Commerce
The doctrine of market infallibility
We lived at a magical time of tech unicorns and eternal growth.
Choices which faced society could only be framed in economic terms. Wealth creation was seldom could only be achieved by hard work and balancing of risk. All decisions were made by unfailingly rational agents. Everyone rose or fell according their own efforts. Riches were always nearly always seldom never acquired by inheritance, nepotism, hypergamy, corruption, rent-seeking or asset-bubbles.
“Market Failure” was an oxymoron and GDP was the only true measure of progress. The sole purpose of society was to serve the economy and any attempt by governments or citizens to meddle in its course was regarded as a direct attack on growth. Only monetarism, globalised free trade, deregulation, privatisation, liberalised capital, shareholder value, privity of contract, small government, nimble competition, resilient optimism, flourishing foreign investment, robust micro-economic & productivity-enhancing reforms and — obviously — completely unfettered investment-friendly markets could never always determine the fair value of everything, and deliver significant benefits for oligarchs CEOs family-trusts investors stakeholders all.

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A licence to kill
There was nothing on your dinner table that wasn't put there by highly skilled transport professionals


The “roo bar” of a prime-mover at Kings Langley, near Blacktown [Aug-2015 414kb]
Waiting for the great leap forward
From blue-collar schooner heroes to the Kings of Kowloon, the third-world was just around the corner


Central Park development, at Broadway in Sydney [Jul-2012 160kb]
20-20 vision
Restricted trading hours [✓] Patron number limits [✓] Temperature checks [✓] Sign-in attendance records [✓] Perspex table-shields [✓] 1.5m social distancing [ ]


The Celsius Cafe at Kirribilli Wharf adapts to business conditions under COVID-19 [Nov-2020 325kb]
Luxury was a human right
Stand on principle on the way up and you would miss the stampede; stand on principle on the way down and you would be run over


Even the pigeons lived in style at Hogben Street in Kogarah [Apr-2011 98kb]
Flags of convenience
Our vision was to create a better everyday life, by getting our customers to do all the work for free


The united nations of IKEA, at Tempe [Sep-2012 147kb]
Keep doubling your money every 7–10 years
Dr Wilson said that Sydney was likely to have a $2 million median house price by 2030 and a $3 million median by 2038
(Daily Telegraph, 2018)


Hopscotch squares at the Woodcroft housing estate, in Blacktown [Dec-2012 491kb]
Reflating the economy
Old debt could be easily retired by taking on new debt


Tumbalong Park attractions, Darling Harbour [Jul-2014 220kb]
Creating value
From warehouses to office blocks to strategically empty short-term leases


Motorways and the former Caltex building, Sydney [Sep-2016 122kb]
Both feet on the ladder
Everyone became millionaires by inheriting properties bought for pennies decades ago, and then flipping them at government-guaranteed prices


Renovations in suburban Stanmore [Sep-2012 119kb]
Filled with delight
Non-inclusive apartment developments on the site of an old gasworks


Breakfast Point apartments (formerly Mortlake Gasworks), Sydney [Jul-2014 229kb]
Agile entrepreneurs
Surveillance cameras [✓] Motion-activated floodlights [✓] Canvas-covered windows [✓] 3m high fencing [✓] Steel chained front gates [✓] Threatening no-trespass signs [✓] Resourceful SMEs servicing a niche-market [✓]


Domestic security on Neville Street in Marrickville [Sep-2012 422kb]
Borderline conundrum
Self-service was self-defeating when there was no service to serve


Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, unused self-service check-in and baggage drop facilities at Sydney Airport's T1 International Terminal, Friday afternoon 12:30 pm [Oct-2020 194kb]
Ghosts of the CBD
Governments had to resort to upbeat slogans, pleading and bribes to entice voters to return to the city


