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Australia: The 'New' Switzerland?
Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man blog,
Switzerland is the place that has traditionally stood above all the rest in its reputation for financial stability.
Why? Because the currency was well-managed, the banking system was sound, and the country had a long tradition of treating capital well.
Over the last few years, however, these advantages have collapsed.
Switzerland has voluntarily surrendered banking privacy, and the many Swiss banks are now hemorrhaging cash.
Even worse, the Swiss government destroyed its reputation for respecting capital when they pegged the Swiss franc to the euro in 2011 to arrest the franc’s rapid rise.
The country’s top central banker at the time, Philipp Hildebrand, claimed that he would buy foreign currencies in ‘unlimited quantities’ to defend the peg.
This is not something a responsible steward of currency should ever say. The currency peg was nothing more than a form of capital controls… and it effectively screwed anyone that had trusted the Swiss system with their savings.
Since then, the market’s need to find a financial safe haven has only become more desperate. One only needs to look at Cyprus to see why.
Yet just a small handful of countries inspire confidence in the marketplace. And the most popular seems to be Australia.
From a macro perspective, Australia is in much better shape than the rest of the bankrupt western hierarchy.
Though the national budget deficit has been rising over the last few years, Australia’s public debt as a percentage of GDP (less than 30%) is a tiny fraction of the US, France, Italy, etc.
Moreover, as the Australian economy is heavily dependent on resource exports, it’s a ‘commodity currency’, much like Canada. But unlike Canada which is wed to the US, Australia’s economy is much more closely tied to Asia’s growing dominance.
Perhaps most importantly, though, Australia is not printing money with wanton abandon like the rest of the world.
In fact, the RBA’s (Australia’s central bank) balance sheet has actually been -decreasing-, dropping from A$131 billion to just A$81 billion in 2012.
This constitutes a 38% decline in central bank assets in five years. By comparison, US Federal Reserve credit has grown 367% over the same period. This is an astonishing difference.
Plus, Australian interest rates here are typically much higher than in the US, Europe, or Canada. Just holding cash in an Australian bank account can yield over 4% in annual interest. It’s sad to say, but this is quite a bit these days…
(Attendees at our Offshore Tactics Workshop were able to open such accounts on the spot with an Australian bank representative; we’ll soon send out information about how you can do this as well…)
Now, there’s really no such thing as a “good” fiat currency. But given such fundamentals, it’s easy to see why Australia is replacing Switzerland as a global safe haven.
I’ve spent the last few days with some banker friends of mine, and they’ve been telling me about the surge of foreign capital coming into Australia from Europe, the US, and China.
But one thing to keep in mind, they reminded me, is that the Australian dollar has a loose correlation with the price of gold. After all, gold is Australia’s third biggest export.
Consequently, we’ll likely see a decline in the Aussie dollar if the gold correction continues to play out. This may prove to be a good entry point for individuals to get their money out of the US dollar.
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interesting.....very interesting!
FUCK OFF, WE'RE FULL!
tyler dudes, why do you not use Mish's analyisis? I see from you homepage that you guys follow his shit, and he has been on the money over the last few years. esp wit the treasury long call.even tho hes a bear
Too funny. I read the summary on the first page and thought, "That's a very clueless assessment. It's got to be that Simon Black douche"
And sure enough... It was.
This guy has the economic analysis skills of a junior varsity cheerleader.
yeah, whats with the retard analysis?
thought ZH could do better than this jive talkin bullshit. long AUD? right? wtf?!?!?!?!?!?
just short the fucking yen against a basket of currencies without too much leverage.
And dont get fucking greedy! read the art of war pdf from google and position yourself with some decent stops and monitor that bitch 24hrs a day 5 days a week
then bang ur missus and fuck off
I was with you right up to the marriage part.
good point
well she is foxy! and asian gold bugg...
and every dawggg needs some poontang.
but she is still a woman.....so good point!
And the girls are pretty..., which doesn't hurt.
"thought ZH could do better than this jive talkin bullshit"
Speaking of jive talking BS...
