Aviva is a financial services firm. Its CEO is Amanda Blanc. She must have nothing to do. If so, the firm, its investors, clients and staff would be better off if Amanda just admitted it and disappeared.
Continue readingGrift or Satire?
My mind is unclear on this point. Grift means to obtain money illicitly. Satire is to expose foolishness using irony or humour. PLOS One has published a paper that is one or the other, but I genuinely can’t tell which.
Continue readingDon’t just stand there – delete something!
Javier Milei is off to a great start. So refreshing.
Laws or legislation?
I was prompted to pen a letter to the editor of the Australian Financial Review by a column in the weekend edition. The editor kindly published it.
Argentinian politics take an oxymoron turn
Oxymoron is a great word, amongst my favourites. As good as ‘transmogrify’ and ‘discombobulate’.
Continue readingBegging the question
Begging the question is one of those idioms in the English language that change meaning in front of our eyes.
Continue readingInflation bulletin
Inflation data is out for the September 2023 quarter, but there is no reason for celebration.
Continue readingMitigating investment strategies in 2023
I’m sure my readers don’t need to be told that 2023 is proving to be a challenging year for investors.
Continue readingInflation mystifies former central banker
Some people remain mystified by inflation, even some of those who used to be a deputy governor of the Australian central bank, the RBA.
Continue readingHP revival
If you are of a certain age with a predisposition to numbers, Hewlett Packard calculators are likely to conjure favourable memories.
The 12c for the actuaries, the 15c for engineers, the 41c for geeks who solved Rubik’s cube one handed behind their backs before breakfast.
In recent times, HP calculators deteriorated in quality to the point of unusability. The business outsourced manufacturing to China and the rest is history. Garbage came back with a bitter taste.
But, HP emulators are available from app stores. You can pay a tiny price and put a 41c on your phone, bypassing the horrendous lack of quality from Chinese hardware. It’s almost like old times.
Australian Actuary 