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Australia Needs a ‘Growth Mindset' For Prosperity, Productivity Commission Chair Says

Australia Needs a ‘Growth Mindset' For Prosperity, Productivity Commission Chair Says

Bloomberg3 days ago
Australia's economy can expand at a faster pace if governments regain the 'growth mindset' that has been absent from decision making for far too long, said Danielle Wood, chair of the nation's Productivity Commission.
'Governments must embed the importance of growth in every decision they make,' Wood said in a speech on Monday that previewed this week's Economic Reform Roundtable. 'This means engaging with trade-offs, better program delivery and design, and the 'boring but important work' of reducing administrative burden.'
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With higher education under attack, some faculty members leaving field
With higher education under attack, some faculty members leaving field

Boston Globe

time2 hours ago

  • Boston Globe

With higher education under attack, some faculty members leaving field

Seemingly relentless attacks and funding cuts since the start of Donald Trump's second presidential term have been 'the straw that broke the camel's back,' said Cossette, who left higher education on the eve of the pandemic, in 2019. 'I'm hearing from a lot more people that it's too much.' Advertisement An exodus appears to be under way of Ph.D.s and faculty generally, who are leaving academia in the face of political, financial and enrollment crises. It's a trend federal data and other sources show began even before Trump returned to the White House. On top of Advertisement Nearly 70 percent of people receiving doctorates were already As for faculty, more than a third of provosts reported 'People who can get out will get out,' said L. Maren Wood, director and CEO of the Center for Graduate Career Success, which works with doctoral and other graduate students at 69 colleges and universities If the spree of general job-switching that followed Covid was dubbed 'the Great Resignation,' Wood said, what she's seeing now in higher education is 'the Great Defection.' Getting a Ph.D. is a traditional pipeline to an academic career. Now some of the brightest candidates — who have spent years doing cutting-edge research in their fields to prepare for faculty jobs — are leaving higher education or signing on with universities abroad, Wood said. 'It's going to affect the quality of a student's experience if they don't get to study with those leading minds, who are going into private industry or to other countries,' she said. 'What's the joke about those who can't do, teach? You don't want to be in a situation where the only people left in your classrooms are the ones who can't do anything else.' Advertisement Parents sending children to college in the fall should know that they'll be taking classes 'with a faculty member who is worried about his or her research funding and who doesn't have the help of graduate student teaching assistants. And that's really going to impact the quality of your student's experience,' said Julia Kent, a vice president at the Council of Graduate Schools, who conducts research about Ph.D. career pathways. 'The quality of undergraduate education is at stake here,' Kent said. Even Ph.D.s who want to work in academia are being thwarted. During the Great Recession and the pandemic — two recent periods when there were few available faculty jobs — doctoral candidates could continue their studies until things got better, Wood said. This time, the Trump administration's cuts to research funding have stripped many of that option. 'This is way worse' than those earlier crises, she said. 'Doctoral students are in panic mode.' The same deep federal cuts mean doctoral candidates in science, technology, engineering, math and other fields can't complete the research they need to be eligible for what few academic jobs do become available. 'You're basically knee-capping that younger generation, which undermines the intergenerational dynamism that takes place in higher education. And that trickles down into the classroom,' said Isaac Kamola, an associate professor of political science at Trinity College and head of the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom at the American Association of University Professors, or AAUP. Doctoral candidates early in their programs are questioning whether they should stay, said Wood. That could reduce the supply of future faculty. So will the fact that some universities have Advertisement 'Our graduating students right now are thinking differently about what it means to start a doctorate,' Burke said. Meanwhile, he said, 'all the things that were dismaying to many faculty of long standing just feel worse. People who would have been totally content to stay put, whose prospects were good, who had good positions, who were more or less happy — now they're thinking hard about whether there's a future in this.' That means undergraduates could experience fewer available classroom professors and teaching and graduate assistants or the 'only tenuous presence of faculty who are thinking hard about going somewhere else,' he said. 'There are going to be programs that are going to be shut. There are going to be departments running on fumes.' The route to a university faculty job has always been hard. Finishing a doctoral degree takes a median of Doctoral students who manage to finish their programs have always had to fight for faculty positions, even before institutions announced cutbacks and hiring freezes. Universities enroll far more doctoral candidates, to provide cheap labor as teaching and research assistants, than they will ever hire. The number of doctoral degrees awarded Advertisement With colleges and universities under stress, still more doctoral candidates now face the prospect of spending years 'training for a career that isn't actually available,' said Ashley Ruba, a Ph.D. who left higher education to work at Meta, where she builds virtual reality systems. 'If you told someone going to law school that they couldn't get a job as a lawyer, I don't think they'd do it,' said Ruba, who is also the founder of People already in faculty jobs appear equally on edge. More than 1 in 3 said in a recent survey that People with The proportion of faculty considering leaving their jobs who are looking for work outside of academia has spiked. Before the pandemic, it was between 1 and 8 percent each year. Since then, it has been between 11 and 16 percent, according to R. Todd Benson, executive director and principal investigator at the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, or COACHE. The figure comes from Advertisement A Facebook group of dissatisfied academics, called 'It's difficult to overcome the stereotype of a university professor, which is that they're coddled, they're overprivileged, they're arrogant and just enjoying total job security that nobody else has,' said Kelsky, who also wrote 'The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide to Turning Your Ph.D. Into a Job,' a second edition of which is due out this fall. Today, 'they are overworked. They're grossly underpaid. They are being called the enemy. And they're bailing on academia,' she said. 'Every time I talk to a tenured professor, they tell me how miserable they are and how desperate they are to get out,' said Kelsky. 'And there's no way this isn't having real-life, tangible impacts on the quality of education students are getting.' Contact writer Jon Marcus at 212-678-7556, or jpm.82 on Signal. This story about people with Ph.D.s leaving was produced by , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for our . Listen to our .

