Rokjok777

China, Shipping and the Great Commodity Carry Trade

Coreopsis, doesn't sound like you've been to Australia. Yes, only 21 million people, wonderful if you ask me. But to say it's not an advanced economy belies ignorance on your part. Have a look at the banks: Westpac is right now the most profitable bank in the world and the 9th largest by market cap. The central bank is widely regarded as one of the smartest, if not the smartest, in the world. Very well-developed tourism and eco-tourism industries. Have a look at Melbourne sometime: interesting new architecture, public spaces, and public art everywhere you look. Vibrant restaurant and arts scene. I was in Melbourne two weeks after visit to New York: the contrast was shocking. New York was shabby, every sidewalk and road needs replacing, shabby burnt-out shopfronts everywhere, no cranes anywhere, and definitely no challenging new architecture anywhere (WTC site still an ugly hole after 8 years), homeless people and unemployed people everywhere. New York looks like the underdeveloped world, not Australia...


On Jun 07 10:36 AM coreopsis wrote:

> More accurately not 'yet' in recession. Australia is strictly a one-trick
> pony, with all due respect. You are the only country spanning a continent
> with rich mineral resources which the great manufacturing economies
> need to actually make something. It sure helps that the original
> penal colony (once again, with due respect) was not very fecund and
> thus there are only 21 million of you.
>
> 'Advanced economy' in name only.
>
> On Jun 06 10:49 AM maxe wrote:

Your Oil Stocks Aren't Coming Back

Some thoughts about leverage: for every barrel of oil pumped out of the ground and delivered, Oil companies have to DO something: find the stuff, drill for it, run a pump, ship it in a tanker, etc. The reason people get so excited by tech companies is the unbelievable leverage they get: they spend money developing software, but once it's developed, they buy a blank CD for 9 cents, burn as many copies as they want, and sell them, Voila! Now that's leverage. I used to work for a software company, we charged a customer $10 million to build them some software, then we resold it (with the first guy's permission) for another $10 million (our cost: 9 cents). Just some food for thought. Generally I do like oil & gas plays, too...