THE BUDGET

[newstart2380]

I listened to Amanda Vanstone and Grahame Richardson this morning and what I heard was very concerning.

They both agreed that what ever party wins the election in September the GST will most likely rise at some stage to at least 15% because the deficit at this stage ( and rising) is so huge and there is NO money in the coffers.

The mining boom has weakened somewhat and this government has grossly overspent, the OZ dollar is to strong against other currencies but GR stated any credible treasury department would have foreseen and taken appropriate measures long before now because the OZ dollar has been high for over 2 years.

The Swan budget will be interesting but I think it will be his "swan song"

[bella_again]

How do they measure the average earner though?  Do they use a concentrated part of the population and cut out the very low and high to achieve a figure?

The accuracy would depend on how the quantify it surely?

[freakiness]

yep its tough out there and going to get tougher.

trying to find a second job or a fulltime (LAUGH, no such thing now adays)  job

cant get a look in for an interview anywhere


so many businesses, big and small going to the wall,and I suspect its only going to get worse

Have you applied for Coles online?

Coles fastest growth department. Online applications only.

Woolies also have an online department competing with Coles.

[monman12]

"How do they measure the average earner though". Total of all incomes divided by the number of wage earners producing that total.

TH: how many people do you personally know that earn $1300 a week or more."

A few TH, which is not unusual, considering the average weekly earnings are for the average of approximately 10,000,000 workers.

[cherry*135]

there is no money and people have stopped spending

Is that a generalisation? What areas/regions of Aust does it apply to? Small town/city vs Sydney?

We have had our closet mall renovated and enlarged that a cost of $200m approx. First stage opened last year. The only shop to close down in the mall since it opened 12 months ago was Darrell Lea (which closed down all over Aust).The rest is due to be completed next month. The place is packed on the w/e .. people spending heaps.

The investors that sunk $200m in the project must have had a lot of faith that it is a good investment.

I live in a tourist/holiday town - the number of people visiting/staying in paid accom is increasing if anything. Holidays are luxuries - so people must have the extra cash to pay for them.

[cherry*135]

I too have a CC... I got it last year.. it was the first time ever but I needed it to get a credit history for future reasons.. 

I got it on the advice of the bank manager after an appointment to plan for buying a home. 

Pay it off every fortnight... never had to pay interest.. 

I have heard of that before. I believe the bank manager offered that advice in your best interests.

A young person, well paying job, easily pay of a car loan, had to get a credit card first to build up a credit history before applying for a loan.

Also years ago when we applied for a higher purchase agreement with a furniture store, because we had a credit card, they said that would make approval much quicker. They did a credit check and confirmed we had a good credit history... and HP was approved.

[bella_again]

Ok just had a quick Google John and from what I have read AWOTE measures mean earnings not medium earnings?  So in reality wouldn't that figure be lower?

One of the sources I had a quick look at is here that kind of explains it

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2614076.html

[cherry*135]

The person wanting a car loan, had saved a substantial deposit as well. But was still required to build up a credit history with a credit card first.

[carls*world]

Ok just had a quick Google John and from what I have read AWOTE measures mean earnings not medium earnings?  So in reality wouldn't that figure be lower?

One of the sources I had a quick look at is here that kind of explains it

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2614076.html

"Fourth, AWOTE represents mean earnings, not median earnings. This is a very important point. The mean income of drinkers in a pub goes through the roof if Bill Gates walks through the door, but the typical drinker has become no better off. For this reason, the median is a much better measure of a typical person’s income, as it is not distorted upwards (or downwards) by large changes in the tails of the distribution. This is a point that we all should recall from Year 8 maths, but for some it is apparently a difficult point to grasp."

And then there's mode. Yet another, more accurate figure to represent "typical".

[the_hawk*]

John what those figures don't show is what the 90% of average workers really earn.

Its the little thing that business people and governments forget that its the 90% of the population that keeps things going and nopt the 10% at the top doing all the spending.

AM3 I can only talk about here in Adelaide and what I see on a daily basis, some figures came out this week that goes a long way to explaining what I see. Apparently we and Tas are the worst of states in the country.

[ashjoma]

I went to a lecture last year - the lecturer started off with saying that Australia's finances are far, far worse than is made public, and that any of us realise.

I think he said that in reality, we are far worse in the hole, than even the USA.

But the true situation is not made public.

I think he predicted a big collapse for us, in a couple of years.