dtcwee: The Value of Nothing

What are the odds my will gets challenged? My dad's making a big deal now that he's done his will, telling us kids that we had better accept what we're given (though giving zero details about the actual split). Why? 

Will better-paid teachers lead to smarter students? Finland is often hailed as an educator's utopia, where teacher prestige and commensurate salary correspond with students' high academic rankings among peers worldwide. Furthermore, there is some evidence in the US linking a school district's teacher pay with its students' performance on standardised tests .

How do you fund a nation? British PM Clement Attlee said, If a rich man wants to help the poor, he should pay his taxes gladly.

Did a lack of trust in governments exacerbate COVID-19 deaths? 'Hogwash', is my first response.

Generative AI uses energy and pumps out CO2 yes, but so do humans.

The cost of kids vs residential care. It used to be that children were a retirement strategy. You'd gently pass away in your mortgage-free bed surrounded by loved ones. Old folks' homes were for lonely deviants who failed at family formation. Let's compare ...

I used to agree with the mainstream view that an aging population was deflationary. The logic: old people don't buy new stuff. Real world examples: Japan, Singapore, Germany, etc. If inflation did pop its head up, governments would reflexively smash it with higher interest rates, never mind the resultant unemployment. Why? Well, the US did it in the 1970s. Since then, much of the neo-liberal project has been to transfer power from workers to consumers. Voters were happy with that trade-off then, so they probably would be again. The numbers stack up politically. Inflation affects everyone. Unemployment only affects workers. I don't work. I'm team higher unemployment. Anticipating a future of stable or falling prices, I relaxed going into the COVID pandemic.

Borrowing to invest in an asset will not simply multiply your returns. It is more accurate to say that leverage multiplies the difference between the returns on the asset and the cost of borrowing. This post was originally published on 18-Dec-2016. I have since made an interactive leveraged returns calculator . Short Form Calculation Return on Equity = Interest Rate Differential x Debt to Equity Multiple + Asset's Return For example: 8:1 Debt to Equity at 4% debt interest with an asset return of 5%: 1 x 8/1 + 5 = 13% Visualisation looks a little something like this: ROE Alpha (Y-axis) by Return-Borrowing Differential (Z-axis) by Borrowing (X-axis)

Australia's Productivity Commission estimates that the baby boomer generation (born between 1946 and 1964, aged 56 - 74 in 2020) will pass $3.5 trillion dollars in wealth to their heirs by 2050. The distribution will not be even.

Inflation in Australia may be driven by corporate profiteers, but not who you think. 

Why are Middle-Aged Men Missing from the Labor Market? ( NY TImes ) Men ages 35 to 44 are staging a lackluster rebound from pandemic job loss, despite a strong economy.

Household formation was dullishly ordinary before it became the Australian 'dream'.

Same again tomorrow. One thing I like to tell myself during bear markets: On any given trading day, three quarters of a percent of the U.S. market turns over .

The STI benchmark for Singapore's stock exchange is easy to visualise as it has just 30 well publicised constituents. Go on, click the sector headings to drill down. It's easy to see how diverse it is. Is it too concentrated?

Declining labour share of income is no sign of foul play. "Productivity and profits are up, but real wages are down." is an increasingly common refrain, implying that business and government collude to deprive workers of their fair share.

The answer to "Will I regret this?" might be "Do other people?"

Australian houses have gotten larger while Australian families have gotten smaller.

Quick visualisations of Australian government tax and spending to provide context to the 2022 federal election. In 2019-2020, Australia's governments collected about AUD$552 billion in tax and spent about AUD$578 billion .

As Australia's 2022 federal election draws near, I would like to explore the idea that voter age will matter more than location.

Which industries are ripest for technological disruption? Australia labour productivity and value-add by industry.