EDITORS' PICKS

Debt's pall over the Lucky Country
Alan Kohler
Australian unemployment is low, the currency is strong, rates are falling and growth is solid – but excessive debt levels are threatening everything.

AFL fortunes under a cloud
Alan Kohler
The AFL and NRL can protest all they like over Optus' TV Now, but it's hard to see how Canberra could draw a line between physical personal recordings and cloud-based technology that does the same thing.

High stakes in Stockland's shopping list
Robert Gottliebsen
Stockland and Westfield are adopting opposing strategies to retail property – and the question of who is right will be a defining issue for the investment community.

Swan song for the RBA
Robert Gottliebsen
The power of our independent Reserve Bank to set interest rates is crumbling, and the only person left outside of the big four with full control is Wayne Swan – not that he has sought it.

No proof of a CBA spectacular
Stephen Bartholomeusz
Commonwealth Bank's result is respectable, placing the bank in a strong defensive position to global debt turmoil, but it doesn't sustain the view it is excessively profitable.

Keeping BHP's shale to scale
Stephen Bartholomeusz
BHP thinks of its investments in terms of decades, but with shale gas prices at post-GFC lows, it might put analysts and investors at ease if it temporarily scaled back its US capex.

Felix Zulauf's market prognosis
Karen Maley
The legendary Swiss investor explains why Greece is likely to exit the eurozone and QE3 won't come anytime soon, and canvasses the outlook for commodity prices and the Australian economy.

Veering towards Greek default
Karen Maley
As fears grow that Greece's lenders will fail to agree on a deal to avoid default, several eurozone countries are losing faith that a bailout is deserved.

Misplaced optimism at the RBA?
Steve Keen
The Reserve Bank's rosy economic forecasts look shaky in light of Roy Morgan employment data, but it's too early to tell what the ramifications for house prices will be.

Why BHP is in Rudd's crosshairs
Rob Burgess
If Kevin Rudd is hustling for a power grab, it's not Julia Gillard but the miners who brought down his resources tax that he'll be seeking revenge on.

The good news Labor won't share
Rob Burgess
In key areas of the Australian economy, productivity is improving – so why doesn't Labor properly refute the charge that 'Fair Work killed productivity'?

In search of a Greek hero
Oliver Marc Hartwich
Solving Greece's current budget woes will require a Herculean effort to prise the nation from the eurozone, in order to allow a ‘default and devalue' strategy.

TECHNOLOGY SPECTATOR: Qantas' misguided Twitter tantrum
Charis Palmer
Qantas' push to get parody Twitter account @QantasPR banished reveals a worrying lack of understanding of how social media works, not to mention a poor sense of humour.

Draghi turns up the risk dial
Charles Wyplosz, VoxEU
Long-term refinancing operations by the ECB have sent bond yields down, but the truth is that LTROs are making things in the eurozone much more dangerous.