Commuters at the new Central station concourse [Jun-2022 281kb]
Remarks…
Plan for robust & inclusive growth
Keep doubling the population every 35 years → boosted aggregate demand → vigorous GDP growth → buoyant budget outcomes → more apartment pre-sales → snowballing property values → windfall capital gains → wealthier property-investors → bustling streets → more toll-roads & shopping malls → more bathhouses, nail-salons & shisha lounges → less dirty industry → more construction & business services → more mortgages → more prosperous banks → more stamp-duties → more negative gearing on property investments → more wealth-effects → more tourism & international students → more university & private college enrolments → more waiters, maids, au-pairs, fruit-pickers, concierges, nail-artists, migration agents & community-liaison officers → more subclass-482 & spousal visas → increasing remittances to family & sponsors overseas → potentially higher rates of workforce participation → projected supply-side potential → likely productivity benefits → forecast greater aggregate income → more money in everyone's hip pocket


Front-yard garden gnomes in Summer Hill, Sydney [Oct-2016 569kb]
From blue to fluoro collar
Vast sums were borrowed to create a cornucopia of employment opportunities


Re-tiling the Sydney Opera House forecourt [Jul-2014 159kb]
The Moneyland luxe vibe
Prestige brands rode out the pandemic rather well


Luxury goods store entrance, George Street Sydney [Nov-2020 252kb]
The cranes were flying
At one stage there were more tower cranes along the Australian eastern seaboard than in all the major cities in the USA (ABC News, 2016)


Tower crane jibs at Lewisham [Sep-2015 171kb]
Living in a film-set
Months spent wandering through a terrain filled with shuttered restaurants and disoriented diners


Deserted food court, Centrepoint Sydney [Apr-2020 175kb]
Epistemic insouciance
Full speed ahead for the fly-in fly-out money-launderers high-rollers in the sky (ABC News, 2020)


Crown casino construction, Barangaroo [Jan-2020 212kb]
Remarks…
Creative Destruction
The most efficient way to boost productivity was by reducing the number of workers


The abandoned White Bay Power Station at Rozelle [Jan-2013 206kb]
Back in the CCCP
The centralised command economy disintegrated almost immediately


Street vendors on the day the Belavezha Accords were signed, Tverskaya St Moscow [Dec-1991 248kb]
Remarks…
Wealth always trickled down
Our system endured for so long because enough of the electorate believed they still had some chance to get rich (Citigroup, 2005)


Begging for loose change near Sydney Town Hall [Sep-2016 421kb]
Cargo Culte
We lounged about in ill-fitting uniforms, languidly pressing buttons on small screens… waiting for the day He would return, bearing great gifts


Palm tree outside the abandoned St Mary & St Mina's Coptic Orthodox Church at Sydenham, near Sydney airport [Sep-2012 355kb]
Remarks…
Life in the Bunkercene
The lockdowns caused us to cocoon just that little bit more


Martin Place hoardings, Sydney [Mar-2019 277kb]
Tourism added value
Tourism contributes towards complete growth and development of a country: one, by bringing numerous economic value & benefits; and, second, helping in build country's brand value, image & identity
(Market Width Blog, 2018)


Christmas Day tourists at the Sydney Opera House [Dec-2001 296kb]
Remarks…
Extremely well serviced
Only the wealthiest suburbs had regular bus, rail and ferry services


The F5 Neutral Bay ferry leaves Kirribilli wharf [Nov-2020 192kb]
Zero sum game
The link between free trade and rising global prosperity was self-evident: designed in the USA → marketed from the UK → manufactured by Uyghur forced-labour → shipped via Panama → channelled through a Singaporean marketing-hub → transfer-priced through Luxembourg → laundered in a Melbourne casino → banked in the Cayman Islands → stashed away in a Geneva Freeport vault → splurged on trophy homes, super-yachts, racing cars, helicopters, private school fees, casinos, parties, mistresses, divorce lawyers, bribes and political favours… in New York, Beijing, Bucharest, Riyadh, Lagos, Monaco, Sydney and Londongrad


Shipping container facility at Tempe, near Sydney Airport [Sep-2012 286kb]
Exuberant expectations
Great success and performance created its own reality (Pfeffer, 2015)


