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Although the same can’t be said for Julia Gillard’s Fort Fumble – Malaysia solution backfires for government that failed to do its homework. If Kevin Rudd “lost his way”, Julia Gillard’s reign as Australian Prime Minister has been nothing short of an abysmal failure. The Labor government is spiralling uncontrollably on a course of self destruction – déjà vu NSW Labor March election 2011. The stench of failure haunts the ALP where many believe that it will be open season for people smugglers after High Court scuttles Gillard government’s Malaysian Solution. The clock is ticking with a Labor stalwart predicting ten months and Labor’s gone: Richardson.

Julia Gillard not only unpopular, she also lacks authority – John Howard the Prime Minister will now struggle to remain at The Lodge post Christmas. Peter Costello entered the economic discussion this week when he wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald – Without a carbon tax, steel industry jobs might stand a chance. Looking forward, I believe that at this point in time a carbon tax will struggle to see the light of day. It is a case of simply joining the dots given Treasury warned in 2009 of higher Aussie dollars likely impact on manufacturing which in all probability would explain why the government rejects calls for manufacturing probe.

The greatest problem with the Gillard government is that it is politically deaf! To such an extent that Rudd last man standing in Labor rout: poll where Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd would be the only federal Labor MP left in Queensland if an election was held this week. Which got a bit more interesting given former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie will consider a run for Prime Minister. So, Beattie for PM? Gillard laughs it off.

BUY PRINT

Sydney housing property defies national downturn to record price increase RP Data Rismark Home Value Index found defies national downturn to where over the year to July, values in capital cities are down 2.9 per cent. Brisbane – 6.6 per cent, Perth – 6.3 per cent, Melbourne – 4.3 per cent, while Canberra + 1.9 per cent and Sydney + 0.5 per cent which explains why, home loans grow at slowest pace on record. In Sydney we are really witnessing fascinating market machinations where last weekend, Sydney had 362 auctions (down nearly twenty per cent on the same time last year).

Vendors aren’t selling which has led to rents increasing by up to eight per cent over the year an expected result with record low vacancy rates. Urban Taskforce CEO Aaron Gadiel estimates Sydney’s housing supply shortfall at 46,000 homes and predicts it will double within three years.  “We’ve seen three straight months where NSW private sector home approvals have trended down by more than 4 per cent a month.”

The slowing market convincing home owners to stay put which is actually a positive sign where Mosman has the lowest delinquency rate in NSW. Which takes me to a great debate over at Property Observer between Steve Keen and Christopher Joye, when Keen wrote, China our one saving grace as Australia’s debt- driven love affair with house prices faces the chopping block. Christopher Joye responded housing prices aren’t for the chopping block, despite the Steve Keen prophecy. As Christopher Joye points out – “Like most of Keen’s predictions, such as the “best – case scenario’’ during the GFC being 11 per cent unemployment and a recession “more severe than 1990 and lasting 1.5 times as long” (unemployment peaked at 5.8 per cent while there was no recession), his 2008 predictions proved way wide of the mark. For the record, Australian dwelling prices are today 13.3 per cent higher than the level at which Keen put his reputation on the chopping block, and 89 per cent higher than the level at which Keen expected them to be.

MOSMAN – 2088

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• Number of houses on the market last week – 105
• Number of houses on the market this week – 107
• Number of apartments on the market last week – 99
• Number of apartments on the market this week – 93

CREMORNE – 2090

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• Number of houses on the market last week – 13
• Number of houses on the market this week – 14
• Number of apartments on the market last week – 30
• Number of apartments on the market this week – 31

NEUTRAL BAY – 2089

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• Number of houses on the market last week – 7
• Number of houses on the market this week – 9
• Number of apartments on the market last week – 70
• Number of apartments on the market this week – 67

For this week’s sales in Mosman real estate, Beauty Point real estate, Clifton Gardens real estate, Balmoral real estate, Cremorne real estate, Cremorne Point real estate, Neutral Bay real estate, Cammeray real estate Click Here It is interesting to note from the past week’s activity that we are starting to see activity above the $5,000,000 mark again.

I was amazed to read Federal MP Rob Oakeshott says Australia should consider a road congestion tax when the reason why we have congestion is because governments have failed to spend on road/transport infrastructure. Obviously, he did not read the article I filed this week on Property Observer – Stupid property taxes should not be a revenue stream for weak governments.

