Be prepared for the next great transfer of wealth. Buy physical silver and storable food.
dailyreckoning.com.au / By Nick Hubble / August 9th, 2013
This is one paragraph you won’t forget reading. From Russia Today(RT), it describes the state of affairs down under:
‘Federal Treasurer Chris Bowen, speaking on the newly-released economic report, said the Australian economy is undergoing ‘economic transition’ and ‘not a crisis’. Bowen predicts weaker economic growth, increased unemployment, and more government debt on the horizon.’
How do you know when you’re in a crisis? When the government tells you you’re not in a crisis.
The only funnier paragraph we’ve read recently was the preceding one: ‘Australia will post a budget deficit of $30.1 billion for the fiscal year, a gross miscalculation from its May estimate of $18 billion, but the government promises to stay on track.’
Call that ‘on track’? Imagine if Telstra’s board behaved like Rudd’s cabinet. ‘We’re running at a 40% greater loss than expected, but don’t worry, we’ll keep it up’.
It only gets worse if you dare peeking into the future. Here’s the outlook according to RT: ‘The forecast 2014-2015 deficit has surged to $24 billion, up from the previously $10.9 billion. The government has vowed to curb the deficit for the 2016-2017 period.’
They’ve given up on promising a surplus and ‘vowed to curb’ a rapidly growing deficit. Why the vowing? Why not just do it?
As one of our university lecturers was fond of remarking, ‘The Labor party couldn’t run a hot dog stand’. We’re not sure what Tony Abbott can run, but it’s not a country. Still, we hope he wins. It’s less fun criticising his policies when he’s only in opposition.
Unfortunately, all this political meddling translates to a miserable reality on the ground. Employment fell by around 10,000 in July, while the unemployment rate held steady. That only makes sense if people left the labour force. Sure enough, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has the labour force participation rate dropping from 65.3% to 65.1%.
Thanks to BrotherJohnF