I have a message for those people who fled to the hills over the last few years fearing that global trade was going to collapse, paper money would be worthless and that gold would be the only thing worth owning for years to come and that message is:  “the global economy is recovering, please come back and join the rest of us”.

Toyota’s current recall woes have generated a range of articles about the Japanese economy as journalists rush to get some Japan flavoured content served up to their masters. But often these articles simply rehash the same tired cliches about Japan and it’s economy and don’t provide people outside Japan with a balanced view of what is really happening.

It may not appear to some investors that the stock market is functioning normally again, but the manner by which the  recent correction was quickly reversed indicates that in fact things are getting back to normal. Certainly there is a long way to go before the ASX All Ordinaries crawls back up to 2007 levels, but at least now a correction is just a correction and not the start of a massive wave of panicked selling.

I have not focused on the Australian political landscape for a few months but the recent tragic deaths of 4 people installing home insulation as part of the Rudd Governments spend-a-thon, has reminded me of the dangers of a government obsessed with poll numbers and popularity.

It has been a while since I have looked at the 52 week prices for some widely held ASX stocks, but now that the stock market has taken a bit of a tumble over the last week or so it seems like a pretty good time to have a look at them again. Have stocks hit new lows or have we simply seen some heat taken out of the market?

Over the last week the Australian stock market has taken a turn downwards pretty much inline with markets across Asia, Europe and the U.S.  Once again no mater how much the RBA talks up our economy, the fact is that Australia’s economic health depends on how our major trading partners are doing and investors are starting to get worried about the global economic outlook.

Back in the 2008/2009 when home prices in parts of Europe and the United States were tumbling there were plenty of “experts” saying Australian house prices would also come crashing down. But alas the residential property market remained fairly robust during the global financial crisis and the experts who predicted a crash in property prices were wrong.

For some time now investors and the public in general have been drip fed details of what might or might not be included in grand sounding “Australia’s Future Tax System Review”. Now that the report has been handed over to Wayne Swan and the Government it might be tempting for us to think that we will see sweeping changes to Australia’s tax system, but I am here to tell you that little will happen and here’s why.

All things considered 2009 was not a bad year for the Australian economy and certainly a good year for the Australian stock market. Now with the worst of the global financial crisis apparently behind us all should be well in 2010 correct? Well maybe, China willing, but where others see blue skies ahead for the economy I see storm clouds.

The Japanese have a saying sandome no shojiki. Roughly translated it means that ‘after getting it wrong twice you finally get it right the third time.’ Two previous Japanese administrations – Hashimoto (1996-98) and Koizumi (2001-6) – have set out to revive the economy through promises to cut government borrowing and spending.

Over the past year or so those who have questioned the science behind Anthropogenic (human-induced) Global Warming have been subjected to ridicule and harassment especially by dim witted journalists and politicians.  But the real villains in the global warming story are those who preach climate change, but do little to rescue their own carbon footprint. Why are these people not held up to ridicule I wonder?

One of the best investments an Australian investor could have made over the last 10 years would have been to buy a large chunk of BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) stocks.  This is simply because BHP shares have outperformed gold, listed or unlisted property and most ASX listed blue chip stocks I can think of. But have BHP shares now rallied too far and what does it’s share price tell us about the demand for commodities?

It is time once again to put my ramblings, rants and ruminations for the previous 12 months under the spotlight. Did I correctly spot any stock market or economic trends or should I be standing in the corner with the dunce cap on for most of 2010?

Another year, another decade and time once again to look at our shares portfolio and perhaps review our positions. Although the global financial crisis has been tough for investors the fact is that the Australian stock market did bounce back in 2009 and if history is any guide then we are likely to see it finish higher in 2010.

Well 2009 is almost over and although stock market investors did it tough in the first quarter, overall the ASX All Ordinaries and S&P/ASX 200 posted healthy gains of around 30%. This means stocks & shares were in fact a good place to have your money over the last 12 months.

As the end of the year approaches it is time once again to contemplate how stocks may perform over the next 12 months. There are plenty of views around of course that range from the super bearish (i.e. there will be another stock market crash) to super bullish, (i.e. markets will surge to dizzying new heights) but I will steer clear of both extremes. So at the risk of being very wrong, very soon, let me now underwhelm you with my outlook for the Australian share market in 2010.