Alpha indeed..., ROFLMAO
sorry man, didnt realise you are some bend over faggot who cant think for himself
go fuck off you sheep shit
You Didn't Paint That
http://weblogs.nos.nl/sydney/files/2013/01/australian_flag.jpg
I really need to limit my posts....retracted
Simon is right this time. A fair assessment of why Australia is a safe haven has been a long time coming. Low debt, good regulation, capital friendly...
only reason is cause they sell commodities to china who use that to build shitty crap and sell it to the USA.
The USA is going down the shit bag so the whole chain is going to collapse.
just short the fucking yen
No, so China can keep building ghost cities - now that's a good idea that will go on forever
The Ghost cities can have Ghost sports stadiums with the teams called the Ghosts......
Australia's economy will be in free fall THIS YEAR. I'm not even going to make long term predictions. They're fucked right now. China's consumption of Australia's resources is collapsing in real time.
Simon is clueless.
cant believe some faggot downgraded you.......you spoke the truth
Low debt? You mean low public debt. And you might have noticed how private debt has a tendency to become public as soon as things turn bad.
El Kabong Strikes Again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmemBa1HAzU (7:16)
FFF'nn A!
Ever notice that back in the day that kid's cartoons featured non-stop violence, guns, ethnic slurs and racial caricatures of the worst description...
we all got along much better and life was like, totally better than now...
with the endless tide of political correctness, affirmative actions, and mindless bullshit gender wars?
QuikDraw...DeputyDawg, Heckle&Jeckel, Felix....
freedom fighters of a lost era(when cereal boxes still stood tall n full weighted!)
edit: downvoted by Master Cylinder!
That may change when things get serious.
BTW: "...some banker friends of mine..." is a tell.
It's easier to get rid of AIDS than it is to get off his email list
I know Aussies who were massively screwed by the OzGuv.
Two Words: Carbon. Tax.
Julia Gillard no carbon tax promise - YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApCwoj35d3M
We also have another Goldman alumni waiting in the wings to "save the banks" when they inevitably collapse.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Turnbull
Australia is just the last one to be screwed that's all, don't get too excited...
As usual Simon Black, secret agent, doesn't know jackshit about what he's talking about.
A third of the Australian share market is composed of banks, which are completely dependent on the property market, which is one of the biggest bubbles worldwide. When the property bubble starts popping, the RBA will move rates to zero to try and "provide a soft landing", ie provide a cash out opportunity for old cronies.
Large swathes of the leadership of both business and gov are criminals, as evidenced by recent corruption hearings outlining gov cronies involved in halfbillion dollar mining bribes. And then of course we have the manipulating investment companies with huge crossholdings:
http://s1144.photobucket.com/user/_DrBenway/library/The%20Great%20Austra...
Agreed. Australia's bubble is already collapsing.
Yeah the current desperation of the slimy real estate shills is palpable.
And the resources sector is in much worse shape even than people realize, because a large section is made up of supershitty juniors and explorers, companies that have never made cash and never will, but instead raise endless capital in malinvestment.
Another downside of Australia is that they do not speak English.
And they drink Fosters
Michelle Jenneke makes up for all that.
No one in Australia drinks Fosters, you cant even buy it here, and who'd want to, it's a load of crap.
One advertisement, and one film, and you clueless Americans are believers.
I thought only poms drank Fosters.... I have not seen it in a regular sized bottle shop in 10 years here. Yuk!!!
As a resident of Oz, I agree. I haven't seen Fosters actively marketed and available to purchase here for maybe 20 years.
Not that one would willingly throw down a Fosters - it was simply horrible...
The property bubble is still bubbling away nicely, we have sort of got to the "Oh, shit!!!" peak moment circa July '08 USA, and the entire property/financial edifice is tottering on the (so far - minor) downturn of the peak.
We have an openly Communist Federal Govt, who will legislate the country into penury as a "payback" for their ultimate trouncing in the next Federal eelction, in September 2013.
Australia will be OK for investment next year. At the moment, it is a basket-case.
You can easily swap Foster's for a german Holsten :
http://www.holsten-pilsener.de/biere.html
same stuff ....
