Tim Treadgold

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.

It’s not easy finding a connection between a big Australian cattle company, an American business that makes jet engines, and the Western Australian government’s insurance arm, but if you look closely they’re all doing something at the same time – selling property.

Big retailers will be hoping the federal government puts most recommendations from the recent competition policy report in the too-hard basket.

“I don't know anybody that doesn’t minimise their tax”. With those words from 24 years ago, the current Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance is exposed for the nonsense it is.

Opportunistic local players are stepping up as foreign miners take their leave.

Andrew Forrest’s worst nightmare is that he will one day relive his painful experience with pioneering low-grade nickel ore processor Anaconda Nickel; so surely he must have suffered an ‘Anaconda moment’ when the iron ore price fell below $US50 a tonne overnight.

Andrew Forrest and Gina Rinehart will need to wait a while for their dairy investments to deliver a return, according to a recent analysis of the sector.

At first glance, the planned $600 million expansion of Perth’s Karrinyup Shopping Centre seems to run counter to the relentless march of internet retailing, especially as a fresh report predicts that 50 per cent of all retail sales will be made over the internet in less than 10 years.

As grim as the iron ore outlook appears for some of WA’s smaller miners, the state government, too, stands to lose out amid the sector’s upheaval.

It might be bold to suggest that Andrew Forrest consider a career change, but as his fortune shrinks and as his iron ore business struggles in a flooded market, there is a nickel deal to be done that could be a lot more fun than playing the role of fading star.

India looms as a possible economic saviour for Australia as Chinese growth plateaus.

You don’t need to listen too closely to hear the pips squeaking in Western Australia’s iron ore lemon after a week-long debate about the state’s most important industry, which appears to be heading for a crisis that will hit companies and governments in equal measure.

Tensions between WA’s major iron ore producers and their smaller competitors will be on show at a major conference this week.

It is a long time since Western Australia had its own finance industry and while shadow banking, the hottest game in the money world, could be just another fad that fades as quickly as it has grown, there is the potential for home-grown finance to make a return to Perth.

If other codes’ recent TV rights deals are anything to go by, the AFL could be in for a significant revenue growth.

If in doubt that we really are sailing in unchartered economic waters, consider one number; it’s a big number, but the estimated $US2 trillion invested around the world in government and corporate bonds that carry a negative interest rate paints a very disturbing picture.

Everything old seems to be new again in the resources sector, with a number of old projects being rebirthed under new management.

Following the money is always the best way to see what interests a rich man because it tells you two things – what he likes as an investment for future growth, and what he sees as having reached the limits of growth.

Yield hunters are ignoring warning signs from the ‘real’ economy, pushing share prices for some major stocks higher.

Rio Tinto’s strong profit reported earlier today will please investors in one of state’s biggest employers, though the big miner’s fresh round of job shedding is a warning shot across the bows of the Western Australian economy, with more warning shots likely to be fired over the next 12 days.

The problems for BHP Billiton’s management team didn't start with the South32 proposal, but that plan has brought things to a head.

Australia’s latest political crisis, the potential dumping next week of the prime minister, Tony Abbott, is masking a far greater threat to the country – a fresh outbreak of the GFC caused by the dramatic build-up of private and public debt.

Cost wins out above all other considerations in the search for efficiency, which is why a strengthening US dollar could pose challenges for Caterpillar.

Fortescue Metals Group surprised investors earlier today with a better-than-expected December quarter production report, but that should not stop speculation that it could be a key player in Western Australia’s deal of the decade.

As is the case with most wars, there’s never agreement on who fired the first shot; not that it really matters in a hot war or the currency front, which is rapidly engulfing the world and should soon involve action by Australia.

Successfully doing business in India involves navigating a labyrinthine world usually impenetrable to outsiders.