I suppose if one relies on the MSM for their knowledge and research,(as per the majority) then one may well believe the interest rates will rise, the economy is recovering, and pigs might fly.
However if one were to delve a little deeper and look at the free press, they will find a very different picture emerging, and its not at all pretty.
When the MSM were shouting and screaming,(the labs message) China would save us, we were the untouchables on the world stage...from Jan to Sept 2008, the RBA kept raising interest rates...... I kept saying it was the wrong message then, they were screwing the economy, small business and home owners....they were wrong on all fronts. (fast forward to Dec 09, we are now in the same position again, history repeating itself) Low and behold, the mud finally hit the fan, and by October 08, they were frantically dropping interest rates....but it was all too late. Some small businesses, hit with such huge interest rates, would struggle to keep going, they may last a year...if they had savings behind them... the way I see it, they gave up the struggle,by Sep 09, some hung on, hoping for the xmas recovery, that never came.
The govt handed out 43 billion dollars in cash...so the battlers could keep on spending, and feel better....they then embarked on the ETS spin machine, to keep the battlers distracted, from what was really going on down there in the trenches.
Lets have a closer look around our own backyards, what is happening in your community....??? In mine, the restaurants have been empty for almost 2 years, its no longer the case of waiting around for a half hour to get a seat, businesses that were here for 20 years, have closed their doors in the past 6 months, new businesses that opened have remained empty of customers, and I note another 2 have closed as of 31.12.09
Toorak is big on tourists...and some shops are reliant purely on the tourist trade, locals do not shop there ...the tourists are not coming. The spring racing season gave some businesses a temporary reprieve, but there has been no recovery since. Xmas shopping crowds were non existent, parking is easier. You have to worry,when shops that rely on local trade, not tourists, close their doors. High interest rates, difficulty finding funding, higher wages, and all the other penalty conditions imposed on small business, will eventually cripple them. Welcome to the real world, devoid of spin.
