Quote:

Australia's economy just entered recession on a per capita basis Australia has just recorded its second straight quarter where the economy shrank on a per capita basis. Removing the impact of population growth from fourth quarter GDP figures, the economy declined by 0.2 per cent in the three months to the end of the year, following a 0.1 per cent decline in the three months to September. Including population growth does not make the picture much rosier, with the economy growing at just 0.2 per cent over the fourth quarter. The weak result dragged down Australia's economic growth last year to 2.3 per cent, well below the Reserve Bank's optimistic call of 2.8 per cent and beneath even the more pessimistic analyst forecasts. It also shows a dramatic slowdown over the course of last year, with annualised growth over the second half of the year coming in at 1 per cent, compared with the brisk 4 per cent in the opening months. "Growth in the economy was subdued, reflecting soft household spending and a decline in dwelling investment," ABS chief economist Bruce Hockman said.     "The approvals for dwelling construction indicate that the decline in dwelling investment will continue." Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the fundamentals of the economy remained strong despite the impact of falling consumption spending and the drought. "It was a challenging year in halves when it comes to growth — strong quarters in March and June and slower than that in September and December," Mr Frydenberg said. Government spending covers weak private sector The domestic sector continues to struggle, with consumption up a weak 0.4 per cent over the quarter, while private sector investment and demand effectively contributed nothing to GDP growth, compared with the 0.4 percentage points they added over the previous four quarters. The biggest contributor to growth was government spending. "Public investment remained at high levels with state and local government growth of 6.3 per cent reflecting continued work on a number of large infrastructure projects," Mr Hockman said.     "Government final consumption expenditure grew 1.8 per cent, with ongoing expenditure in health, aged care and disability services. "This investment translates to ongoing strength from the healthcare industry, which remains the largest contributor to economic growth." Household spending and income 'mismatch' ANZ's Felicity Emmett said the figures were disappointing, particularly the ongoing weakness in the household sector, where vehicle sales, household goods and utilities spending were the main drags. "The motor vehicles and household goods are probably related to credit tightening and perhaps an impact of the wealth effect," Ms Emmett told ABC News Channel.     "When we drill down to look at household's experience, you can see that things like wages and household income growth is still very low." Ms Emmett said there was a big mismatch with consumer spending still outpacing household income growth. "So consumers are still assuming that their household income will pick up to match consumption spending," she added. "I think in this new world of ongoing low wage growth, that is actually, perhaps, an unreasonable assumption." This is a topic that Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe addressed in a speech this morning, arguing that weak pay growth and low wage expectations were a bigger long-term threat to consumer spending than falling house prices. The change in consumer habits is reflected in slight uptick in the income-to-savings ratio, which in turn points to a more conservative approach to spending developing. Citi's Paul Brennan said the rise in savings is consistent the negative wealth effect from falling house prices, while the weakness of consumer spending reflects poor income growth. "Although nominal [non-inflation adjusted] GDP is growing strongly … the share going to employees has declined in contrast to a rising profit share," Mr Brennan wrote.     "Additionally, household income available for consumption has been further squeezed by payments growing faster than income."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-06/gdp-q4-2018/10874592



The libs have absolutely no idea how to manage an economy. The fact is that they were able to blunder their way into a surplus the last time around. Mainly thanks to Keatings good work before the libs took office and then the fire sale of many of our assets.

Economy is stuffed. Debt is tripled.

Can we get a refund on these libs?

Record high employment.
Record high participation rate.
Record low interest rates.

I'll take those any day.  8-)

Captain Nemo wrote on Mar 6^th, 2019 at 4:17pm:

Record high employment. Record high participation rate. Record low interest rates. I'll take those any day.  8-)

record high underemployed.

and let me remind you what abbott said about low interest rates


Quote:

If interest rates go down today it won't be because the Reserve Bank says 'yippee, isn't our economy in great shape'. It will be because the Reserve Bank thinks economic activity is heading south.”

:D :D

I'll take interest rates at 4.5% over 17% any day!  8-)

How can this be possible rtards?  With no GFC

John Smith wrote on Mar 6^th, 2019 at 4:26pm:

Captain Nemo wrote on Mar 6th, 2019 at 4:17pm: Record high employment. Record high participation rate. Record low interest rates. I'll take those any day.  8-) record high underemployed. and let me remind you what abbott said about low interest rates Quote: If interest rates go down today it won't be because the Reserve Bank says 'yippee, isn't our economy in great shape'. It will be because the Reserve Bank thinks economic activity is heading south.” :D :D

Also what hockey said as well. 

When Coalition politicise independent organisations' actions, be prepared for the bite back.  Then again, these people are hypocrites with extra thick skin.

