geez, they are saving money for the rainy days, or in case they lose a job, so they will not risk losing their home to the banks...those holding mortgages, that is... they are not saving the money, in order to gain an income... they are deliberately not spending their hard earned money either.... it has something to do with the armegeddon stories, splashed across the media every single day...its a world wide crisis....the same people dont trust the politicians, the bankers, nor anyone else... they have no confidence in the people in charge of the economy.... but they are also sick to death of the same garbage, doom and gloom from the media.... some are actually looking around, closer to home, and finding things are nowhere near as bad as the pollies and media make out... (swan being the exception, since he thinks its all roses and lollipops here in OZ) so they are getting on with their lives, and plans for the future, albeit with caution, and a stack of savings behind them...in case there are some rainy days ahead....
funny one minute they are accused of spending above their means, then accused of being miserly, and not spending to boost the economy.... maybe ordinary people are a lot smarter than those who are supposedly in high places, and in control, the movers and shakers, the ones who profess to know everything....
like the IMF wants OZ to hand over 500 million, or billion, to help bail out some other country, that has mismanaged its economy.... OZ would be smarter to keep the money here, to bail our country out.... whereas having a guarantee in place, knowing the IMF will bail you out, allows them to mismanage...so they are rewarded for bad management...that is not, how to provide an incentive for good governance...