Stone the fucking crows and starve the flamin lizards whit the fuck is this coot on about, we does so spik bluddy gud engrish, wel, all us whyte fellas from Italy and Greece does fer cripes sake. It them imports whats buggerin up the place, that fella capn Cook was the bluddy start of it all, strike a light its all true....I swear as true as me mothers a blackfella.
Quite a few houses on the market for 500k + in a nearby suburb have been on for over a year. Who wants to buy a property that you can't sell?
Tell Simon Black he's bloody dreamin'!!! He's a shill.
I wish I was this optimistic about my country's financial well being, but there are way too many domino's poised to fall(and are falling/have fallen).
We are some of the most indebted consumers on this planet.
Our government is a dysfunctional basket case. Fools, idiots and theives, the lot of them. The ultimate in self-serving bureacrats a nation could wish for. Policy's are a debacle - mismanagement and unmitigated waste of resources - pink batts, building school halls revolution, carbon tax, set top boxes farce, NBN blowout, "new" tax on super...the list goes on.
We are one of the most over-governed and regulated countries.
Our property bubble is of epic proportions. The government, RE industry and banks are doing their best to keep this bubble inflated as they know when this thing pops there will be fuckedness of 'epic proportions' for the consumer, RE, banks & government. And our manufacturing and retail sectors are currently in the toilet. Might also be worth checking how well our automotive industry is doing.
Our isolation is a double edge sword - we were late to party in arriving and soon to be leaving.
Here's a couple of headlines from today's Oz paper's -
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/carbon-price-cash-to-leave-budget-hole-20130417-2i0ml.html
http://www.theage.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/woodside-ditches-next-expansion-plan-20130418-2i1ml.html
after dropping a $40B LNG project just last week.
http://www.theage.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/woodside-dumps-browse-lng-plans-20130412-2hp8c.html
Australia is not immune from the stupidity of the few. The ugly has already started. Lets revisit in 12 months and see how we're looking then.
The stupidity of the few you say......what utter rubbish it took a very large number of lame brains to elect the current idiots, the average oz does not care...as long as the beer is cold the footy or cricket or the beach is in front of them....who cares about politics
The stupidity of the few you say......what utter rubbish it took a very large number of lame brains to elect the current idiots, the average oz does not care...as long as the beer is cold the footy or cricket or the beach is in front of them....who cares about politics
Your ignorance is showing.
At the last Federal Election the result was a deadlock that ultimately left the whole kaboodle in the hands of 3 stooges (independents) to decide upon the formation of Federal Parliament for the entire country. Certainly didn't take "a very large number of lame brains to elect the current idiots" in parliament, unless you consider 3 to be a large number.
'...as long as the beer is cold the footy or cricket or the beach is in front of them....who cares about politics'.
Don't do any of those, but then again I'm not the average Australian (but will settle for the 'average oz' (Troy Ounce specifically) of Au as compensation for responding to this rant of yours).
FWIW; I voted neither of them, and the only reason I fronted a polling booth at all was due to the legal requirements of Australia with regards to mandatory voting (so you can toss aside the 'you voted at all' argument because it carries no weight down here; unless you intend to send a few oz's of Ag as well to cover the fines for failing to vote at the upcoming election).
Simon Black : International Man of Mys-direction
the last place I want to leave the US for is a country he says is the place to go, seriously it's easier to get rid of a german cockroach infestation than it is to get off his email list, guy is a total douchebag
I'm wafer thin.
!! Tylers !!
Please indicate in the subject line (aka on main page too) "Simon Black:" from now on for his spam "articles".
I understand you get your $$$s from him for the adds "artices" but I'm sure you would do experienced ZH's a great service by just indicating "no need to open this link".
Merci mes amis!
Good doctor,
This has been requested many many times, but if implemented would kill the pageviews for Simon Blacks fluffy crap.
I think Simon makes the cut with Tylers because it hopefully gets 'Blue Pill'-ers to start thinking about options.
I dislike Simon as much as the Romans, already....a LOT, but that's my best guess, anyhow.
FWIW, I'll look at any page if it helps the Tylers to support this site. I click ads every now and then as well, especially for the Ukrainian dating sites.
I'm just extremely grateful for this awesome site, analysis, and asshole commentors.
Sorry about the 'asshole', but I was trying to keep the illiteration going.
