Anyway I am with you, money is money and not worth getting too worked up about. best to look after your health and keep the family smiling

Anyway, money is just money and this will be a great year for my family.

I agree that Rudd and Swan are top order geese. Encouraging people to sit in front of new TVs will not do anything for local industry (with the possible exception of cardio-vascular healthcare providers). There is a high probability that all the proposed infrastructure, education and telecomunications initiatives will be mismanaged as well. I'll leave discussion of this tangent to another day.

I don't expect the AUD to drop to 50% of the Greenback as predicted by some commentators (my view is that the Greenback will fall by at least 30% against other currencies). A low AUD will (in any case) keep more Aussies in work than a few extra dollars spent at Harvey Norman.

What's the news in Japan?

The guarantee is, at best, worth the difference between the similarly profiled CDS rates and the socialist commander in chief Glenn Steven's far lower arbitrary rate that would mortify an insurance actuary.

The Howard government lived in the same and expanded noddy land as Keating in that massive private debt/bonds not being serviced or recycled at term 100% would send us into an immediate 1890 bust and an AUD crashing to far lower levels than the 1980's banana republic rates. The "we have always run a CAD and will continue to in the future" is a stupid expectation even in absolute terms and that is before considering the current depth of this as it translates in household debt to income ratio terms, one which is far worse than the minerals boom GDP ratio based measures of national debt and far worse than the US or UK.

"Australia is by no means debt-free.

Australia's level of private debt is among the highest in the world."

I think that it should be kept in mind you can't blame the Australian government for that. They liberal government did well to rid us of the debt we'd accrued. That balances page in wikipedia shows what I can only assume is privatized and none of which is a direct effect on tax or any burden on society and required revenue generation from our government. The only time the private debt can become a problem as far as I know for direct purposes is if our government has to bail out defaulting companies who possess these borrowings. Also it's not the governments responsibility to get involved in enterprise and manage how people privately get involved in loans.

Case in point though, Australia is indirectly unable to generate credit and flush money through the market to stimulate spending. Partly because the private debt is swallowing up the investors as they have to tighten purses because they don't want to invest during a contraction phase so it doesn't matter people are spending.

Okay that's my rant sorry if it got a bit off topic I get like that. Also, just to point out I wasn't criticizing anything you said it was more expanding on what might mislead some.

The arrangement seems to be between America and China, how did "our curfew" get into there? Sounds like a demogogue who'll grab the cash but spurn the lender.

I was talking about govt debt. Sorry for the confusion.

Australia is by no means debt-free.

Australia's level of private debt is among the highest in the world.

Check Steve Keen's Oz Debtwatch blog for details on Australia's dangerous level of private debt. This credit deflation puts our entire credit-based economy at risk.

Or - just glance at Wikipedia's list of Current Account Balances by country (runs from surplus to deficit).

Out of 164 countries, China is of course first. Japan second, Switzerland is way up there too.

Out of 164 countries, USA is dead last. Spain, UK, and Italy are nos. 161-163, and 160 is - you guessed it - good ol' Australia.

Anyone who thinks we are safe from this global crisis is either lying or deluded.

My currency investments are long yen and swiss franc. Short the dollar and euro; the only way I'd feel safer is if I actually move to Dubai.