The Write Direction: Can our camel carry it?

WE all know the story about the straw that broke the camel’s back.            

So, let us relate that issue to our present economic reality in Australia.

The fuel supply and price per litre is our number one issue at present.

We know that the war with Iran is now only four weeks old (at the time of writing) but that it takes a minimum of six weeks to transport each shipment of oil from the Middle East to Australia.

With that fuel being sold today having the same cost base that we have experienced for the past year or so, the following question needs to be asked: “Why is the bowser price in Australia some 50 percent or more higher on the fuel we buy today?”.

The only answer that I can come up with is “price gouging”, so we need our government to act.

Also announced recently is the fact that some $2.8 billion was scammed from our fellow Australians in the last calendar year.

Who is responsible for that? Whose fault is it?

The rate of inflation is also still greater than the rate of income growth despite every lever being pulled by financial authorities.

Additionally economists are suggesting that they expect a further three interest rate rises to occur in this calendar year whilst our Treasurer is budgeting for at least ten years of deficits.

It’s all depressing to contemplate but these realities are now leading market economists to suggest that the possibility of recession for the Australian economy is now real and needs to be managed very carefully.

So why are we in that position and who do we blame for this reality? Human frailty is one cause that probably cannot be calculated or managed. Once people get set enjoying conditions at a certain level, then they are unlikely to drop those standards and will do everything to maintain them.

They might spend their savings, run the credit cards dry, borrow from wherever they can and some even resort to gambling in the hope of a positive result.

As reported, the risk of being scammed is happening daily as people are prepared to accept the risks and trust that they are smarter than the rest.

We are in a highly volatile time, so we need to exhibit extreme personal caution.

By John BLACKBOURN