EDITORS' PICKS

In this week's reading wrap, Kohler looks at how unemployment could kill off those green shoots of recovery, Gottliebsen examines the hubris of the big banks and Boyd looks at the sad decline of Ventracor.

KGB TV: Gordon Davis
Kohler, Gottliebsen
Discussions on future funding of AWB's $2.2 billion loan book are well advanced, says the group's managing director.

Green shoots herbicide
Alan Kohler
It's not just the US bleeding jobs – employment is contracting everywhere. Unemployment is now the key long-term problem for the global economy as the credit crisis morphs into an employment crisis.

A lesson on banking hubris
Robert Gottliebsen
While the big banks are lapping up the market share left by their smaller rivals and are closing branches at a rate of knots, their hubris is already benefitting one regional bank.

No heart
Tony Boyd
The Rudd government is now responsible for paying out about $3.4 million owed to the 110 Australian employees of Ventracor after it refused to provide any meaningful financial support to the world leading artificial heart maker.

The one that got away
Isabelle Oderberg
So many retailers, including Myer and David Jones, are shying away from online sale platforms. Who's going to step up and take advantage of the gaping hole in Australia's e-tailing marketplace?

Hedley's hangover
James Thomson
Not unlike other entrepreneurs, pub and property baron Tom Hedley got a bit heady during boom years. That his empire is now in receivership proves there's no hair of the dog for debt binges. 

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