Well, you succeeded handsomely there! ... it's "alliteration".
Thanks for the lesson
Educations are costly
This cost me nothing.
A Haiku
And I had thought he was intentionally attempting to be humorous/ sarcastic.
The "illiteration" which can be found the comments of us ZH "assholes".
I truly regret that I had but one up-vote to give.
Australia is a commodity economy with upcoming problems with reduced China demand for those commodities.
At least according to Dylan Grice:
http://www.businessinsider.com/dylan-grice-australian-economy-2012-4?op=1
Australia is a commodity economy with upcoming problems with reduced China demand for those commodities.
That is correct. With the end of commidity supercycle the permanent promotion of commodities and commodity currencies by Simon Black and others realistically makes no sense (the same is true for Gold and silver). Having said that, I do keep some funds in Australia (in the name of diversification) because I need some yield as everybody else. Eventually, Simon Black with his base in Chile (another commodity country) will find himself in deep trouble cause their currency is going to be in trouble and much faster than AUD (he plans to buy another farm in Chile by borrowing funds in USD).
And its housing bubble has got to be the longest-running one in the world!
It's neck-and-neck with Canada. My wife has relatives in both countries so I tend have a bit of a reason to monitor (not like the relatives would listen to any warnings that I might offer, but it keeps me amused).
The Australian Property bubble is speculation that real estate prices in Australia may (currently) be valued at more than some people think they are worth. This may be a real estate bubble.
A real estate bubble or property bubble (or housing bubble for residential markets) is a type of economic bubble that occurs periodically in local or global real estate markets. It is characterised by rapid increases in valuations of real property such as housing until they reach unsustainable levels and then decline.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_property_bubble
I knew Australia was in for trouble when it began handing out $16,000 "incentives" to buy a house. Obviously, a bigger handout bankers but it conned alot of people into buying boxes they could not afford esp with the inevitable economic slowdown.
Sad for all those underwater Australian house owners/debtors...welcome to the American way of life.
yep, and in Qld (currently one of the best buyers markets) they have started something like that again
Want to know what happened to the asking price for those boxes, went up by the same amount as those "incentives" and they are not coming down anytime soon ...voluntarily.
I really just wanted to see the other side of the pic, DAMN YOU Simon Black!
Global Price Discovery Now, as the world changes from debt and deflation to income and inflation. Embrace the cycle - it's a new bull market! But Don't Vote For Gold!
http://www.cecm.sfu.ca/~rpearcea/dontvoteforgold.pdf
This is the most worthless piece of economic drivel since the last time Kruggers opened his mouth.
Australia? You gotta be fugging kidding, right?
Really.
How are all those bolshevik union leaders that fled Thatcher doing for you down there ?
Should be fully infiltrated ,errr asimilated by now.Will be a workers paradise soon.
Simon is getting worse.I truly hope no one is paying for his advice.
Yeah those evil unions! Is that why my wife gets $26.50 an hour weekdays, $37.50 an hour Saturdays and $47.00 an hour Sundays for her cleaning job in Adelaide. No sign of a union rep anywhere trying to sign her up in 6 months.
There was a large amount of fast moving international fiat of mystery that invaded Australia during the 08-09 fiasco, couple the AUD appreciation with rising price of paper debt and its a huge profit to protect.
If the wrong person whispers "pull it" in a restaurant or country club- the Australian ponzi will collapse faster than WTC7. People are positioning for a strategic and FAST exit not entry right now. The loosers will "blame" whoever is convenient - Chinese commodity demand, lack of Australian housing demand, excess Australian government, but the carnage will be result of the pre-flight bank run of those mysterious foreign digital digits.
And Wrong-Way Corrigan is holding the door open for the suckers eager to chase yield and in the process surrender their fiat in order to finance the exit of those they despise most...
No, Switzerland has sensible guns laws.
Wealth goes where its appreciated. Funny thing, I've met people from Australia enroute to Grand Cayman via the US. Wonder why that is? Could it be even they are looking for a place to hide their last dollars?
