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The fault lines of the Rudd stimulus package(s)

By Arthur Thomas - posted Wednesday, 11 March 2009


What are the opportunities for high employment sectors experiencing stress and layoffs such as finance, insurance, superannuation, retail, hospitality, tourism, and airlines?

There is no comment on the other susceptible jobs lost in sales and service positions in the automotive, marine and leisure manufacturing industries?

A different scenario

Australia's economic revival faces challenges far different to that of previous serious recessions and even depressions.

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Australia is now a resource-export-reliant economy in which our original agricultural sector is a poor reflection of its former self, our non-resource related industrial and manufacturing sectors, decimated by outsourcing and cheap imports.

As exports decline, Australia is now reliant on its consumer and services economy. Australia's major employers, and especially the motor vehicle and support industries, will decline, a result of global oversupply.

The triggers

An "endless supply of cheap credit and reckless lending practices" fuelled Australia's consumer economy, triggering an orgy of credit spending.

The same cheap credit fuelled the construction, housing, and investment boom, now in freefall, and decimating millions of Australian workers, retirees, and pensioner's superannuation and investments.

The global lending community has learnt a hard lesson, and stricter future credit control will restrict lending. The victims of failed investments, mortgage defaults, personal property repossessions, and credit card debt will decimate the numbers of prospective borrowers that can meet the new requirements to qualify for loans.

The Rudd Government's demand that banks lend more will have little real effect in a market with less low risk applicants.

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The stimulus package and the economy

So how will consumer spending recirculate the stimulus money and reenergise Australia's economy?

First our retirees. The first splurge overlooked the stimulus funds sent to those retirees who had returned to their homelands. While none of those many millions benefitted Australia's economic growth, it did benefit other nations economies.

Expect retirees to save and others to reduce debt.

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About the Author

Arthur Thomas is retired. He has extensive experience in the old Soviet, the new Russia, China, Central Asia and South East Asia.

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