1 Standout Cryptocurrency to Buy Before It Rockets 2,975% Higher by 2030, According to Cathie Wood's Ark Invest
1 Standout Cryptocurrency to Buy Before It Rockets 2,975% Higher by 2030, According to Cathie Wood's Ark Invest

Yahoo

timea day ago

  • Yahoo

1 Standout Cryptocurrency to Buy Before It Rockets 2,975% Higher by 2030, According to Cathie Wood's Ark Invest

Key Points Bitcoin currently trades near all-time high prices of $123,000. Cathie Wood and her research team at Ark Invest are predicting that Bitcoin could reach a price of $3.8 million by 2030. A number of factors are driving Wood's optimistic views of Bitcoin. 10 stocks we like better than Bitcoin › Cathie Wood has built a reputation on Wall Street for making bold -- and, at times, seemingly unconventional -- predictions. As CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Ark Invest, Wood was an early champion of electric vehicle (EV) pioneer Tesla and artificial intelligence (AI) software developer Palantir Technologies -- two picks that, in retrospect, appear to have been obvious opportunities. Given Wood's penchant for asymmetric risk assets, it should come as no surprise that she has also developed a strong conviction for cryptocurrency -- particularly Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC). In prior reports published by Ark Invest, Wood and her team of analysts modeled an upside price target of $1.5 million per Bitcoin by 2030. Since then, Wood has amplified her forecast considerably. She's now projecting a price of $3.8 million per Bitcoin within the next five years. At Bitcoin's current price of roughly $123,000, this forecast implies nearly 3,000% potential upside. Let's explore the key factors that could propel Bitcoin's price higher in the latter half of the decade. What could drive the price of Bitcoin higher? For years, Bitcoin found greater acceptance among retail investors compared to large institutional players such as banks, hedge funds, or wealth management firms. Historically, asset management funds steered clear of Bitcoin due to its uncertain regulatory framework and perceived lack of real-world utility compared to traditional fiat currency. However, these dynamics are starting to shift. Digital assets are increasingly viewed as a legitimate avenue for portfolio diversification. According to Wood's research, even a modest reallocation of 1% to 5% from commodities into cryptocurrency within institutional portfolios could release billions in capital -- a shift that would significantly boost demand for, and consequently the prices of, digital assets such as Bitcoin. Closely tied to this trend is the introduction of spot Bitcoin ETFs. These are vehicles that offer direct exposure to Bitcoin without the complexities of managing a crypto wallet or navigating specific exchanges such as Coinbase. Moreover, the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) approval of these ETFs signals a growing regulatory acceptance of cryptocurrency as a mainstream asset class -- a development that likely alleviates lingering concerns among institutional money managers. Outside of traditional portfolios, Bitcoin adoption is also accelerating as part of evolving corporate treasury strategies. Companies such as Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) and GameStop are complementing cash and short-term investments on their balance sheets with direct exposure to Bitcoin. Much like Wood's thesis on untapped institutional liquidity, if more corporations adopt Bitcoin as a strategic financial differentiator, it could create a domino effect -- prompting additional enterprises to do the same. Taking this idea a step further, several countries around the world have explored creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve. The same logic driving increased institutional and corporate adoption applies here. While Bitcoin should still be viewed as a speculative asset, it could prove to be a major differentiator in a world of increasingly complex trade negotiations and heightened geopolitical risks -- factors that often contribute to fluctuations and instability in traditional currency markets. Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency pegged to the value of a fiat currency. While this may seem unrelated to Bitcoin at first glance, broader adoption of stablecoins as a medium of exchange could foster greater psychological acceptance of digital assets as an integrated part of commerce. In turn, increased acceptance of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols could encourage more investors to hold cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin as a core component of their investment playbooks. The core pillar of Wood's forecast rests on Bitcoin's fixed supply cap of 21 million coins. Prices of traditional commodities such as gold fluctuate based on changes in production. In contrast, Bitcoin's supply is finite by design and inherently constrained by periodic halving events -- a feature that instills a scarcity mindset among investors. As a result, Bitcoin is often referred to as "digital gold" and is viewed by many as a hedge against inflation. In essence, the basic dynamics of supply and demand point to exponentially rising demand chasing a fixed supply -- an idea that supports the potential for meaningful price appreciation. Is Bitcoin right for your portfolio? Indeed, Wood's $3.8 million price forecast is aggressive -- and perhaps overly optimistic. As a long-term investor, I would not focus solely on Bitcoin's potential upside in terms of absolute dollars. Instead, investors should consider the underlying factors driving bullish sentiment from investors like Wood. As Bitcoin gains broader acceptance among major financial institutions, corporations, and governments, the cryptocurrency becomes increasingly positioned to play a meaningful role in the modern financial system. Even a modest allocation to Bitcoin could serve as both a diversification tool and a potential hedge against inflation during periods of economic uncertainty. In my view, an investment in Bitcoin reflects a broader endorsement of the digital asset revolution -- and I see no better asset to own in this space. Do the experts think Bitcoin is a buy right now? The Motley Fool's expert analyst team, drawing on years of investing experience and deep analysis of thousands of stocks, leverages our proprietary Moneyball AI investing database to uncover top opportunities. They've just revealed their to buy now — did Bitcoin make the list? When our Stock Advisor analyst team has a stock recommendation, it can pay to listen. After all, Stock Advisor's total average return is up 1,070% vs. just 184% for the S&P — that is beating the market by 885.55%!* Imagine if you were a Stock Advisor member when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $668,155!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,106,071!* The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 13, 2025 Adam Spatacco has positions in Palantir Technologies and Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Palantir Technologies, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends Coinbase Global. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 1 Standout Cryptocurrency to Buy Before It Rockets 2,975% Higher by 2030, According to Cathie Wood's Ark Invest was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Australia Needs a ‘Growth Mindset' For Prosperity, Productivity Commission Chair Says
Australia Needs a ‘Growth Mindset' For Prosperity, Productivity Commission Chair Says

Bloomberg

time3 days ago

  • Bloomberg

Australia Needs a ‘Growth Mindset' For Prosperity, Productivity Commission Chair Says

Australia's economy can expand at a faster pace if governments regain the 'growth mindset' that has been absent from decision making for far too long, said Danielle Wood, chair of the nation's Productivity Commission. 'Governments must embed the importance of growth in every decision they make,' Wood said in a speech on Monday that previewed this week's Economic Reform Roundtable. 'This means engaging with trade-offs, better program delivery and design, and the 'boring but important work' of reducing administrative burden.'

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