Summary: Interview with Bernard Salt, demographer at KPMG Interview with economist Nicholas Gruen talking about Ford and Australia’s car industry Leon and Garry talk about issues including: · The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city price index showing United States home prices posting the largest annual gain since 2006 in fresh evidence that the housing recovery is gaining traction. Consumer confidence in the United States rising in May to a five-year high, with expectations of an improved economy and Moody's upgrading its outlook of the US banking system for the first time since 2008, citing improving US economic conditions that more than make up for the challenges of low interest rates. · The International Monetary Fund cutting its forecast for China's economic grow to 7.75 per cent for 2012 and 2013 · The Australian dollar seeing another sell-off his week, plunging to its lowest in 19 months after strong US economic data was released overnight, and bad figures for China. · OECD warning of the end of the mining boom as Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show Australia is entering stage 3 of the resources boom · A bill forcing Australia’s 2000 biggest companies to publicly disclose how much tax they pay is to be introduced into federal parliament. · More Australians struggling with home loans. Moody’s Investors Service figures show that the number of Australian home loan borrowers at least 30 days behind on repayments rose to 1.66 per cent at the end of March, up from 1.44 per cent in December · Warnings that the economy could miss out on as much $180 billion of investment in new liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects because of soaring costs in Australia with the world’s biggest energy companies warning Australia has less than two years to reduce costs of building big projects or risk being frozen out of a new $150 billion wave of global investment in liquefied natural gas supply · Research by UHY Haines Norton, an association of independent chartered accountants, revealing that Australia has the eighth highest corporate tax rate in the world. · Federal political parties will begin lining their pockets with millions of dollars in extra public funding, taxpayers money, well before the September 14 federal election due to a clause which backdates the new pay-outs to April 1 under legislation secretly negotiated between Labor, the Liberal Party and the Nationals over more than a year. · Casino giant Crown and the ANZ bank becoming the latest corporate giants to cut Victorian jobs, as economists tip Australia’s unemployment rate to rise to 6 per cent by year's end. · News Corp writing down the value of its Australian and US publishing assets by up to $US1.4 billion, as the company prepares to split its business between newspaper and entertainment operations. · Live betting odds will be banned during sports broadcasting in Australia under changes proposed by Prime Minister Julia Gillard but no ban on gambling. · David Jones Ltd has posting a modest decline in sales in the third quarter · Nine Entertainment looking to buy WIN Corporation
