As I wrote yesterday, if we’ve just seen the economic peak, how much worse are things going to get? Well, we’re getting an idea, now.
And it starts with an “R”. You know the word I mean.
The dam has burst. Suddenly, in the last two weeks, large areas of the retail trade have turned down sharply.
It’s not just the last two weeks, though.
The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence has now spent thirteen straight weeks below the 80 mark — a clear warning of trouble ahead.
The last time the consumer confidence index spent at least thirteen weeks under 80 was during the 1990-91 recession — the recession which then treasurer, Paul Keating, described as “the recession we had to have”.
We didn’t “have” to have it then, and we sure as hell don’t deserve it now — but it’s what we’re looking increasingly likely to get. Big surprise, it’s being brought to us by another Labor government.
In some areas, the decline is between 15 and 20 per cent. Combine that with the latest catastrophic fall in building approvals, and the long-awaited acceleration in the downturn is now fully underway.
The Australian
Everywhere you look, the numbers are getting ugly.
Inflation accelerated to nearly 7 per cent in the year to April in a surprise result as motorists saw higher petrol prices driven in part by the restoration of the fuel excise.
The rise in fuel prices was a wholly foreseeable result, given that the Morrison-era cut in fuel excise expired in October last year.
But the real killer blows are a double-whammy of a persistently brutal housing crisis, and a Labor government whose budget rewarded the leaners and bludgers while belting the productive middle class for six.
When the federal budget came out, a series of low-income people were given aid. But those in middle Australia, the wealth creators, were given nothing and told to suffer because “you are affluent”. It was a cruel blow […]
The challenges facing renters also intensified with rental prices across the nation climbing by 6.1 per cent in the year to April compared to 1 per cent a year ago, the ABS data showed. A perfect storm of low vacancy rates and a record surge of immigrants has made it increasingly hard for renters to find affordable property.
The Australian
And the socialist “dictator” of Australia’s second-most populous state is sticking the boot into already brutalised renters, in order to try and patch the budget black hole created by his Kim-esque obsession with grandiose projects.
Recently, the Victorian government decided that renters should be given an extra kick with a “rent tax” levied via a landlord tax. And an “educational tax” was levied on middle income Victorians (by taxing independent schools) who want to give their children a better education. Both those measures will increase inflation in Victoria.
The Australian
At the same time, government debt in Victoria is four times what it was under Cain and Kirner.
Gosh: the national economy is collapsing under a socialist Labor government, and Victoria is collapsing under a socialist Labor government. It’s the 90s all over again.
Just as well I’ve still got plenty of flannel shirts.