Aggregated Awareness

From Robert Gottliebsen at the Business Spectator comes this commentary about the sleeper issue at this year's Australian Federal Election: Assistant Treasurer Nick Sherry's plans to decimate the existing Personal Services Income Legislation, which would drastically affect independent contracting in Australia.

Assorted News & Commentary: General, Markets, Political & Science/Tech focus from around the world:

From the BBC comes news that Australia's Federal Election has been called for Saturday 21st August by Prime Minister Gillard in a press conference today.

From the South China Morning Post (SCMP) & the Fitch rating agency via Zerohedge.com comes a headline that you won't see in the mainstream media. Period.

Whenever the Chinese property bubble bursts, and ALL bubbles eventually do, this will have far reaching ramifications, for all of China's trade partners but especially for Australia...

"...the world was always inhabited by people, who always had the same passions..." - Niccolò Machiavelli - from the work of 1503 entitled "Del modo di trattare i sudditi della val di chiana ribellati" or (On the Way to Deal with the Rebel Subjects of the Valdichiana"

An interesting piece being reported by Biology News Net is the one about "New World" Chilli seeds, plus other crop species' seeds being given by the USDA's Agricultural Research Service and handed over by US Congressman to Dr. Cary Fowler, Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, an institution which manages the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway's Arctic region.

From Casey Research's Dave Galland comes this thought provoking essay on the temerity of 'the mob' and their latest fixation with 'safe haven' US Treasuries and the likelihood of how this preference will come back to bite them when reality is further revealed over time.