MIS class action makes slow progress

What did directors know and when did they know is the question at the core of class actions by grower investors against MIS companies and directors.

The ABC website carried a story this past week Class action against agribusiness digs deeper about the closing stages of a class action against failed MIS company Great Southern which has been running for months and was due to hear closing argument in July. A further 10,000 documents” have been uncovered that provide further evidence that the company misled investors.”

Tassie's debt and liabilities : a comparison

Hardly a day goes by without some reference to the levels of public debt engulfing us all, here in Tasmania, in Australia as a whole , in Greece and the Euro zone, just about everywhere.

There’s lots of scaremongering, loads of misunderstandings, heaps of inappropriate comparisons and deliberately misleading use of figures.

A better way

 

The previous posting Stop telling lies Barry tried to highlight the lack of understanding of budgetary issues confronting Tasmania, by drawing attention to a particular main stream media contribution. The website tasmaniantimes.com linked to the posting. The subsequent response, reproduced at the end of this note, certainly confirmed the lack of understanding.

Two issues arising are worth further comment.

Stop telling lies Barry

 

Bashing politicians and public servants is like shooting goldfish in a bowl. Whatever else it diverts attention away from any useful analysis of where we are and what are our future options.
 

Barry Prismall in The Examiner was at it again the other day 

Budget highlights structural woes

(Published in Crikey 31^st May 2013)

The month of May is budget time for most jurisdictions. Most attention focuses on the Federal Budget but State Budgets help complete the fiscal mosaic.

On a State by State comparison it’s pretty easy to have a cheap shot at Tasmania for being a basket case, but adjusted for scale and rural location factors Tasmania is little different from other areas in Australia.

The budgetary problems facing Tasmania throws into stark relief the problems facing all States.

A brighter future?

Will Hodgman’s Plan for a Brighter Future, includes even shonkier savings than was included in last year’s Roadmap to Recovery.

Debt deficits and the State Budget

The preoccupation with debt and deficits that afflicted much of the discussion about the Federal Budget has carried over into the discussion following the Tasmanian State Budget.

The doctrine of surpluses being good and deficits bad as adopted by both major political parties and spruiked by 95% of the main stream media means that as we are forced  from deficits to surpluses as soon as politically possible, notwithstanding any adverse economic consequences that will almost certainly widen the output gap caused by unemployed labour and capital,  each budget will be contractionary relative to its predecessor and when Government surpluses eventuate the iron law of sectoral balances means the private sector (including the overseas sector) will inevitably be in deficit.

That’s the backdrop to the Tasmanian economy as it attempts to move forward.