[Ronin]

I heard on ABC news last night that 40% of Australian businesses will likely be cutting jobs, with the mining sector one of the hardest hit due to lower commodity demand.

ABC News

Theres a storm coming.

[bratticus]

So are our friends in TeeVee Land starting to get the picture too now?

[Ronin]

You need to know your enemy. I'd say they are becoming fearful.

[DrBang]

I work in the Australian mining industry. The mining industry is very international in nature so what is happening here is happening all over the world. In a really short time frame (3 months or so), we went from a boom environment where everything is going flat out and no one had time for rec leave, to complete bust. Huge layoffs. Literally tens of thousands of experienced and educated engineers and geologist have flooded the market. All big companies are shedding staff. Many small exploration companies are going under. Many medium sized companies are going to be missing in action very soon.

It is like the mining industry wants and is getting a head start on the rest of the economy to where we are going. The unfortunate thing is mining underpins the Australian economy. When we go down, the rest go down after a lag time.

What this means is there is a giant tidal wave of sh1t about to flush through our economy. No longer will the people around me be able to delude them selves in thinking this economic crisis is the problem of other countries. We here in Australia have had it so good for so long we have no concept of hardship (these things are relative) in living memory for the majority of us.

Thunder down under indeed!

Pops had it right. Make a plan and get cracking. The time for talk has well and truly been eclipsed by the time for action. All the finger pointing and self pity in the world will not help things one little bit. Talk is cheap and bullsh1t is dangerous. Get on with it.

Cheers

Dr Bang

[Ronin]

Well sum up, symptoms of economic woes are certainly starting to shine through. It will be interesting to see where petrol prices end up on the back of a weak dollar.

Meanwhile Swany is on his hands and knees for growth.

Thanks for the first hand info Dr Bang, hope all is well with you and yours.

[jasonraymondson]

Thought maybe you had another problem

nobody cares about australia. Let them eat babies

[Ronin]

Very inspiring Jason. Thanks by the way, if you yanks would have bought more useless excrement the Chinese would have asked for more coal and iron ore. Problem solved

Just kidding mate have a nice day.

[DrBang]

Thought maybe you had another problem

nobody cares about australia. Let them eat babies

I guess the same could be said about the US past a certain point, with the caveat of the perception that the US caused it all. The phrase "nobody cares about Australia" is a great point. When TSHTF, hopefully no one will think to come begging for assistance.

Every country around the world is in a great depression spiral. The only question is how will the fallout play out in a PO world. It surely won't be entirely the same everywhere.

Dr Bang

[alokin]

Australians are not used to hardship, but is anyone in the Western world used to hardship? We in Australia have advantages, first that no one cares about us and that we are just not that much, but if we don't have money we cannot buy anything made in China and we don't produce much (besides meat and wheat). My guess is that in Australia we will have to eat (as long as drought is not too bad), but we won't be able to buy anything, we will lacking even the simplest things like towels, shoes, rope, screws, nails, tools.
I guess, the next weeks I go and shop.
Hopefully all these laid off miners are smart enough to actually produce something.

[Ronin]

Your right our main problem is physical production of goods. The Australian system is build on quick sand, once we sink up to the chest we'll really start thrashing about.

We are lagging a few months behind the worst hit, but IMO we are going to be hit hard sooner than most would think.

I was think of starting an australian unemployment thread and any other grape vein info on wage budget cuts?

Peace all.

[DrBang]

I was in Perth recently. Just before the mining bust. Lots of people on leave with lots of money. Kids in their early to mid 20's on $200K a year with a fly in fly out job, out and about to spend their cash.

What do they spend it on? Fast cars, flashy clothes, etc. Most of them are pretty much the same as the rest of us, loaded up with debt, but on a different playing field. I found this a little unnerving.

I am of the opinion that Australia is going to be hit hard in the short term as the current system of societal economics breaks apart. Gone will be the ability to purchase all of this stuff which depends on just in time delivery, exotic materials and high energy manufacturing from the other side of the planet.