"mega buxs are treated best where they don't exist in the first place." no doubt there. Why would a country export it's gold again? Right up there with exporting oil and natural gas in my book. In fact why do we export anything actually? You want an F-35? That'll be ONE TRILLION DOLLARS bitch.
Good to see that you're still kicking. Folks were wondering where you'd gone...
Oh, and good points.
Agreed, and good price point..
Too far away, for me.
get out of our banks, we dont want your hot money
England, Ireland, Cyprus, Malta, Cuba, Australia, etc...
.
Something special about islands.
All with little energy... And Australia's soils are shit. Not good as a Long.
Also missed Japan.
Australia is fucked if China stops building empty ghost cities.
Harper is gone soon enough and then Canada will be more international. If we don't get annexed.
Yea Justin Trudeau will save us... because he is totally not owned by the banker elite... right... RED TEAM! READ TEAM! RED TEAM!
We have always supported the red team.
Ah yes, the dumb Trudeau. . .
Keep in mind the smart brother got avalanched.
What are his qualifications again?
"Community organizer" or something along that lines, I suppose. . .
Dreaming much ?
Liberal (socialist) or NDP (communist) loser ??
I didn't say things would be better when he was gone. He is too left for me in economics and I can't stand his religion.
Why the fuck do people even bother to pick traits of leaders, as though that makes any fucking difference! How about thinking with your brain and concluding that you can live without ALL of them?!
hey black, take a map of australia, draw an X in the middle, then go bury yer vast treasure there ye blowhard landlubber.
SNB threw away 200 years of good will and respect when it put floor under EUR/CHF.
It's not the SNB it is the Federal Council, and this has been going on at least since some Jews stated started up-ending couch cushions looking for pennies (and relatives' gold tooth fillings) that they didn't the have proper paperwork for... Being Jews- they're not half as wise or smart as they think they are, particularly given the resurrection of anti-Antisemitism and Fascism now on a world-wide scale.
People forget that in the 1930's people had a legitimate fear of the Fascist state confiscating their wealth, and people came to Switzerland and entrusted Switzerland to keep their property out of the hands of the Fascist State. What has happened over the past decades is that in effort to gain PR brownie points with the international community the Federal Council has decided that whatever despot controls the ballot box in a given State is the lawful owner of all deposits in Switzerland of that State's subjects.
Qaddafi, Mubarak, the French Tax Minister... what happens if the government of KSA falls, given the States' proclivity for assuming the worst and confiscating private property in a misguided effort to curry favor with newest despots on the block - any successful Saudi would be a fool to trust any Swiss banker. And any banker in Switzerland knows full well the ramifications of what I'm writing.
Bullshit, the Swiss at least have guns! Australia turned in their cajones quite a while ago.
Just friendly imperial mates making the world safe for 'democracy'.
Hey Simon , you want to try living here!!! the place is run by a bunch of idiots!
Their idea of managing the GFC was to give everybody $1000 to buy a big TV!
We have one level of gov too many , we are squandering the resource boom money
The only people with any money are the miners everyone else is broke including the government!
And basically Charlie is right, but apart from that good article lol!!
Wasn't there also some policy to increase the white population (out of fear of being overrun by "Asians")? They were paying white folks to breed. And on a landmass whose carrying capacity is already on the brink!
LOL! No they did not care who they handed the baby bonus too, black, white, and all shades in between, but it nearly all went to the equivalent of what you'd call "trailer trash". Single mothers churning out babies as quick as they could for their $6000 bonus. Fu#@ing insane!!! This was a Liberal (conservative) devised policy, which of course Labor wholeheartedly went along with once they got into power. The whole lot should be hanging from lamp-posts! These kids that are a result of this madness are the worst in society, They are the next generation of welfare recipients. Brilliant!
Come on, it worked. Would you have rather they handed it to the banks instead? Given what the Fed has handed over to banks in taxpayer money, perhaps someone can tell me how much it now adds up to per person in the U.S. It would have made far more sense to let these thieving bastard banksters crash and burn and given half of that money to taxpayers to go on a spending spree instead.
Isn't prostitution legal down under.
Punch the tip and give it a twist.
http://dailyplanet.com.au/content2/index.html
Australia? Really? Last time I checked, Swizterland has been a neutral power since the first dawn of modernity for more than 500 years.