Church Street car dealership, Parramatta [Apr-2017 278kb]
No map and a broken compass
Cheap goods and MTV proved to be more effective than détente and ICBMs


Stall on Tverskaya St, Moscow [Dec-1991 244kb]
Remarks…
Delivery apps were so convenient
HungryPanda, Foodora, Uber Eats, DoorDash, EASI, Menulog, Deliveroo, Hey You, GrubHub, goPuff, EatNow, Yelp… We imported an underclass of temporary-visa holding independent contractors to zip around on bikes to deliver burrito bowls, bubble-tea and authentic pad thai to their famished customers


Online food delivery rider at Haymarket, near Chinatown [Apr-2020 135kb]
Remarks…
Stroking the hidden hand
Everyone was free to choose their own circumstances


Tents for the homeless at Wentworth Park, Sydney [Jul-2017 604kb]
Dutch disease done right
Not to worry. If the economy works the way the textbook says, the gain to miners should flow through to the economy, causing higher wages and tax receipts
(Gittins, 2017)


Remnants of the 2000's resources boom at Lithgow [Aug-2012 304kb]
Franchisee nation
The nature of employment changed. We didn't know what the new jobs would be, but we knew that they would surely come


Food cart on 37th Street, NYC [Oct-2017 328kb]
Unearthing the past
The house was gone and the yard excavated so deep that every trace of your childhood was obliterated


What was once 12 Kensington Street, Kogarah [Apr-2011 424kb]
Knowledge-based economy
If you could no longer make a profit by making things, then you could profitably spend your time making things up


The interior of the Queen Victoria Building, near Sydney Town Hall [Jan-2012 246kb]
Practical streetwise living
Stretch out in hygge comfort and swaddle beneath an extra blanket


Pitt Street Mall food-court entrance, Sydney [Jan-2019 439kb]
Jobs & Growth
Social cohesion was a luxury we could no longer be afford


Wall markings behind Parramatta Road, Strathfield [Jul-2014 564kb]
Frictionless intermediation
Because the Sharing Economy
sounded so much nicer than Government Regulation Evading Extractive Capitalism
(NYTimes, 2017)


Subterranean ingress and egress aperture cover at Watsons Bay [Dec-2014 902kb]
Defenestrate your livelihood
We mortgaged the future and bet it all on there not being one


Waverton Coal Loader wharf [Feb-2022 672kb]
Remarks…
Back-to-back meetings
Office work turned into being little more than just sitting around and talking


Queen Street office building at night, Melbourne [Apr-2019 147kb]
Rust belt potential
Our suburbs were rife with agility, propagation and replacement


Lett Lane, Lithgow [Jun-2019 483kb]
Easily within reach
With interest rates at five-thousand-year lows (until 2022), affordable mortgages were flying out the door


Art Gallery of NSW window looking east, Sydney [Mar-2019 251kb]
Surrogate activities
The illusion of economic activity was sustained by creating archipelagos of empty construction sites


Green Square hoardings at Zetland [Nov-2018 298kb]
Exit strategy
How could we have been anything other than healthy, prosperous, secure and optimistic?


Fig Street tunnel, Ultimo [Jul-2017 403kb]
The one sure bet
One of the interesting things about the years 1982—2023 was that markets always boomed, no matter what. By the early 2020's an army of commentators and economists all agreed that equities were irrationally overpriced, and yet the bourses still kept on rising…


Financial reporter at the Sydney ASX [Oct-2018 152kb]
Remarks…
Practise social distancing
So we stayed home, most of the time


Townhall Arcade foot court [Jul-2021 165kb]
Bubble watch
Rising property prices were carefully manipulated to create more economic winners than losers


Spectators on the steps of the former CBC Bank, Martin Place [Apr-2006 278kb]
Remarks…
Business service industries
The only way to counter economic headwinds was by being more nimble than the market


