interest rates increase 0.25, page-17

All positive IMO. People need to stop spending! A great example was during the boxing day sales here in Australia. Again this year was a record spend! Now in contrast go to the states and look at their post Christmas sales, Macys, sax, etc was like a ghost town not a person insight. People in Australia need to put the credit cards away. The problem here is that people have so much equity in their homes they can continue to spend spend spend!. Draw down more and keep spending. This latest percentage increase IMO is the beginning of many more to come.

PS: I feel very sorry for people that are young families that purchased at the end of the last boom or since, as there would be no equity in their houses and they would have paid top dollar. One thing is for sure, the banks will be having a lot of repossession sales in the coming year. Feel sorry for many Australians today.