TYLER PUT DOWN THE CRACK PIPE WITH AUSTRALIA:
1) "The Australian government has just announced new rules which penalize citizens who have responsibly set aside savings for their own retirement. Any income over A$100,000 drawn from a superannuation fund (the equivalent of an IRA in the United States) will now be taxed at 15%. Previously, all such income was tax-free."
2) Saving Accounts with anything from $1 upwards that have not had any deposit or withdrawals in the past three years will be transferred to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission. -STOLEN
3) The failure of gun control in Australia. Here are some of the numbers of this failure: Armed robberies are up 69%, assaults with guns are up 28%, gun murders are up 19%, and home invasions are up 21%.
The ironic thing is that it was Simon who wrote an article about the Superannuation last week.
you can get the money back apparently, but hopefully you don't need it for a few months (at least until after the budget). An obvious cash grab to try and hide something.
The labour government are very good when it comes to spending money.
Further, Australia is firmly in the clutches of the Ashkenazis.
The Fabian Socialist Union Organiser Prime Minister is a "special friend" of Israel (see here (Youtube)), and the two front runner opposition candidates to oppose her at the next "election" are both Jesuits!! A former candidate to oppose a previous Socialist PM was a former Goldman Sachs VP, and senior party figures from both "left" and "right" regularly change sides to improve their chances at the swill trough! The same Kayfabe as everywhere else....
I do not trust anyplace that buys off on global warming and has a carbon tax, sorry.
ha ha ha
check this out: http://www.readtheticker.com/Pages/Blog1.aspx?65tf=958_australia-to-ente...
disarmed populace. forget that.
We have one of the biggest property bubbles in the western world which is yet to burst. The solution at the moment is to try to import as many bodies with cash from overseas to keep it propped up. When the govt sponsored property ponzi scheme busts here, the view on Aus will change to a more accurate one.
OzLand is ridiculously overpriced...houses, food, etc...you name it...too expensive. And as the above posts staes, they desperately try to attract wealthy foreigners...take a walk by their med or law schools or Uni's...packed with Chinese from Singapore and HK paying full (overpriced) tuition.
It's gonna correct as China slows down and cuts coal, iron, and so on. Wait 5 years...it's gonna get lots cheaper Down Under.
Okay. See also Mish today.
Australia may be attractive - NOW, as the rest of the World is being manipulated, fracked, crushed, raped, murdered, destroyed, etc. by the US and all that hangs off it, but that just makes Australia probably the next-in-line.
No China: no jobs, no exports, no small business, no service industry and LOTS of taxation and more coming. Most un-affordable houses in the World. And an obedient and US slavish "puppet" entrenched as "government". And Yes, a Colony of the United Kingdom and a population of around 23 Million (about as big as LA and Orange Counties and or Malaysia).
You may call it the last line of defense, but: < http://tinyurl.com/7m8uvo7 > as the USA beats its drums of war (does it ever stop?) -
Yes, Hot Money is always welcome. Did I mention the incompetence of the government and all that hangs off them? But, most Australians are very cool and friendly.
Ho hum
Hot money and the misappropriation of such caused the issues that we are experiencing now. Argentina 2.0
Thanks Simon, I'm sold.
Can you recommend a good Realtor? I hear "there's never been a better time to buy", over there.
The real issue?
Water.
Look into the shifts in rainfall over the last 5 years. Then do an over-lay chart of "Population >50,000". Northern Rainforest is loving it; East coast is toast. West Aus is all like "WTF RAIN"... then floods, which is wasted.
This was ignoring the massive housing bubble there, or the fact that so much raw material exports are tied to China. Australia is toast, it's just... not had any honey put on it yet, compared to Cyprus and Greece.
check out Geoff Lawton's property...plenty of water there.
Simon, you could have just promoted their legalized prostitution, and gotten better reviews from all of us.
No guns and the deadliest animals on the planet. Sounds delightful.
The most irritating and ear-grating quasi-English spoken on the planet, too.
Here it is, short and sweet.
As China goes, so goes Australia.
Additionally Australians are the lowest educated people of the "Western" countries. I'll pass on an Aussie bank account, thanks.
