THE severe head colds in the US and Europe have brought bronchitis to Asia. Seven out of the eight important economies are either already in the recession ward or on their way in an ambulance.
THE Fremantle Dockers, now even more firmly anchored at the bottom of the AFL ladder, run around every week with AlintaGas on the back of their jerseys. Is that causing angst for these long-time sponsors? Not a bit of it.
SO this is the recession we did not have to have, to paraphrase one former pig farmer. The export engine, fuelled by a highly competitive dollar, has enabled the economy to come through a tough patch.
AUSTRALIAN share prices finished the first half of the calendar year up 9 per cent, with the All Ords at a record 3,425. That knocked the US S&P500 and the MSCI World Index into a cocked hat, with virtually all the overseas markets deep in the red.
IF you thought that 67 point rise in the index during the final few minutes of the trading year was too good to be true, that is because it was. In fact it smelled fishy.The following morning the market opened flat and closed 50 points in the bag.
THE impressively credentialled bronze bull, which stands just around the corner from the New York Stock Exchange, must be finding it increasingly hard to remain virile, with all that flaccid corporate news emanating from inside.
WHAT was the best performing currency in the world last month? It was none other than the Australian dollar. No that is not a misprint. And I am completely sober.
ONCE upon a time, when I was a young man, it was my practice to descend the stairs early in the morning to pick up the milk from the doorstep, and collect the newspaper and the mail from the postbox.
