Issue 2010 February 20
Browse Articles
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS: In the global power shift, whither Australia?
For two centuries, the world’s dominant powers, first the United Kingdom, then the United States and its Western alliance, gave the world democracy, human rights and a market economic system.However, as world economic power began to shift from the West to the East, James F. Hoge Jnr, editor of the distinguished Foreign Affairs journal (published by the US Council on Foreign Relations), warned:…
FOREIGN DEBT: The unacknowledged elephant in the room
Australia’s huge net foreign debt leaves our banks vulnerable to further shocks, following the Commonwealth Government’s end to the guarantee it gave to banks borrowing in the international financial markets.In October 2008, the Rudd Government provided the banks a guarantee on borrowing in the international financial markets, which helped banks access credit following the global financial crisis.Arguably, Australia’s banks were among the safest…
