something is wrong with the picture in oz

The news is going from bad to worse in the US and UK,in fact most everywhere in the world the news is getting bleaker by the day.

The general consensus is that most countries are headed for, at the very least, a severe recession or if you believe the extreme hardcore permabears a depression.

Yet here in OZ,things seem to be humming along reasonably well,(all things considered).

Unemployment is steady,retail sales were very strong for Christmas.House prices have remained steady apart from a few pockets of weakness.Small business has been bleating about slowish trading conditions but nothing extreme.

The share market has been whacked big time.

But big business hasn't announced any really big lay offs or plant closures.

First home buyers are storming into the market.

A few heavily indebted companies have fallen,but by and large we seem to be getting off rather lightly compared to everywhere else.

So something doesn't quite add up.

We are either very resilient,or we are about to be whacked big time.

I suspect it is the calm before the storm.

Whatever it is,something doesn't add up.

How lucky is the lucky country??