Finance workers at Australia Square [Dec-2004 280kb]
Flygskam
One cheap long-haul flight produced more CO2 per passenger than driving an SUV for four months


Runway approach lights, Sydney International Airport [May-2019 74kb]
The emporium struck back
Department stores battled heroically against an invisible enemy


Storm-troopers at the David Jones lift-well [Jan-2019 71kb]
The customer was king
Everything you could ever possibly desire, at your fingertips


Supermarket checkout, Nepean Village Penrith [Apr-2003 119kb]
Remarks…
The user-pays model
We rejected the so-called “generational bargain” because we couldn't see any reason to pay for things we would never live to use


Government hoarding at Westpac Plaza, Barangaroo [Aug-2016 492kb]
What this little black rock could do
We have to make sure this economy works. We have to export dollars. We have to realise we have a moral responsibility to other people in other nations to keep their lights on
(Joyce, 2017)


The Steelworks and Coal Loader at Port Kembla harbour [Sep-2014 66kb]
Remarks…
In Goldman, Sachs We Trust
The financial sector was the bedrock of our entire social structure and facilitated massive cultural progression. Whereas the 1960s were squandered on aerospace and NASA, the 2010s had asset growth via cheap debt and the ISDA


The financial district in eastern Sydney, with the rocket-shaped 1 O'Connell Street in the middle background [Jul-2011 128kb]
Have a go to get a go
We voted conservative and lived modestly within our means. We studied and worked hard, scrimped and saved, spent wisely and made prudent investments. So we deserved to keep more of our own hard-earned money


Hopetoun Road Toorak, Melbourne [Apr-2019 185kb]
Click and collect
Socially responsible trading during yet another level-four lockdown


George Street boutique, Sydney - which closed within a year of this photo being taken [Jul-2021 109kb]
Not a house of cards then
People's jobs depend on confidence and trust in the financial and banking system. And I can assure [everyone] that, despite the very disturbing and, indeed, shocking revelations we have seen in the Royal Commission, particularly of late, that these issues, while as abhorrent as they are, are completely separate from any question about the stability and strength of [our] banking and financial system.
(Morrison, 2018)


Pedestrian footbridge at Barangaroo [Apr-2016 203kb]
Unyielding positivity
The ship collided with the iceberg → While acknowledging there may be evidence of unsettling optics and regrettable client experiences, this is a complex and contentious matter and, going forward, even our harshest critics admit there are glimmers of hope and reassuring signs of optimism
; The ship then rapidly took on water and listed dangerously → As part of our vision to create a non-zero-sum paradigm, it may sometimes be necessary to relinquish ground to guarantee future team success
; Some passengers ran about screaming → Team members were pro-actively incentivised to facilitate collaborative eminence
; Passengers then had to fight their way topside to escape → Partners scaled peak-less mountains to cultivate growth mindsets
; There weren't anywhere near enough lifeboats → The final number was an on-balance judgement and we are comfortable with where the settings lay
; Only wealthy passengers could secure a place in the half-empty lifeboats → Personal on-boarding of inexperienced users meant there may have been misaligned, or perhaps even flawed, metrics to evaluate success
; The ship sank, no-one came the rescue, hundreds drowned in the freezing water → Clearly there may have been a few organisational shortcomings, but we sincerely believe we found the right balance between upholding our high standards and the needs of stakeholders. Furthermore, it should be noted that there are always statistical outliers, where unforeseen technical and systems failures may cause processes to fall a little short of expectations


Boutique shop-front, Leura [Aug-2021 123kb]
Quality by design
Exclusively appointed apartments riddled with gross structural defects


Nevada Apartments remediation at Darling Point [Dec-2018 278kb]
Canyons of gold
The decision to pour billions of dollars into commercial property turned out to be spectacular


Castlereagh Street buildings, Sydney [Jan-2019 128kb]
Fierce, Wonderful & Closed
What little trade there was ended up bleeding out slowly


Cafe shop-front during a level-four lockdown, Katoomba NSW. It closed permanently eighteen months later during another extended lockdown [Apr-2020 318kb]
In a fugue world
Feel the love through the acquisition of merchandise