Source: The Australian

Cheers ^__^

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2.09.11Robert Simeon5 Comments »

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In life when individuals face that much dreaded financial crisis it’s the  outgoings that need to be harnessed so it comes as little surprise that Fort Fumble is facing a funding dilemma. There are very big cracks appearing (both internal and external) for a Government in serious difficulty to make ends meet as Julia Gillard warns of tough budget. A tough budget can have serious ramifications with consumer confidence.  This  then resonates through business by stymieing economic growth and strangling productivity.  Executives expect sales to fall on rising fuel, wages – study.

Allow me to apply the KISS Theory – (Keep It Simple Stupid.)

Facing a budget deficit of $41.5 billion in 2010/11 the Gillard Government now needs to borrow in excess of $110 million every day to meet its debt commitments. Despite forming Government in 2007, and then being dropped into a global financial crisis or (northern hemisphere financial crisis as many now call it). Fort Fumble would love nothing more than to get its hands on that $20 billion surplus and zero net debt, inherited when it  came to Government.

The Wayne Swan economic theory – “Shout the Bar” recovery is now considered a dismal failure.

Company tax slump puts hole in budget where Treasury minutes identify that 2010/2011 tax revenues will reach only $60.6 billion which is 10 per cent down on last year’s revenue forecast of $66.5 billion. Before last year’s election Treasury was projecting company tax revenue of $80 billion – which equates to a $20 billion or a 33 per cent bum steer. The 2010 Budget also factored in an exchange rate of US90c which is approximately 15 per cent lower than today’s rate. Economists are now projecting that the Aussie dollar will be at US1.10 by year’s end. Bugger – Wayne Swan has no Plan B given natural disasters forecast to cost economy $9 billion.

Saving Swan from himself thanks to our commodity price boom the budget bottom line would be woeful. As Malcolm Turnbull pointed out in a speech in Melbourne yesterday. “Treasury now calculates that the resources boom generated revenue windfalls of approximately $65 billion during Labor’s first three years. Of course every cent and more was spent.” He added that Treasury projects that a further $30 billion is set to flow into government coffers in 2011 – 12 as a result of the boom. But, he added, ‘when Wayne Swan delivers the 2011 – 12 Budget on May 10, you can safely bet every cent of that will be spent too.” When one clearly looks at the entire economy it becomes blatantly obvious that mining hides flatlining economy. Which takes us to the next level of discussions Turnbull first and clearest on the need for a sovereign wealth fund.

BUY PRINT

Without jumping to obvious conclusions, Fort Fumble’s directive for an immediate tools down order is estimated to be worth more than $12 billion – a signal that this project is now headed backwards. High prices force NBN to suspend cabling tender process and look elsewhere and as day follows night NBN head of construction Flannigan quits. So far Fort Fumble has spent $1.400 billion and to date, only 500 Tasmanian households have been connected.  This equates to a cost (per household) of $2.800 million for each connection and it will only get worse as fears National Broadband Network bill could top $44bn.

Freedom of Information revealed PM’s carbon tax to cost households $16.60 a week, Treasury figures show then an unintelligent  rebuttal  by Climate Change Minister Greg Combet who dismissed the finding, saying “they are not modelling that would reflect the Governments current approach.” Of course Mr Combet is banking on the fact that much like company tax projections, his Treasury has a 33 per cent over projection?  The only problem with the rejection is that the Government can’t correct the Treasury figure because (it appears) that it is yet to cost a carbon price. Or, if such a carbon price does exist, why does it remain a secret as detail of carbon compensation up in the air.

Source: The Australian – I was wrong to ditch emissions trading: Rudd

Reserve Bank holds back on interest rate rise given underlying inflation which has slowed to its lowest level in a decade, despite soaring petrol and food prices. You can also throw in residential rent increases which increased nationally by 1.4 per cent and by 2.7 per cent in the capital cities according to the RP Data March 2011 Quarterly Rent Review. The average rent for an apartment in Sydney is now $430.00 per week and that does not include utilities and an extra $16.60 per week for a  carbon tax. If Fort Fumble was not in such a dire financial position, would a carbon tax have been considered? Is it to reduce emissions or reduce Government debt?

