This week Adams went to Canberra in a whirlwind sweep of the Federal Parliament to discuss a variety of topics. Adams had the opportunity to speak to people within the Coalition, Labor, the UAP and One Nation.
Adams had a number of very frank conversations about the nature of Australia’s economic problems. In total, Adams had more than a dozen meetings over the course of 2 days with political figures and the media.
Australia is in the biggest economic mess since becoming a country. Politics is stopping sensible discussion of our national problems and the considering of the correct policy solutions. So in fear of the Australian people, politicians believe that as a community, the debt bubble is not able to be discussed.
The position of some in Parliament is that the unvarnished truth and common sense is beyond the Australian people. Accordingly, democracy is the problem. This was foretold centuries ago.
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Join us for a live discussion about the current state of economics and politics, with a focus on the busted energy markets with David Llewelln-Smith Chief Strategist at @NucleusWealth and founding publisher and editor for @Macro_business. You can ask a question live.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Like it or not, we have been caught up in the global boom in gas prices, which have been driven by bad Government policy locally, and the Ukraine Russia conflict, with the latter using gas as a lever of coercion, reducing Nord Stream flows to 20% and forcing up the price of the commodity and for European countries to grab supplied at any cost from anywhere else.
Data from the Australia Energy Regulator highlights how much prices have risen, with prices significantly higher than a few years ago, based on $ per gigajoule. last week Natural-gas prices soared in European with the benchmark gas prices rising 12% to 198 euros per megawatt-hour.
There will be a very timely DFA Live show tomorrow night with David Llewlyn-Smith, the Chief Economist at Nucleus Wealth, where we are going to explore these issues and ask what can be done. There is, he says an answer which would reduce energy prices substantially across Australia, it just takes political will.
So today we look at the state of play and some of the levers which might be pulled. The ACCC has today released forecasts showing that the east coast of Australia could face a shortfall of 56 PJ in 2023. At the same time last year, their Gas Inquiry interim report found 2022 could face a 2PJ shortfall. “Our latest gas report finds that the outlook for the east coast gas market has significantly worsened. To protect energy security on the east coast we are recommending the Resources Minister initiate the first step of the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism (ADGSM),” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said. “We are also strongly encouraging LNG exporters to immediately increase their supply into the market.” The root cause problem is that much of the gas produced in Australia’s east coast is produced by companies that are also LNG exporters.
Thus, we are exposed to the worst of the global markets, as LNG (the liquified form of the Gas) is sold internationally. In fact, by value it recently became one of our biggest exports – especially to China. The ACCC’s report raises concerns about the high level of market concentration, noting that LNG exporters and associates had influence over almost 90 per cent of the proven and probable (2P) reserves in the east coast in 2021 through direct interests, joint ventures and exclusivity arrangements.
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Have you noticed how everyone is now trying to pass the buck for the failed monetary policy, the disastrous results of which were magnified by the COIVD response. Politicians are pointing to the Central Bank.
Central Bankers point to conflict between Ukraine and Russia, and then also point to the COVID caused supply chain disruption (which was largely created by households and businesses suddenly being given cash to buy stuff, creating high demand as the lockdowns took a toll.
In effect no-one in authority wants to accept they helped create the problems we are now facing. And because of that reflex, we may not get to first understand the root causes which created the issues, and so how to address them correctly, and avoid similar issues down the track.
On just this theme, Bernard Hickey wrote an interesting piece on the New Zealand Site interest.co.nz titled “Reserve Bank may have lots of good company in the money-printing dog box, but that doesn’t let it or the Government off the hook on inflation”
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Social unrest is on the rise in China, triggered by a range of financial services related issues, across deposits and mortgages, with ordinary Chinese people are publicly revolting, with rapidly escalating boycotts on mortgage payments spread across at least 301 projects in about 91 cities.
In addition there were large-scale protests in the Henan province by bank depositors over the release of their frozen funds over what may be the nation’s biggest-ever bank scam. The incident comes in the light of the Henan branch of the Bank of China declaring that people’s savings in their branch are ‘investment products’ and can’t be withdrawn.
Authorities say they started repaying some victims last week even as a police investigation is still ongoing. But Chinese state media has not posted anything about the repayments.
The Henan bank scandal, in which 40 billion yuan (US$6 billion) in deposits have disappeared, is more than a Chinese banking crisis – it is a political crisis that could undermine people’s confidence in local governance and also other local banks, according to analysts.