St Collins Lane shopping arcade, Melbourne [Apr-2019 182kb]
Braving the abyss
Despite challenging market conditions, and a negative return for your superannuation this year, we continue to deliver strong long-term returns. […] Significant market falls can be worrying, but staying invested remains vitally important. […] When we invest your super, our approach is focussed on the long term, to help maximise your retirement savings. But it also manages short-term risks in times like these. I want to reassure you, our members, that we remain committed to investing to help you achieve your best retirement outcomes.
Bulk email from the CEO of Aware Super, 2022-07-08


Waterrun cliff-side, RNP [Aug-2020 668kb]
Remarks…
Outside the property bubble
Runaway house prices were regarded as being not only acceptable, but necessary


Toorak Road for-sale sign, Melbourne [Apr-2019 575kb]
Too big to fail
It took a long time to establish a perfectly balanced equilibrium between collateralised debt and rising property values


Barangaroo office construction, Millers Point [Aug-2016 364kb]
The golden hoard
Our cities were filled with built-to-flip empty apartments for yield-desperate offshore investors


The construction boom at Wentworth Point [Sep-2016 286kb]
Everywhere the glint of gold
Vibrant cities crammed full of soaring casinos, buzzing with energy and excitement


Microflite City Helipad, Yarra River Melbourne [Apr-2019 297kb]
The road to zero
A globalist market where all tastes were equal and we voted only with our dollars


William Street beverage hoarding (since rebuilt) at Kings Cross [Oct-2012 326kb]
This weight of calorific delights
Just a spoon full of HFCS helped the processed food go down (Hyman, 2014)


Candle wax at a Kent Street wine-bar, near Town Hall [Jan-2014 284kb]
Roses of Picardy
The marriage industry flourished despite the cynicism, malaise and lockdowns


Private wedding ceremony at St Marys Cathedral [Mar-2019 371kb]
Down from the mountain
… and into the markdowns


Leura antique store [Oct-2018 198kb]
Forging a new deal
The transition from manufacturing to a service-based economy was completely seamless


Derelict Ford truck at The Grounds of Alexandria [Apr-2018 649kb]
Remarks…
Consumer kaizen
A culture had to be created in which our customers were prepared to kill


High Street bus-stop, Penrith [Feb-2017 556kb]
The shadow state
Our top-down globalist system will endure forever


North from the Empire State Building [Oct-2017 474kb]
Twilight's last gleaming
We slid down the Phillips Curve until we reached the Minsky Moment


Construction hoarding at Barangaroo, Sydney [Sep-2016 163kb]
Within Skinner's Box
Anyhow…™ we Thought Different™, Opened Happiness™ and Flew the Friendly Skies™ because We Were Worth It™


Wall advertising, Pitt Street Sydney [Mar-2021 250kb]
A million jobs Mr Speaker
Decades of monetarism and offshoring provided enormous economic benefits for all to see


Shepherd Street factory yard, at Marrickville [Sep-2012 337kb]
North to Avoska
Before mobile phones, perhaps-bags accompanied us everywhere


Totes diptych at Hornsby and Wynyard, Sydney [Apr-2005 248kb]
Remarks…
One country, two systems
There was endless argument about Income Inequality, but careful silence about Wealth Redistribution


Woodcroft housing estate versus Harris Street Ultimo [Jan-2013 177kb]
Attainder by process
The most efficient way to neutralise dissent was by levelling the playing-field


Philip Lodge Motel demolition at Haberfield [Jun-2016 391kb]
Play the Tradie's Game
Contract for a knock-down-rebuild and then wade through years of excuses as to why it took so long to construct a simple suburban house


Debris removal at Warrimoo. The original house was demolished in April 2020 and the replacement was still unfinished two years later… [Apr-2020 523kb]
Clip service
Legacy media could always revert to nostalgia for a past brimming with promise