No home price growth over the next year: NAB which is not a bad thing as economic markets reconfigure and stabilise. I don’t support the Australian housing bubble argument and those comparisons to what happened in America. Firstly, our banks are up there with the best performing on a global scale. Secondly, in Australia (unlike America) you can’t send the keys back when the going gets tough without facing the financial consequences. Thirdly, Australia has a rapidly growing population and a severe under-supply of housing.  Australia’s affluent suburbs have been driving up the national average although the measure relates to average income. Those with an average income do not purchase in the affluent suburbs.  Those with above average incomes do. The Australian property bubble will only burst if the ‘above average’ earners find themselves in dire financial circumstances that necessitate an immediate property market withdrawal – which won’t be happening anytime soon.

Australia today is just one of a handful of countries remaining, where the sale of the family home is tax free . Nor is it tax deductible as is the case in the vast majority of countries.  Maybe the Australian housing formula is what other countries should be adopting,  to ensure that their property markets remain stronger during a financial crisis? It is very hard to argue with the property facts – and facts are obviously missing with the carbon tax debate.   This  is why support for Labor and Julia Gillard plunges again as carbon tax takes its toll and this week’s sin – binning of the NBN Co will only make matters worse. For Labor it’s Julia or bust given the party she leads is starting to make the Estate of the Late Fort Crumble look like the perfect political party.

What you didn’t read in The Sydney Morning Herald this week was Jonathan Chancellor quits SMH to set up rival site. Sadly, we can reveal that he won’t be joining us here on Virtual Realty News as he doesn’t want a tax problem. After Virtual Realty News Jonathan’s Title Deeds column is the most popular weekly read in real estate!!!

Crikey! After 25 years, this real estate legend has well and truly stood the test of time. Another newspaper journalist moving from broadsheet to online.  Who would ever have  thought?

Cheers ^__^

This week’s sales Mosman real estate, Beauty Point real estate, Clifton Gardens real estate, Balmoral real estate, Cremorne real estate, Cremorne Point real estate, Neutral Bay real estate, Cammeray real estate Click Here

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8.04.11Robert Simeon9 Comments »

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In the Aussie vernacular we call it “dumber and dumber” – The Emperor (Kevin Rudd) prefers to call it “shaking his sauce bottle”. What this really means, is that he instigates a plan, turns it into  a huge economic catastrophe  and leaves it for someone else to sort out! .  The cracks are starting to appear everywhere so let’s look at them.  Political polyfilla is not the answer, as Fort Fumble (Federal Government) experiments and fails miserably with untested, bad policies – their learning curve.

Ross Gittins wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald Rudd ominously silent on climate change. “We know Kevin Rudd has what it takes to win elections and it would be amazing to see him lose this year. So we know he can survive as prime minister. A much harder question is whether he has what it takes to be a good prime minister.” The Emperor has transformed himself from a Yes Minister to a Guess Minister! Or possibly a Guest Minister!  He can’t differentiate between ‘politically correct’ and ‘policy correct’ – The Emperor’s scorecard is displaying the letter “F” (Fail or F#$@ – up).

“Rudd has been frenetically active since Day 1. So it’s truer to say he doesn’t have a lot to show for all his activity. And some of what he has to show isn’t very impressive. His notorious attention to detail doesn’t seem to be paying off.” I would challenge the words paying off – as Australia will be paying – off these bad policies (on the run) for many years to come and with nothing to show for it.

BUY PRINT

Tim Mooney is developing a cult following here and this Paddington capture shows why – maybe one of our Eastern Suburbs real estate agent subscribers can identify which street this is? A timely photograph given last weekend’s ‘Super Saturday’ which is also addressed in this week’s edition.  Maybe the” Mosman Word Smith” can add some light given skylight sales are obviously very popular in Paddington – let there be light and insight! Over to you Billy boy – I’m sure you can’t identify it.

.Back to Ross Gittins “This is true of their reporting of the insulation scheme and the school building program. Even so, you get the feeling we’re seeing an instance of Rudd’s inexperience as a leader – his belief that, by thumping the table, he could make things happen.” Now for another crack – “I think it was veteran journalist Laurie Oakes who said that in Howard’s first term he made every mistake in the book – but he only made them once. Has Rudd got such a steep learning curve? I hope so, but I’m beginning to wonder.” The great moral challenge of our time, climate change, is no longer great and it’s no longer a challenge for The Emperor who has buried this along with his double dissolution threats. Rudd’s home insulation scheme caves in more than $1.500 billion has been spent and there are now concerns that the repair bill for roof inspections and the replacement of botched insulation will consume what money is left in the scheme – an estimated $800 million. Hospitals -next?

