History repeats itself?"The recession we had to have"Treasurer...

History repeats itself?

"The recession we had to have"

Treasurer Paul Keating budgeted a record $9.1 billion surplus for 1989–90, and Labor won the 1990 election ……David Barnett wrote in 1997 that Labor fiscal policy at this time was "self-defeating as "with one hand it was imposing a monetary squeeze, while on the other it was encouraging spending with wage increases and tax cuts".[1]

By July 1990, Australia had entered a severe recession.[6] Initially, the Treasurer had insisted Australia would face a "soft landing", but after receiving the September quarter accounts indicating a large contraction of 1.6 per cent, he adopted a different political strategy, instead arguing that the downturn was a necessary correction by opening a press conference in November as follows:[7][8][9]

The first thing to say is, the accounts do show that Australia is in a recession. The most important thing about that is that this is a recession that Australia had to have – Treasurer Paul Keating, November 1990.

Global recession fears signal bumpy times ahead, but not for gold, according to ANZ Research, which boosted its year-end forecast for the precious metal as investors seek safe-haven assets and the US dollar rally fades.