Testaroossa Sammy-Santino Mens Hairstylist, Double Bay [Jan-2019 364kb]
A pattern of abundance
Full automation was the next stage in our collaborative journey


NTP Forklifts (since relocated), at Woodville Road Granville [Apr-2017 237kb]
Keeping interest rates low *
No matter what happened, cheap debt could not be blamed
(* until 2022)


Used car-yard at Parramatta Road Granville [Apr-2017 206kb]
Remarks…
City of forgotten men
There's class warfare all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war and we're winning
(Buffet, 2006)


Unhoused on George Street, Sydney [Aug-2014 463kb]
Structural Ugliness
Ironically regress the trend curve to make the feeds pop


Orthopaedic sandals at the QVB Arcade, Sydney [Nov-2020 351kb]
The carnival is over
The market faithfully rewarded those who took a long-term view


Luna Park Hair Raiser ride, in the rain [Jan-2019 126kb]
Remarks…
Go for growth mate
We'll get an army of casuals to collect our night-soil, just like a hundred years ago


Outdoor toilet and “dunny lane”, Lithgow NSW [Jun-2019 588kb]
Back to the Futuregate
It was a game-changing fairytale ending and one for the history books. Needless to say, we were trapped between a rock and a hard place, and looking down the barrel of a perfect storm. For everyone was tweeting about delivering good stories in world filled with user-generated content


Media-workers at the Sydney Opera House [Jul-2014 328kb]
Α Ω
Every last particle of our faith was poured into equities & real-estate


Birrell Street front yard, Bondi Junction [Oct-2018 448kb]
The engine of growth
Our generation reaffirmed the notion that markets could remain irrational for much longer than investors could stay solvent


The window-display for Central Autohaus in Alexandria [Jun-2015 180kb]
Right on track for Soylent Green
Shots in the arm for the tourism industry: 2019 — months of raging bushfires; 2020-1 — pandemic lockdowns; 2020-3 — torrential rain & flooding from three La Niñas in a row…


SOH Tour group during the 2019 summer bushfires [Jan-2020 265kb]
Segregation now, tomorrow & forever
Only the most privileged could afford the right to live in their own city


Distillery Drive cutting at Jacksons Landing, in Pyrmont [Jan-2013 321kb]
Dog-boxes in the sky
Mate, phone-in punters bought them off the plan like it was Lunar New Year


Spacious and exclusively appointed apartments at Broadway, near Central [Jul-2016 226kb]
Strength through joy
Everyone denounced the enemies of growth


Suburban Toorak, Melbourne [Apr-2019 199kb]
An intricate system of inefficiency
Our elites were more focused on growing the pie than on how it was divided


Darling Harbour Marina [Jan-2017 139kb]
Potemkin Prosperity
The central irony of the financial crisis was that while it was caused by too much confidence, too much borrowing & lending and too much spending — it could only be resolved with more confidence, more borrowing & lending, and more spending
(Summers, 2011)


Fields of green shoots at the Westpac plaza in Sydney [Jan-2014 520kb]
Remarks…
Tyburn revisited
Decades of infrastructure deals and back-room favours continued with impunity


Sydney Metro Project construction site, Martin Place [Jul-2019 286kb]
The boom in retailing
Sell everything, take on even more debt and cancel Christmas


McEvoy Street pop-up retailer, Alexandria [Mar-2018 240kb]
Thrusting for yield
The ubiquity of synchronised growth led social experiments imposed from above


Tower cranes at Australian Technology Park [Mar-2018 217kb]
Stake your claim
A large number of neighbourhood micro-businesses flourished when manufacturing was taken offshore, resulting in vigorous employment growth among non-employees


Small business badge window display, Wentworth Street Port Kembla [Sep-2014 598kb]
Driven by unceasing mobility
Remember the physical-distancing rule and only travel when essential


Waiting for the Cronulla Ferry at Bundeena Wharf [Aug-2020 305kb]
Remarks…
Multi-million dollar slums
Disintegrating verandahs + Cracks big enough to fit both hands + Aspergillus from foundations to eaves = The bones of the property seem pretty decent and it's got a fair bit of character