Here it is, short and sweet.
As China goes, so goes Australia.
Additionally Australians are the lowest educated people of the "Western" countries. I'll pass on an Aussie bank account, thanks.
True, there are things to like about the Aussie - relatively high interest rates (but still at record lows) and a strong currency, so it will be better able to absorb the coming shocks to the system. But it is still seen as a risk based currency, which means it is err risky, and with it losing 37% of its value back in 2008 (CHF lost about 17%), its a bit soon to be saying it's as safe as the Franc. CHF gained significantly probably from local euro outflows when the USA was downgraded and when Italy was in trouble in 2011, - the aussie lost about 12%
Oh yeah, and if the next budget happens to not be too in the red, it will just have been because the government is confiscating all bank accounts that have had no deposits or withdrawals for 3 years (including term deposits which are not normally touched) in a sneaky bill passed quickly at the end of last year. You can apply to get your money back, but it is expected to take months (i.e will be after the budget next month).
A lot of people are talking about high real inflation and difficult times and with mining waning in a two speed economy, all it will take is a significant slowdown in China or a shock from Europe (and these will happen eventually) and the carry trade will unwind.
Who knows where gold is going.
If the aussie has survived the crisises over the next 5 - 10 years maybe we can revisit this.
Well written article.. pity about the level of waste in there though
they just better hope theyd set the interest rate just right...gonna need the luck if thousands of turds seen hitting the fan...
There's a very good reason to move money into Australia... so you can get on the ASX and short the bejeezus out of their everything when the next crack appears in the Chinese debt empire.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1345671-japanese-stimulus-a-potential-pr...
Nice Butt!
You noticed! Thanks! I have been working out.
75 Comments out of 5418 Reads. So... ~ 1% are in the Simon Hate Club. Which, I'm guessing, includes Gov trolls, who really hate him, cause their boss said so.
I can understand not agreeing with him or attacking his argument. These 1% though, aren't satisfied till they attacked the person too. Not surprising, being the cretin Carnival Barkers that they are.
They must really hate his friends, who were at the Workshop 2 weeks ago. Shady people like Nigel Farage, Jim Rogers, Jim Rickards, Peter Schiff and Ron Paul. Not to mention the 500 of us who spent a week there. But these 1% are no doubt richer and smarter than the rest. LOL.
You sound like his PR secretary. Do you know how much he paid those guys for a cameo?
Don't worry, I hate everyone..... Equal opportunity hate. Plus double if you are a WS fuck
On the Beach
I would rather read about the end of the world from Phoenix Capital!
Aussie Aussie Aussie!!! Oy Oy Oy!!!!
let's see...switzerland has been a repository of secret/sacred wealth for several centuries...Australia...let's get something straight: You can trust an Aussie as much as you can trust Paul Hogan's "financial advisor".
I'll stay with the swiss chocolate thank you very much.
Simon Black...get your head out of your ass and take a look around. Moron.
As an Aussie - we have the most insane house prices EVER!
Our strong dollar is killing alot of industry and people have been getting the sack left right and centre.
Australia is the land of the BIG RIP OFF......the only thing we do which is any good is make good cheap wine.....otherwise the politicians are as dumb as dog squeeze.
I've been to Switzerland......Australia is no Switzerland.........on second thought Switzerland isn't Switzerland.
I agree with what the article says, but, Australia just passed a law to allow it to seize bank accounts that are inactive for three years.
http://www.thedailybell.com/28758/Shock-Australian-Gov-Now-to-Seize-Peop...
And, by definition, all banks that are based on a fractional reserve system are insolvent. Fiat only makes the problem worse.
Since all banks world wide are insolvent, the only solution is remove all cash, stocks, bonds and funds and put it in something of tangible value. Preferably something with cash flow: rental income, food income, water, etc.
Singapore dollar.
Managed currency by pretty much the only country left with a government that regularly runs a surplus, has de-linked interbank rates from the US, runs a trade surplus, has one of the highest stockpiles of foreign reserves in the world, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, has major trade partners that aren't western, stable(-ish) political system, highly liquid and advanced financial infrastructure. Given that the entire SG economy runs on the premise of importing goods at one end nd exporting them straight away on the other, the government has no impetus to devalue the currency, and with no outstanding debt no impetus to destroy value with monetisation.
