think that the Australian Treasury Secretary's name is Henry Review instead of Dr. Ken Henry. Look around you...pick up a paper...click on a mouse, and you're sure to find Dr. Ken Henry Tax Review splattered across the ...

Too much ado about Greece

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 30 APR 2010
So what was the hulaballoo of the past two days all about? It's now looking like too much ado about Greece, and Portugal, and Spain, and... Smokin'! What worries me more is the 25 per cent increase in tobacco tax by Krudd and the Reserve Bank of Australia ...