Ex seminary on Forbes Street, Newtown [May-2022 595kb]
Practising our future
There was always plenty of money for whatever appealed to our sense of adventure


Abandoned front yard yacht, Kirribilli [Jan-2020 600kb]
Look back in covfefe
Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough. Sometimes you have to give up the fight and walk away, and move on to something that's more productive
(Trump, 1987)


Trump impersonator on Broadway, NYC [Oct-2017 335kb]
Remarks…
The shadow workforce
The solution to mass unemployment was as simple as redefining what was meant by “unemployed”


Red flags at the Circular Quay promenade [Jul-1992 475kb]
Remarks…
Financial ouroboros
Australian banks are [indeed] very exposed to the housing market. Around 60 per cent of their lending is for housing. And housing is also common collateral for loans to small and medium businesses. A decline in housing prices impacts the value of that collateral but of itself does not necessarily lead to losses.
(RBA, 2021)


Ex-bank branch waiting to be re-purposed, Newtown [Jan-2022 187kb]
Curate your educational passport
Research suggests that the uncapping of university places accomplished exactly what it set out to achieve


University of Sydney main quadrangle [Oct-2017 507kb]
Tulips in the rough
Tax laws were scrupulously rewritten to ensure the price of land-banked property could increase by more each day than most people could earn in a week


Irelands Road in Blacktown, western Sydney [Dec-2012 532kb]
Ponzimonium
Names, darling, names!… Jeffrey Keith Skilling (Enron Corp); Walter Forbes (Cendant Corp); Bernard Lawrence Madoff (Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC); Satoshi Nakamoto (Bitcoin); Ruja Ignatova (OneCoin); Markus Braun (Wirecard); Sam Bankman-Fried (FTX); Kwon Do-Hyung (Terraform Labs); Changpeng Zhao (Binance); Sergei Panteleevich Mavrodi (MMM Global); Elizabeth Anne Holmes (Theranos Inc.)


Wedding Cake Rock, RNP [Jul-2019 211kb]
Remarks…
The retail ziggurat
The domestic-consumption model was the ideological apex of our economy


Shopping trolleys huddle beneath the mobile-phone towers on top of Marketplace Leichhardt [Sep-2010 374kb]
Taming animal spirits
There is something more systematic about the way people behave irrationally, especially during periods of economic stress
(Greenspan, 2013)


Lunchtime in a George Street amusement arcade, Sydney, demolished a few years later [Sep-2003 326kb]
Remarks…
Rent not Enterprise
[…] that we here highly resolve that these mortgagors shall not have borrowed in vain — that this realm, under Banks, shall have a new birth of fiefdom — and that government of the landlords, by the landlords, for the landlords, shall not perish from the earth


Vacant commercial land at Lawson in the Blue Mountains [Jan-2012 56kb]
Good sports with your money
Thursday night drinks with the GPS boys after the Dragon Boat Race; City lights twinkle far below the 32nd floor; Fetch whole legs of ham from the firm's kitchen to hang in the partners' dining room, then stash the original artworks in the ladies toilet a couple of floors down; Piggyback steeplechase around the associates' floor, using upended desks as obstacles; Grab an old jockey cap from a senior-partner's office and use our neck-ties as whips; And then whooping and hollering and running and falling all over the place and pissing ourselves like it was the best night of our lives…


The ghosts of corporate lawyering at Martin Place [Oct-2014 876kb]
Ford to city: Drop Dead
Moses & Le Corbusier's bastards feasted on the fruits of Socialism in One Class


The southern ramp to the Anzac Bridge expressway, at Pyrmont in Sydney [Jan-2013 150kb]
Stakeholder
One could either use General Relativity equations to derive the Schwarzschild metric in n-dimensions, or else go shopping


Supermarket freezer aisle, Katoomba [Dec-2003 98kb]
Remarks…
All snakes, no ladders
We stuck to the plan, even though we kept changing it


