Charter of Contractual Fairness
On 1 July we launched our Charter of Contractual Fairness

We have heavily drawn the principles of contract fairness from the new consumer unfair contract protections laws. If it's fair for consumers, it's fair for small business people - the self-employed and independent contractors.

We are currently writing to Australian corporations asking them to commit to contract fairness in their dealings with small business people.
Election Face-off 2010
The federal election was held on on 21 August 2010. ICA was active in assessing the policies of the ALP and the Coalition. Here's our comparative summary of the parties' policies just before the election.
Tax burden: UK versus Australia
Just as the UK is moving toward more sensible small business (contractor) tax laws, in Australia we're having to defend the progress we've made.
Laughing lawyers
You'll be amazed by the 'slips' that some lawyers make in court.
Failure to fix unfair business contracts
ICA says "extend unfair contract protections for consumers to small business".

New laws:
Legislation #1 (March 2010)
Legislation #2 (June 2010)

Here's our summary of the situation.
How the legislation defines unfair contract terms.
Why small business people should have TPA protections from unfair contracts.
Industry/Retail super funds must come out
The Cooper Review into superannuation says the big funds are not disclosing enough and must be forced to do so. This is vital. See Chapter 4.

Here's why workers' money is at risk if disclosure is not enforced.
Look after your retirement
The Cooper Review of superannuation says Self Managed Super Funds are good and need little change to existing arrangements. This is welcome. See Chapter 8.

The Report also seems to have stopped the attack against SMSF's.
Stand Up for Your (Contract) Rights!
We're monitoring contracts in general and promoting good contracts in particular. For example:
Another bad contract (Jun 2010)
One of the worst contracts we've seen (Jan 2010)
'Tom' versus DEEWR (Nov 2009)
But a positive development from government
Ken Phillips comments
And some interesting discussions
Problems with Phoenix companies
Two ICA members' tell their stories
ATO information on reporting suspect activity.

Govt's attempts to do something:
ICA comment

Newspaper comment:
The Australian
The Age/Sydney Morning Herald
Business Spectator

What 'Tom' thinks
What 'Jim' thinks
Stop Sham Contracts!
ICA supports the prevention of sham contracts. We monitor what's happening with them:
One person's story
Successful FWO prosecution (Dec 2009)
Info from Fair Work Ombudsman (July 2009)
First sham contract prosecution: ICA summary
Make a complaint to FWO
Business Spectator article
Read the debate
Watching Global Economies
Watching the USA
The US economy appears to be in recession. At the very least, we're getting very mixed signals about what's happening. Click here for a rundown on some of the best links we've found.
Watching China
China has just passed Japan as the world's second largest economy. It could become the largest global economy by 2030. We're maintaining a watching brief on the Chinese economy here.
Watching Goldman Sachs
Rolling Stone magazine has blown the lid on Goldman Sachs:
Article 1 [July 2009]
Article 2 [April 2010]
Article 3 [May 2010]
Central Banks on Debt
Since mid-May, central banks have been worried about sovereign debt. Click here for a list of useful links and summaries.
What the Pessimists said (January 2010)
We've brought together some pessimistic views about economics and likely economic trends in 2010:
US toxic loans
'US as sick as Greece'
Ken Phillips's summary
An 'IMF' perspective
Predicting 2010
Government debt a giant ponzi scheme?


Click to enlarge.

Ken Phillips on the debt equation

Understanding "Us": Self-employed People
ICA is committed to quality research to understand self-employed people.

6 July 2010: We released a unique research report made possible by an unusual collaborative effort. The report shatters many preconceived beliefs about 'us'; small and micro-business people. We believe it has global implications.

Main points and commentary
Summary
Full report.

20 July 2010: Here's further research from Flying Solo:
Report Summary; Full report and from Kelly Services: Report. And here's a comparative chart of our own.

Australian military aircraft (JSF). Bad deal?
Australia's decision to buy the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as the backbone of our air defence is under attack. Is this a bad procurement and contract management stuff-up? We've summarised the arguments and included some useful videos.

We Oppose Workplace Bullying
ICA opposes attempts by construction unions to bully their way on to work sites. Here are the issues from 2010:
Overview
Union violence on Westgate
Unions make threats

What do you think?
Is the US economy double dipping?

25 June 2010


Here's some food for thought!

US housing

This week the US stock market halted its slight rebound and dropped again. The drop was in part prompted by US housing sales in May showing an unexpected decline. Unexpected? By whom? Economists apparently!

The decline should have been anticipated because the US housing market has been propped up by substantial US government subsidies. These end in June and home-buyers had to sign contracts by end of April.

Yet some economists had predicted housing would be up. The Financial Times said:

    Purchases of previously owned homes in the US fell unexpectedly in May as the expiration of government support sapped sales, adding to fears that the housing market could face a "double dip".

    Existing home sales fell by 2.2 per cent from April to May to an adjusted annual rate of 5.66m, according to the National Association of Realtors.

    Economists had predicted that they would rise by 6 per cent during the month and it marked a sharp turnround from April's 8 per cent increase. In spite of the monthly drop, sales are up by nearly 20 per cent from the same month a year ago.

    (By Alan Rappeport and Suzanne Kapner in New York, Published: June 23 2010 03:00)

It makes you wonder about economists sometimes. Of course house sales were going to be down in May, and further declines should be expected with the removal of the government's housing cash splash.

This housing crunch is just one reason why many believe that a US double dip into recession is inevitable and has in fact begun. The details of debt-induced financial problems in the US are truly startling. Have a look at this information.

US bank closures

The US forcibly closed 140 banks last year and 83 so far this year---all due to the mortgage market collapse. 775 banks are listed as 'problems', up from 702 last year.

And watch out for the US commercial real estate market. Go back to March this year and the video interview analysis by the head of the US Oversight Congressional Panel Elizabeth Warren. Listen to her warnings [at approx 16 min 40 sec mark] and think of what's unfolding now. Warren says that of the 8,000 US banks, 2,988 were excessively concentrated in commercial real estate loans. By the end of 2010, half of all commercial real estate loans will be under water. These banks know the impending problem and that many more banks will go under. Therefore they are holding on to money and will not lend. Watch out for a further increase in bank collapses.

US state and municipal governments

We've reported on some aspects of this issue before, but look at this. Thirty-two US states have been forced to borrow $37.8 billion from the Feds to cover their unemployment benefit payments. That sounds like insolvency. Here are some examples: This partly demonstrates why analysts forecast that a US municipality bond default is likely in 2010-11. This could be the US's equivalent of the Greek crisis for Europe.

Bizarre capitalism

It's become almost bizarre. After bailing out General Motors with a cash injection of $US50 billion, the US government now owns 60 per cent of GM (Government Motors). With tens of billions of dollars of GM's debt also wiped away, the company is producing a small profit. Now the United Automobile Workers (UAW) is seeking to return some of the employee benefits that were negotiated away when the company was structured out of debt. But it seems there's no need to worry about shareholder 'rip-off' because the majority shareholder is the US taxpayer. Now here's the extra twist on US capitalism: another major shareholder is the UAW.

Summary?

If you want to read an economist's argument that might pull all this together, here's one explanation that claims that the US is in a deflation spiral.