Captain Nemo wrote on Mar 6^th, 2019 at 4:30pm:

I'll take interest rates at 4.5% over 17% any day!  8-)

people are much worse of now with $600 000 loans at 4.5% than they ever were with 100 k loan at 17 ::) ::)

Captain Nemo wrote on Mar 6^th, 2019 at 4:30pm:

I'll take interest rates at 4.5% over 17% any day!  8-)

The interest rates for lenders at 17% only lasted a few months.  It was also balanced out by very high savings interest rates as well.       If it wasn't for Keating and Hawkes magnificent handling of the economy and the structural changes they made, you would still be sitting on Howard's mandated 13.5% home loan rates and wearing a suit to interviews with Bank Manager's

I lived through those interest rates, and it was tough for a while but I ended up far better off in the long run and able to gradually move up in housing.     Go and have a look at Howards performance as Treasure during the Fraser Government and see why change was needed

John Smith wrote on Mar 6^th, 2019 at 5:50pm:

people are much worse of now with $600 000 loans at 4.5% than they ever were with 100 k loan at 17

And of course housing hasn't gone up in price but stagnated. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

lee wrote on Mar 6^th, 2019 at 6:03pm:

John Smith wrote on Mar 6th, 2019 at 5:50pm: people are much worse of now with $600 000 loans at 4.5% than they ever were with 100 k loan at 17  And of course housing hasn't gone up in price but stagnated. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

No one cares how much housing has gone up when you can't make the repayments. But at least you can claim you had a cheaper interest rate, right? :D :D :D

John Smith wrote on Mar 6^th, 2019 at 7:01pm:

No one cares how much housing has gone up when you can't make the repayments

Oh wages haven't gone up either? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Perhaps you should adjust your spending. Don't buy that latest smartphone. Cut back to eating out to one day a fortnight. One carton of booze less. Small things. ;)

lee wrote on Mar 6^th, 2019 at 7:04pm:

John Smith wrote on Mar 6th, 2019 at 7:01pm: No one cares how much housing has gone up when you can't make the repayments Oh wages haven't gone up either? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Perhaps you should adjust your spending. Don't buy that latest smartphone. Cut back to eating out to one day a fortnight. One carton of booze less. Small things. ;)

wages gone up  ;D ;D ;D ;D

wages have been pretty stagnant over the last decade. An average house in western Sydney in 2008 were well under $500 000, today they go for over $1m. What does that do for your hypothesis  :D :D

lee wrote on Mar 6^th, 2019 at 7:04pm:

John Smith wrote on Mar 6th, 2019 at 7:01pm: No one cares how much housing has gone up when you can't make the repayments Oh wages haven't gone up either? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Perhaps you should adjust your spending. Don't buy that latest smartphone. Cut back to eating out to one day a fortnight. One carton of booze less. Small things. ;)

PHILISTINE!

John Smith wrote on Mar 6^th, 2019 at 7:15pm:

wages gone up     wages have been pretty stagnant over the last decade.

So wages have indeed gone up. Unless you mean they have gone down.

Pretty stagnant is your lovelife.

lee wrote on Mar 6^th, 2019 at 7:22pm:

John Smith wrote on Mar 6th, 2019 at 7:15pm: wages gone up     wages have been pretty stagnant over the last decade.    So wages have indeed gone up. Unless you mean they have gone down. Pretty stagnant is your lovelife.

well yes, real wages have gone down. Your point?

Lee hasn't got a point. He waffles bull**it until you just give up. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Vic wrote on Mar 6^th, 2019 at 5:55pm:

Captain Nemo wrote on Mar 6th, 2019 at 4:30pm: I'll take interest rates at 4.5% over 17% any day!  8-) The interest rates for lenders at 17% only lasted a few months.  It was also balanced out by very high savings interest rates as well.       If it wasn't for Keating and Hawkes magnificent handling of the economy and the structural changes they made, you would still be sitting on Howard's mandated 13.5% home loan rates and wearing a suit to interviews with Bank Manager's I lived through those interest rates, and it was tough for a while but I ended up far better off in the long run and able to gradually move up in housing.     Go and have a look at Howards performance as Treasure during the Fraser Government and see why change was needed

Here you go Vic....


Quote:

The highest interest rates from 1982 were: Fraser government (when Mr Howard was treasurer), 21.4 per cent in April 1982; Hawke government, 19 per cent in December 1985 and Keating government, 7.9 per cent in December 1994.

::) ::) ::)

https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/the-inconvenient-truth-about-interest-rates-and-john-howard-20071005-gdr9mx.html

Vic wrote on Mar 6^th, 2019 at 5:55pm:

Captain Nemo wrote on Mar 6th, 2019 at 4:30pm: I'll take interest rates at 4.5% over 17% any day!  8-) The interest rates for lenders at 17% only lasted a few months.  It was also balanced out by very high savings interest rates as well.       If it wasn't for Keating and Hawkes magnificent handling of the economy and the structural changes they made, you would still be sitting on Howard's mandated 13.5% home loan rates and wearing a suit to interviews with Bank Manager's I lived through those interest rates, and it was tough for a while but I ended up far better off in the long run and able to gradually move up in housing.     Go and have a look at Howards performance as Treasure during the Fraser Government and see why change was needed

Inflation was much higher at the time, about 10%. Interest rates were high to keep up, both for depositors and borrowers.