Subterranean utilities footpath markings outside the QVB [Apr-2015 773kb]
Incentives to succeed
These truths were held self-evident: that the Rich were job creators and property booms were an efficient way to redistribute wealth


The rear of a Korean restaurant, in a Pitt Street Lane near Town Hall [Oct-2012 324kb]
Forever in Golconda
This time it really was different


Charging bull statue, NYC [Oct-2017 252kb]
Non-pharmaceutical interventions
A command economy emerged in everything but name


Taped off seating, Sydney Centrepoint [Apr-2020 203kb]
Consumer karoshi
A culture had to be created in which our customers were prepared to die


Market Street escalators at Centrepoint, Sydney [Jan-2016 260kb]
Remarks…
Forget your past
Architectural awards counted for little when it came to prime development sites


Darling Harbour Conference Centre demolition, Sydney [Apr-2014 238kb]
Remarks…
The best that money can buy
Of particular interest to ICAC has been the planning decisions along Canterbury Road and Charles Street, which saw some Liberal and Labor councillors voting together to approve developments which council's planning staff had previously rejected due to non compliance
(SMH, 2017)


Apartment construction at Charles Str, Canterbury [Oct-2015 329kb]
Scaffolding to pierce the sky
To better embrace necessary change, our cities were framed within a matrix of sidewalk sheds


One Circular Quay construction site, Sydney [Jan-2018 213kb]
Positive growth model
A modern 24-hour economy filled with baristas, bloggers, interns, cash-in-hand hospitality workers and itinerant artisans


Lower Baldwin Street, Dunedin NZ [Nov-2017 294kb]
Financial kinesiology
Despite all the underlying momentum and near-zero interest rates (until 2022), it appeared we didn't survive the crash


Outside the Sydney branch of the Deutsche Bank in Hunter Street.
A security guard tried to prevent this photograph from being taken “due to copyright reasons”. A detailed and patient lecture on photography-rights disabused him [Jan-2012 135kb]
Espresso Kultur
The al fresco revolution gave tantalising significance to our busy lives


Outdoor cafe seating at Little Eveleigh street, Redfern [Sep-2020 394kb]
In the circle of FIRE
There were such vast sums of money to be made from rents & fees & short-term leases & collateralised debt & asset bubbles & asset stripping & short-selling & bear-raids & related-party transactions & spoofing & layering & democratising currency & Hummingbots & whale-trades & mergers & demergers & gambling wagering & grey-rhinos & black-swans & shiny tech unicorns & beanie babies & overcooked profit projections & 300-year visions & peer-to-peer lending & off-balance-sheet funding & liar loans & narco-state money-laundering & flipping cities to rideshare & family trusts & anonymous offshore trusts & Shanghai aged-care schemes & concealing petrostate billions & cloud mining tokens & golden moons & cash-for-visas & child-pornography & coal mining leases & terrorism financing & insurance fraud & lying to corporate regulators & rewriting independent reports & unenforced enforceable-undertakings & dismantling Bretton Woods & quashing Glass-Steagall & hiring ex-ministers as senior regional advisers & influence peddling & door-opening & impunity spells & moral-hazard exceptions & guaranteed bailouts & suspending customer withdrawals & using courts to overrule insurance claims & friendly Wagyu-beef-washed-down-with-finest-shiraz judgements & swaps & options & swaptions & binary options & unregulated crypto-loans & coaxing punters to “buy the dips” & “growth phase” IPOs & CDOs & CMOs & CDFs & LDIs & FICCs & REITs & FAANGs & SPACs & BATs & ELPs & PGUCs & P2Es & NFTs & BAYCs & BNPL & NFSC & FOMO & FONGO & concocting ever more abstruse financial instruments to conjure “assets” out of nothing to ensure money kept raining in torrents from the sky, that there was little point in doing anything else


The Elizabeth street facade of the Commonwealth Bank Building [Oct-2020 433kb]