Martin Feil is an economist that has spent forty years in the real world of international trade. He is a specialist in industry policy, Customs, Transfer Pricing and Cross border logistics and barriers. He isn’t a fan of economic modeling but can explain how international trade works and what barriers still exist. He has very little patience with people who still rabbit on about tariffs and don’t understand costing from an imports value to a retail price.

The Economic Brumby is a blog with the National Times written by Martin.

Illustration: John Spooner

The Age, July 25, 2009

WE GENERALLY dislike prophets of doom. Confidence is a powerful stimulant. Yet sometimes it is reckless to ignore events that are so important that action must be taken quickly to eliminate or, at least, reduce their consequences. This does not mean we should talk down the economy. But neither should we ignore or be complacent about the damage caused by the financial losses of the past year.

Illustration: John Spooner

The Age, June 25, 2009

LAST week The Australian Financial Review reported on a submission made by the Australian Business Council to the Henry tax review. The council recognised that we had a current account deficit that had persisted for 20 years and that was not in the national interest.