Business is booming for businesses whose business is businesses gone bust

The thing about capitalism is there is always something to profit from, even in economic hard times. So with The Australian reporting “warnings of an upcoming surge in business insolvencies”, it’s as good a time as any, we guess, to list industry group Insolvency Australia’s annual ranking of the country’s liquidators — topped this year by Mackay Goodwin chief executive Domenic Calabretta.

“I expect there to be a new wave of insolvencies for the next financial year as industries are impacted by discretionary spending and higher energy prices being rolled out by the recent federal budget,” Calabretta told the Oz. Calabretta “secured” 150 insolvency appointments in the past financial year. And look how he wears each one on his face:

Indeed, this is what struck us most about the piece: the shifts in tone. With paragraphs veering between worrying economic forecast to sober analysis to a celebration of the liquidator industry — shout out to the highest-ranked woman on the list, FTI Consulting senior managing director Joanne Dunn, arguing for greater gender parity in the male-dominated industry — there was probably no accompanying images that wouldn’t be a little jarring.

Anyway, here is group of people smiling broadly in a story about how there’s going to be an imminent surge of business closures:

Guys, take a lesson from funeral director websites — gentle, melancholy smiles only.