Alan Kohler: ”This Is Who Controls the Economy”, Elon Musk & the Signals of an Economic Crisis

Alan Kohler has spent more than 50 years at the centre of Australian financial journalism — and few people alive have watched this country's booms, busts, and policy shifts with more clarity.

In this conversation, Mark and Alan trace the arc of Australian capitalism from the Poseidon nickel boom of 1969 through to the rise of Elon Musk and the AI era. Alan draws striking parallels between the charismatic deal-makers of the 1980s — Bond, Elliott, Skase — and the story-sellers of today, and explains why irrational exuberance always takes longer to unravel than anyone expects. He also gives a frank assessment of what Australian housing policy has got wrong, why superannuation remains the country's greatest economic achievement, and what capital gains tax reform should actually look like.

We speak about:

• The Poseidon nickel boom and what it taught a 17-year-old copy boy about markets
• Why every major financial boom has a charismatic figure selling an irresistible story
• Elon Musk, SpaceX, and whether a loss-making $2 trillion company makes any sense
• How Basel banking rules quietly turned Australian banks into mortgage lenders
• The 1999 capital gains tax change that accidentally supercharged the housing market
• Paul Keating, superannuation, and the policy Alan considers Australia's greatest achievement
• Lang Hancock, iron ore, and what real Australian entrepreneurialism looks like

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