Doom and Gloom. Talk of a Recession.

[Gozu]

Government should also be blamed for letting the cheap cars in to the country too and not helping local companies ... This includes other industries too !!! ( food , construction etc)

The Howard government?

FMD - ever heard of the Button car plan?

FMD, ever heard of the Howard government? To try and pin this on the Gillard government is absurd.

[Trader]

Why should the government protect inefficient companies? all it does is cost the consumer!

If they aren't competitive let them go under!

[Sky Pilot]

Why should the government protect inefficient companies? all it does is cost the consumer!

If they aren't competitive let them go under!

shock, horror!
Its the Labor Government's job to prop them up through wealth distribution, didn't you know that? Your garden variety consumer can get stuffed especially if he holds down a job and pays taxes. We can't have that sort of thing going on in a socialist society.

[Jimmy_041]

Government should also be blamed for letting the cheap cars in to the country too and not helping local companies ... This includes other industries too !!! ( food , construction etc)

The Howard government?

FMD - ever heard of the Button car plan?

FMD, ever heard of the Howard government? To try and pin this on the Gillard government is absurd.

I didn't realise Button was still in thew Gillard Govt
Completely changing the protected car industry was the mantra of Button and his good mate Keating
You want to blame Howard Govt for what you mates did?

[Sky Pilot]

It was the Howard govt's fault we just lost the second test in India

[southee]

It was the Howard govt's fault we just lost the second test in India

In the Labor believers eyes ... Everything is Howard's fault !!!

[scoob]

It was the Howard govt's fault we just lost the second test in India

In the Labor believers eyes ... Everything is Howard's fault !!!

He did bowl pretty poorly over there

[Q.]

Australia Expands at Fastest Pace Since 2007 on Exports: Economy

Australia’s economy expanded in 2012 at the fastest pace in five years as resource investment and exports outweighed subdued manufacturing and construction.

Gross domestic product grew 3.6 percent last year, the best performance since a 4.7 percent expansion in 2007, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics compiled by Bloomberg showed. The economy grew 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, when it rose a revised 0.7 percent that was higher than initially reported, today’s report showed.

Stocks and the currency rose as stronger exports validated Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged yesterday as the nation extends 21 recession-free years. Policy makers cut rates by 1.75 percentage points in the 14 months through December to rebalance an economy where mining regions in the north and west thrive while builders and manufacturers in the south and east struggle, dragged by the strength of the nation’s currency.

“The broad picture is one of an economy in better shape than many commentators give credit,” said Michael Blythe, chief economist in Sydney at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), the nation’s biggest lender. “Despite all the economic dramas and general pessimism, the growth outcome actually beat the consensus forecast.”

The nation’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed 1 percent today and the local dollar traded at $1.0293 at 2:10 p.m. in Sydney from $1.0264 before the release, extending its longest stretch above parity with the U.S. dollar. The three-year government bond yield held gains, rising 8 basis points to 2.85 percent.

[Q.]

Good reasons for a confident economy

The Australian economy is changing, but consumers and businesses are changing their habits to suit. We have good reasons to be confident in our economy, writes Greg Jericho.

Last week the Monthly Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment found that Australians are now more confident about the economy than they have been for two years.

In a blow to the all the prognostications of doom and destruction regarding the carbon tax that flowed forth from both the Opposition and sections of the media favourable to that party, Australians have essentially kept calm and carried on.

The latest figures suggest that consumers are rather more in tune with how the economy is going than those who would seek to tell us life is gloomy and horrible. Not surprisingly, as employment has increased since July 1 last year, so too have consumers responded with increased confidence.

[Jimmy_041]

So, Gillard should stop blaming the GFC like she did in Parliament yesterday?

[dedja]

She's started a war against the media to create a diversion instead ...

[Punk Rooster]

if foreign interests buy our farming land and export what they produce, does that show up on our balance sheet?

[Sky Pilot]

if foreign interests buy our farming land and export what they produce, does that show up on our balance sheet?

I would think so. Would be a regulation export transaction surely?

[Q.]

Australia: still officially the safest place for mining investment in the world

Despite the apocalyptic rhetoric from the mining industry and the opposition, Australia continues to be ranked as the world’s safest place for mining investment. Bernard Keane and Glenn Dyer report.

Australia remains the world’s safest place for mining investment, an independent US analyst has declared, again undermining constant claims from the mining sector and the Coalition that the government has destroyed the industry’s competitiveness.

Long-standing US mining analyst firm Behre Dolbear last week issued its 2013 ranking of countries for mining investment. As for the last three years, Australia was ranked the safest destination for mining investment in the world, ahead of Canada and Chile.

The period covered by the assessment includes the commencement of the MRRT and carbon pricing schemes.

[scoob]

Holden cuts 500 more jobs

http://www.news.com.au/national-news/ho ... 6615030091

[Q.]

Holden cuts 500 more jobs

http://www.news.com.au/national-news/ho ... 6615030091

Interesting graph there.



Struggling to compete with imports. A dying industry in this country.

[Roxy the Rat Girl]

Holden cuts 500 more jobs

http://www.news.com.au/national-news/ho ... 6615030091

400 of them are at the Elizabeth plant. That would just about spell the end as the plant has been on a downward trajectory for several years. My Brotherin law took a package about 5 years ago, he says it was the best thing he ever did as he could see the writing on the wall then.

[scoob]

Why would the state government think that it was a good move to invest $50M into Holden?

If that decision was make by a company it would spell the end of someones career.

[scoob]

Holden cuts 500 more jobs

http://www.news.com.au/national-news/ho ... 6615030091

Interesting graph there.



Struggling to compete with imports. A dying industry in this country.

another sign of a booming economy?

[Sky Pilot]

Manufacturing in Oz could be improved if we became more efficient. Our workers are as good as anywhere in the world and better than most. But employers struggle with stupidity like the annual leave loading, relentless sick leave entitlements, exorbitant penalty rates, union intervention in everything from toilet paper types to the size of the tea room and positioning of the dart boards. Greed and corruption at the management level is also a handbrake but this can be tackled and eradicated. Try negotiating with a union (I'm a financial member of a union) and you go nowhere fast.
We are our own worst enemy.