nyonyamansor09

When a newspaper croaks, a loyal and important servant to its community is lost. Or that's what the obituaries say. The truth is, a dead newspaper scarcely bears any resemblance to the mythical beast that will be lionised when the printing presses shut down and the plastic bag full of paper and ink stops landing on lawns each morning.  The Advocate, its death assured as a marsupial on a Tasmanian road at dusk, will be one of those lionised newspapers. It shouldn't be. The Advocate's turf is one of Australia's most economically disadvantaged electorates, something that goes hand in hand with low education levels. It's almost assured when The Advocate recycles a press release or culls stats to craft a story, the readership won't find themselves digging any deeper. Forget them trawling ABS spreadsheets for reality.  Sean Ford, senior journalist amongst a bunch of 12 year olds, knows this. He's The Advocate's "resident numbers man" (yep, that's...

Just when you think it can't get any worse... If you're one of the illustrious eight people who read this blog, yes I'm actually growing at the rate of 4 people a month, you may remember this house in Launceston I've previously mentioned: Last sold for $335,000 in mid 2009. The going price in my post was $325,000, that was after the first discount. It's yours now for $315,000. With $20,000 already flushed and another $11,000 torched in stamp duty, it's worthwhile asking how far ahead would the renter be in this situation? Price to rent a similar house, in the same suburb for 14 months? Around $17,000. Of course I'm presupposing the occupants are still in this house, which they aren't. They're long gone along with a good chunk of any equity they might have had. Be it they had to move on, or were forced to, they left with less than they came with. We're on the eve of an RBA interest rate decision and thousands now have a nervous night ahead - they...