Tim Treadgold

Does history repeat itself? A question that has kept Briefcase awake recently after a series of events which are eerily like 1987, the time of the last great boom (and bust).

If cash really is king in the investment world, and the investment world is being shaken by private equity funds seeking cash to fund their debt loads, then surely the game to be

Extreme capitalists argue that private equity is the bee’s knees because it proves that markets can sometimes be wrong in valuing assets, such as Qantas.

The heirs and successors of the late Rene Rivkin are not alone in worrying about tax matters.

Secrets, as we are seeing graphically in Perth today, only have one purpose: betrayal.

Like drunks at a party, speculative share traders always say there is time for one more round before quitting.

Greed, in case you hadn’t noticed, is rampant.

“Under new management”. We’ve all seen that sign many times on an A-frame outside a business, or writ-large across a shop window.

If Charles Dickens was alive today, working as a finance journalist, he might have borrowed one of his most famous opening lines to describe last week’s events on the stock market

It can take time for really big mistakes to be recognised for what they are. Alan Carpenter’s two energy bloopers, in the name of winning votes at the next state election, are classic example of time bomb blunders which will cost Western Australia dearly

Looking for the peak is Australia’s newest national investment sport, whether it’s peak oil, peak nickel, or the peak of the stock market.

Every Australian country town has a ‘big’ something.

A pet theme of Briefcase’s, if you hadn’t noticed, is the disconnect between government and business in a rapidly changing world.

Competition is a wonderful thing, until you discover that you’re losing.

For the average Australian investor there is nothing more frustrating than trying to find someone with the guts to say whether Telstra is a buy or a sell.

On the road from Esperance to Albany there’s a factory rising from the low-lying, south-coast scrub, which will one day produce nickel but which is already acting as a red-flashin

Four years ago, only a handful of people believed that the world was heading into a resources boom.

The US is often cited as the best example of poverty in the midst of plenty.

So, it’s official. The Perth Convention Exhibition Centre is a white elephant. Hands up anyone who is surprised?

Property prices have dominated conversations in Perth for the past five years.

Andrew Forrest and his Fortescue Metals Group are determined to build a new iron ore mine in the Pilbara, but the closer an outsider looks at the financial structure being created

Some time in the past, when gentlemen were gentlemen, an agreement is said to have been reached between the chaps (now dead) who ran The West Australian newspaper, and their frien

Amid all the plenty of the resources boom there is a little cloud of gloom that doggedly follows a certain class of Perth investor; true believers in buying local.

Watching cash sounds about as exciting as watching paint dry, but for the rest of 2006 cash will be the big topic in every market for three reasons: its price; in the form of inte

As the financial year crawls to a close on Friday, Briefcase thinks it timely to ask two simple questions.

Feeling poorer? Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

What is it about politicians and pipelines? First we had Colin Barnett promoting a water pipeline, or canal, from the Kimberley.

Mad scientists are normally the people associated with bizarre experiments.

The investment world is loaded with theories about how to get rich. This week, Briefcase will explore three. Quick, slow and easy – in that order.

Brisbane motorists got a bit of a shock last month. They discovered that the toll for using a proposed new road tunnel would not be the $2 per trip promised, but $4.

It’s a brave man who calls ‘game over’ these days, especially in Fremantle.

Mrs Briefcase is a canny shopper.