All in SGD. Heck, with a top tier tax rate of 20% and no capital gains tax, why not just live there?
As the Singaporean illegitimate son of soros I would advise against it because the damn locals are turning into bloody socialists.
Nationalistic pride is at an all time high with demands for social welfare which will equate to more taxes if the bloody plebian socialists gets their way. The socialists are going to destroy everything you have cited, they want a destruction of the Sovereign wealth fund(because they think it robs them), less foreigners in the labor force and foreign capital.
Hell, they even want the government to be responsible for helping them own cars and houses. All using our taxpayers money.
Damn socialists are ruining this country.
I think by "nationalistic pride" you mean "anti-PAP sentiment".
The primary concern is not really social welfare, more like inflated living costs (cars, houses). While they've got a point about the property bubble we should see this track back (or pop?) when the chinese demand slackens. Or reverses. A widescale deflation in the private-condo market would ironically probably be a plus-point for most of the locals as it would help alleviate pressure from the overbought HDB submarket.
Underneath it all is a undercurrent of feeling that the PAP is not listening to the complaints, or that they're an ivory-tower over-removed ruling elite. Which, to their credit they are doing fairly well at addressing. The groundswell has died back a bit recently and they haven't made any major mis-steps since the white paper release a couple of months back. They've got two years to recover market failure: a major crisis during this time would be a great political point for them to re-establish an image as "the great protector".
All of this implies that Singaporeans actually want change badly enough to actually vote about it instead of complaining.... and they're mostly too damn kiasu for that, lsat election non-withstanding.
Tl;DR: two more years until any major upheaval, safer than any other damn currency they've got going in the short term.
Carbon taxes and strict gun control. Two pretty big strikes and as mentioned by others everything is in a bubble.
It's probably not a bad place in a SHTF scenario.
That was the exact same conclusion I have come to last year in August and have bought it against the currency I felt would have been the weakest, the JPY.
I used Daddy's profits from his Gold ETFs and moved it there made quite a bit of money. Now Daddy and I are going to use some of that profit to buy some silver when we push them prices down further.
Nowadays your money is safer where other people don't put it.
Low public debt of only 30% of GDP?
That's just great considering that this present government took over office with ZERO % debt and spent its little heart out building school halls and cramming roof spaces in homes with insulation in order to avoid the correction needed brought on by the GFC.
As a result a large portion of the population continues its home buying frenzy aided and abetted by lower interest rates.
Unskilled labour now costs around $22 an hour.
As soon as China pulls in its belt even by a small amount you will hear the moaning and groaning in an instant.
Good luck with this assessment.
Australia could well and truly have been heaven and not just a haven but when politicians think they are smarter than those who sweat throughout the day and risk their capital, then hell becomes a real possibility.
Bet a lot of peeps don't know about this.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=cia+overthrew+australian+gov%27t&...
The latest news from my local bottle shop is a 4 litre box cask of Golden Oak's Fruity Lexia is the preferred PISS (booze) of the new Australian....
#Fukushima
bitchez
http://www.netvibes.com/videocookie#Financial_Activist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Beach_%281959_film%29
If by financial stability you mean "corruption at its core" then this article might be true.
Go to Mr Google and type in "Securency" "reserve bank of australia" "bribery" and "criminal charges"
Nine senior execs on trial for corruption at Securency, which was 50% owned by the RBA at the time.
Please TYLER PLEASE, quit running Simons crap, it really dumbs down an otherwise fantastic resourse your site has become for me and others.
How can any "analysis" of Australia ignore the amount of private sector debt, the housing bubble, the risky concentration of the financial sector into four "pillar" banks, the Dutch Disease caused by mining, dependence on unsustainable Chinese growth, a current account deficit (despite being supposedly strong), the appallingly overvalued AUD, and the low sophistication of domestic investors (stox n real state mate). I could go on and on.
Oz is high risk. I have been using my AUD holdings to take advantage of relatively cheap PM prices of late (via the Perth Mint). It makes far more sense.