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Hedge Clippings | Friday 06 December, 2019
Hedge Clippings' tends to alternate our weekly commentary between either what's happened in the past (e.g. poor behaviour from the banking sector) or trying to take a forward view on what might be on the horizon, or sometimes a combination of the two.
This week there's the less than surprising antics of Donald in Europe, in Watford of all places, as anyone who has ever been there would attest to, plus the less than surprising news that Australia's economy is holding its head above water, but only just.
As far as the economy goes it seems the average consumer is, either by design or necessity as a result of pressures on the household budget, keeping their hands firmly in their pocket rather than spending the savings from interest rate cuts, or the tax cut delivered a couple of months ago.
New car sales, usually a reliable barometer of consumer spending and confidence have been steadily falling for the past 12 months, and are down almost 10%, and while the Toyota Hi-Lux ute remains the top-selling vehicle, its sales have fallen by 21% over the same period, presumably indicating the pressure the building industry and the bush is under.
And talking of pressure, Australia has taken out a less than commendable silver medal by having the second-highest level of taxes on income and profits (58.8%), second only to Denmark at 63.3% and waa-aay ahead of the OECD average of 34%, or the UK at 35%. Thank goodness Scomo is taking to the public service, although to what extent that will really change things remains to be seen.
It could be worse - had Wee Willie Shorten been elected last time around we'd be heading for the top spot for sure. All jesting (and bias) aside, unless we're competitive, we can't compete (yes, I know that sounds obvious), and we need to be able to do so.
So, looking ahead and we have the UK's election next Thursday, as well as the Democrats' attempt to unseat (or should that be unsettle?) Donald Trump via an impeachment process - a process which we have to admit we don't fully understand. Something to do with politicians not being (or seen to be) dishonest.
Now there's a novel idea!
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