Tim Treadgold

BHP Billiton's annual profit statement to be released next month could contain a pleasant surprise for shareholders, and a nasty surprise for Australia.

Empty shopfronts in some of Perth's high-profile retail strips are a sign of WA's wider economic malaise.

Architects have a saying about ‘less being more'. The mining industry has flipped that around with ‘more being less', as shown in this week's production reports and share prices of Fortescue Metals and BHP Billiton.

Retail, not mining, has borne the brunt of the slowdown in Western Australia during the past 12 months, with a study of the state's economy by the investment bank Goldman Sachs revealing a startling decline in retail jobs of more than 20 per cent.

A small batch of bauxite sent overseas for refining may signal the start of a much bigger play by Alcoa, which would have major consequences for WA's South West.

There is a range of reasons why bank shares have fallen lately, some from self-inflicted injuries and some due to a changing marketplace.

There is no prize for guessing that iron ore companies have plunged to the bottom of the resources component of this year's TSR survey; but what is interesting is the rise of uranium hopefuls, despite few signs of an imminent increase in the uranium price.

Qantas, the biggest ASX-listed company to make the top 100 using total shareholder returns as the yardstick, was also the biggest surprise, with the airline delivering an eye-catching one-year return for investors of 151 per cent.

Momentum is building for Alexium, after the award-winning tech developer initially struggled to find its feet.

It has been a tough year for WA's once-vaunted resources stocks, as our annual TSR survey reveals. Click through to see more on our Shareholder Returns feature.

To best understand what's gone wrong with Western Australia's iron ore industry you need to start by looking back 12 years, to 2003, when an ambitious Andrew Forrest created Fortescue Metals Group.

The sharks are circling Woolworths, but the size of the business would require suitors to make a significant investment – in cash and time.

Most investors have given up on iron ore, recognising it as a game that can only be played by the biggest mining companies.

July 1 will be little more than a date on a calendar for business, with only incremental change likely in the conditions that made 2014-15 such a grim year.

Tough times are not tough for everyone, it seems, when two recent events are considered

New resources opportunities will emerge in WA as older projects start to wind down production, or are closed.

The oil price recovery to more than $US60 a barrel appears to be accelerating one of the biggest corporate shuffles ever by a Western Australian company, with Seven Group getting ready to consolidate ownership of the oilfields of South Australia.

From power production to online shopping and even diamonds, disruptive technologies are shaking up business as we know it.

Sydney is not Australia. There, I've said it.

With signs of a downturn growing, the next question is: how do we get the economy back on track to growth?

If you think you're working harder to earn less then you're right, because that's one of the less pleasing aspects of Australia's latest economic health check.

If you're wondering why the outlook for iron ore remains grim despite last night's price rise to a three-month high of $US63.10 a tonne, it is partly because Western Australia's iron ore miners have a new competitor – themselves.

WA's economy needs to become more sophisticated if it is to take advantage of emerging opportunities along the Indian Ocean rim.

It should be clear by now to Andrew Forrest that his campaign for a political inquiry into the iron ore industry has done the company he runs, Fortescue Metals Group, more harm than good – and might even have stirred up trouble for another local billionaire, Gina Rinehart.

Those expecting the massive LNG projects under way in the north-west to ride to the WA economy's rescue may need to think again.

Western Australia's resources boom drove asset values too high, just as the bust is driving asset values too low; but to best understand that point it's worth taking a trip to Canada, where the sale of a machinery distributor contains an interesting message for Australian investors.

As smaller iron ore miners scramble to cut costs to deal with falling prices, another hurdle looms – customers' preference for quality.

Mathematically it's impossible, but in about 11 days Australian investors will discover whether one plus one can add up to more than two – because that's the day the son of BHP Billiton, South32, lists on the ASX.

Long-term low interest rates have added further complexity to the issue of superannuation and the aged pension.

Can interest rates rise and fall at the same time? They can if you're looking at different markets, because just as the Reserve Bank of Australia considers a fresh cut in its prime rate to try and boost the local economy, interest rates in other markets are starting to rise.

I've been taken for a ride twice in the past month. And while that personal experience might be of little interest to anyone else, it does throw some light on Perth's Uber versus taxi debate.

If wealth creation is not growing, tinkering with a broken tax system isn't going to achieve much.