We will be whittled back to a fairly simple lifestyle the hard way. We will go back to manufacturing things ourselves, but by necessity, this will be fairly simple levels of tech. I personally see the majority of society sophistication functioning with a level of tech between the 1880's and the 1940's, with the occasional 2010 signature.

The majority of Australians are not going to like this and are not going to go quietly. We have become far too enamored with this life of whim and desire, even though deep down we know it is no sustainable.

Once we as a society go through this painful transition stage, and set about creating a new society, I believe Australia has what is needed in terms of natural resources to re invent itself. Resilience and flexibility in the face of adversity is part of our culture at an intrinsic level, as is the instinct of community. It has been so from the beginning in our comparatively short history. Our New Zealand neighbours are cut from a similar cloth.

For this reason I am ultimately an optimist.

Kind Regards

Dr Bang

[alokin]

Many Australians are born overseas and have a different cultural background, that might help as long as they have some industrial formation. But I think that industrial skills were not really helpful to get a visa, more medical etc.
Lots of the Australian I know work in housing or something related to cars, the women, if they work something social. That are actually not the skills needed in future.
Australia is still, and especially in future it will be a better place to live than elsewhere.

It might be a good idea participating in boring PC meetings, to insist that our kids learn more practical skills. All what I see at primary school is snipping paper and glue. I learned in school knitting, crocheting mending a pair of socks etc.

[Pretorian]

Any aussie is long on AUD? Just wondering.

[Temperedoil]

As the Australian economy is affected by the Chinese and other resource hungry economies, so is New Zealand affected by the Australian economy.

Here in New Zealand, there seems to be a strange disjunct between global reality and how the behaviour of ordinary people would suggest they feel about the New Zealand economy. Yes, we see stories in the news about retail spending being down, about business sentiment heading down, about politicians warning that 2009 is going to be a tough year. Despite this, though, people are still off on long distance leisure travel, eating in restaurants, generally behaving much as they did during the boom years.

Although New Zealanders and Australians may have a reputation for being flexible, adaptable, and making do on next to nothing, I think that is now more historical than current. We have grown accustomed to the consumerist lifestyle, taken it on with great gusto. Even as successive New Zealand governments have run surpluses and paid off a good portion of the government debt, our private debt has soared thanks to houses, credit cards, hire purchases and the like (especially houses).

What else do we see in the media, in addition to the suggestion that 2009 is looking bad but the economy should grow again starting in 2010? Advertisements urging us to spend more money on such essential items as new cell phones, iPods, and V8-powered cars.

[threadbear]

As the Australian economy is affected by the Chinese and other resource hungry economies, so is New Zealand affected by the Australian economy.

Here in New Zealand, there seems to be a strange disjunct between global reality and how the behaviour of ordinary people would suggest they feel about the New Zealand economy. Yes, we see stories in the news about retail spending being down, about business sentiment heading down, about politicians warning that 2009 is going to be a tough year. Despite this, though, people are still off on long distance leisure travel, eating in restaurants, generally behaving much as they did during the boom years.

Although New Zealanders and Australians may have a reputation for being flexible, adaptable, and making do on next to nothing, I think that is now more historical than current. We have grown accustomed to the consumerist lifestyle, taken it on with great gusto. Even as successive New Zealand governments have run surpluses and paid off a good portion of the government debt, our private debt has soared thanks to houses, credit cards, hire purchases and the like (especially houses).

What else do we see in the media, in addition to the suggestion that 2009 is looking bad but the economy should grow again starting in 2010? Advertisements urging us to spend more money on such essential items as new cell phones, iPods, and V8-powered cars.

Similar in British Columbia, Canada. It's starting to hit, but there's such a lag behind the US, that people obviously can't get their heads around it. There could also be an element of fatalism. That, plus many think the recession will last about a year. Try 30 years, and with an L shaped recovery that will have us looking like the Chiapas region of Mexico.