The blow to public confidence in financial stability and the government’s ability to protect their legitimate interests could be a long-term issue, unless the central government can find ways to promptly repay the depositors, they say.
Police in central China’s Henan province have arrested a number of suspects allegedly involved in a “complicated” cash crisis involving rural banks, while investigators continue to search for the whereabouts of customers’ missing deposits.
The arrests come after months of protests from anguished savers, who have been unable to withdraw cash from their accounts at small rural banks in Henan and Anhui provinces.
The case has highlighted the vulnerability of lenders in China’s less-developed regions as the risk of recession grows in the world’s second largest economy.
The Chinese Communist Party’s tanks on Wednesday rolled on the streets to scare Henan bank protestors amid large-scale protests in the province by bank depositors over the release of frozen funds.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
We know rates are going up, even the RBA confirms this, and now our new Prime Minister has stepped in saying the Central Bank needs to be careful. So what’s going on?
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I discuss the creation of Kiwi Bank, a National Bank In New Zealand with one of its architects Hon Matt Robson.
Matt Robson’s commercial experience began in the Netherlands thirty years ago, working in the oil industry. This introduced him to the rigours of international commerce, budgets, deadlines, understanding complex commercial operations and structures, it also gave him management experience and familiarity of working with a multicultural, multilingual workforce, where reading and writing in foreign languages was a necessity. As a result he is fluent in speaking reading and writing Dutch, speaking and writing French and German and competent in reading Spanish.
In the 1970’s Matt qualified with a Diploma in Teaching and taught through the 1980’s in a number of secondary schools in New Zealand the majority in the South Auckland area.
In the 1980’s-1990’s Matt became engaged in party politics. As deputy leader of both the Alliance and Progressive Parties he acted as spokesperson and policy developer across a wide spectrum of policy issues in areas as diverse as economic development, social matters and international affairs.
Matt was a Cabinet Minister in the Labour-Alliance Coalition Government (1999-2002) and was allocated the following portfolios: Minister of Corrections , Minister for Land Information, Associate-Minister of Foreign Affairs (responsible for official Overseas Development Aid [ODA]), Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control.
He was also a significant driver in achieving justice for Algerian asylum seeker Ahmed Zaoui, both while as a Member of Parliament and as an independent barrister/solicitor.
He continues to practice law in Auckland and specialises in immigration law and migrant advocacy. Matt remains active in advocating global peace and justice and is a regular speaker at disarmament and anti-nuclear conferences around the world.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
You may well remember the previous Treasurer trumpeting on about the $250 billion dollars of household savings which we have over 2020 and 21. And Phil Lowe recently quoted a similar figure in one speech, though on the ABC 7:30 seemed to lower it to 200bn. Those buffers came from multiple sources, including JobKeeper, other Government benefits, sanctions withdrawal from super, and of course direct household savings. We also know these same buffers are now being spent.
The Buffers question in an important one, especially given the forecast for continued rising rate, and the impact on the overall economy. In a recent RBA FOI, they discussed beefing up wording in a recent RBA Outlook, to “however, consumption growth could also be weaker than expected, for instance if asset prices were to decline or if the effects of higher inflation and interest rates weighed on discretionary spending by more than anticipated. This risk is most pronounced for households with relatively low savings buffers and high debt relative to income”.
Phil Lowe replied “When talking about uncertainties, I was a bit surprised there wasn’t more about how households/businesses/asset markets might respond to higher interest rates”.
We agree, this becomes the critical. ANZ Bank yesterday dramatically lifted its forecast for Australia’s official cash rate (OCR) to 3.35% by November 2022
Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.
If you are buying your home in Sydney’s contentious market, you do not need to stand alone. This is the time you need to have Edwin from Ribbon Property Consultants standing along side you.
Buying property, is both challenging and adversarial. The vendor has a professional on their side.
Emotions run high – price discovery and price transparency are hard to find – then there is the wasted time and financial investment you make.
Edwin understands your needs. So why not engage a licensed professional to stand alongside you. With RPC you know you have: experience, knowledge, and master negotiators, looking after your best interest.
Shoot Ribbon an email on info@ribbonproperty.com.au & use promo code: DFA-WTW/MARTIN to receive your 10% DISCOUNT OFFER.
