photo credit: ManojVasanth
Renegade Economists Podcast
As broadcast on 3CR radio on Wed Dec 2nd
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Show Notes:
Havens for the Have’s: Dr Gregory Rawlings (Uni of Otago, NZ) discusses the history of Tax Havens and how the G20 reforms will effect them.
Make sure you read Dr Rawlings excellent piece on Laws, Liquidity and Eurobonds – The making of the Vanuatu Tax Haven
What began as a public squabble with the German government over records stolen from LGT has snowballed.
Last week, European finance ministers rallied behind Peer Steinbrück, their German colleague, and backed a crackdown on tax havens, claiming that some £77 billion in revenues was being lost by national governments each year.
Reserve Bank unfazed as housing prices keep rising
In a speech that amounted to a defence of Australia’s historically high house prices, Reserve Bank deputy governor Ric Battellino told a Melbourne housing conference yesterday to expect worse and to recognise that buyers were getting value for money.
Prices would climb further because the global economy was growing again and because Australia had entered ”a new upswing” that would extend its record 18 years of continuous economic expansion.
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‘Australians seem to spend less of their income on non-housing consumption than is the case for US households, with a significant part of this difference explained by lower health costs in Australia,” the deputy governor said.
Comment – but the Law of Rent sees landlords charging higher rents in Oz as they know we have the purchasing power.
Discount real estate
Louis Christopher from SQM Research has devised the “Home Discounts Report”, an internet tool that tracks houses that have been on the market for 60 days or more.
It is normally after 60 days that vendors start to panic if their properties have not been sold and they follow advice to lower their prices.
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There are 175,000 properties on the market right now. The home discounts report identifies 105,000 as potential bargains because they have been on sale for more than 60 days.
Music
Galactic Cadillac – Hermitude