High clearance rate makes a Super Saturday wrote Jonathan Chancellor from The Sydney Morning Herald. “Given the weight of auction listings, the 680 weekend vendors did rather well on Super Saturday, the second biggest auction day in the state’s history.” From the 680 weekend auctions Mosman conducted 11, for a clearance rate of 78 per cent according to Domain Property Data. The highest Mosman auction house sale was $3.600 million. “The inner west remains the red – hot epicentre in Sydney, with an 83 per cent success rate from the 100 listings – at an average of $955,000.” Now another crack “the south west – with only a 50 per cent clearance rate – was the weekend’s poorest auction district.” When the First Home Buyers Grant was running this was the strongest region – although this demographic property dashboard is a major concern when interest rates start increasing.  Just like 2006, when property prices dropped significantly. House sales going, going gone for a record and families camping out for land in new ‘town’. Housing shortage set to get worse yet house sales fall in February: HIA report.

Here is why – property market may be overheated, RBA Governor Glenn Stevens says reaffirmed that interest rates were on the way up, countering a belief held by some that rates would remain low after the global financial crisis. Economists are now calibrating a 60 per cent likelihood of a +0.25 per cent cash rate increase when our Reserve Bank of Australia board meets next Tuesday, to share cucumber sandwiches and croissants washed down with copious amounts of herbal teas.

Of course the bull in our property china shop will be discussed. The Emperor, for unknown reasons, lifted foreign ownership restrictions which previously were set in stone. Chinese buyers underpin housing prices prompting RBA governor to request data from the Foreign Investment Review Board in order to ascertain and pinpoint their exact participation – good luck!

Last week, the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that Australia’s population reached 22,066,000 on September 30, 2009. 66 per cent of population growth was due to overseas migration and 34 per cent was due to births over deaths. Let’s get real on population and The Emperor cracks a century 100^th asylum boat intercepts navy patrol where our latest arrivals sailed in undetected at Flying Fish Cove then called Australian authorities to advise that they were ready to book in – room service? Of course not, the island is not, named after Father Christmas for nothing. Fort Fumble has been forced to run a series of advertisements in Indonesian newspapers – ‘No Vacancies presently at our Australian island resorts on our west coast yet vacancies remain on Hayman and Hamilton Island. Please take a minute to observe this video Queensland beautiful one day – perfect the next.’

Cap no solution to Australia’s population challenges said Wayne Swan “that is why we are investing so heavily in our infrastructure.” Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens says Sydney property boom will make it hard for his children to buy home then the Mad Monk – Tony Abbott ran in and said Rudd has presided over rip off after rip off yet our Australian population growth is double the world average. So what we need is more policy when Julia Gillard announced that Tony Abbott should be making policy, not running. Julia, he did announce policy when, prior to commencing the Iron Man competition, he said he would break 14 hours!  Well he delivered 13:57:01 and that is a political announcement that came within time! Home insulation, schools, border protection and population are sensational policies too, as is the demoting of (the human headline) Barnaby Joyce.

I agree with Ms. Gillard that the Mad Monk should concentrate on policy not running (although Julia’s policies are fast becoming a national embarrassment). However, we must give credit where it is due and our Fort Fumble is addicted to buying credit (apparently endemic within the teachings at the School of Economic Conservatism).  Plenty to report next week on that.

Have a fantastic and safe Easter (just a bit of trivia) it was six years ago when Sydney last had a totally dry Easter and I’m not talking about alcohol! To the Virtual Realty News blog we go.

Cheers ^__^

Note: this is the strongest sales evidence we have seen since the global financial crisis entered our lives. This week’s sales Mosman real estate, Beauty Point real estate, Clifton Gardens real estate, Balmoral real estate, Cremorne real estate, Cremorne Point real estate, Neutral Bay real estate, Cammeray real estate Click Here

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1.04.10Robert Simeon6 Comments »

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Without a shadow of a doubt that confusion is generated by our dominant media companies that consistently promote zoom and boom for home price growth in 2010 and beyond. You can’t really blame them, given that the global financial crisis (GFC) positioned their real estate business revenues on a hiding to nothing. We are six weeks into the 2010 market and this week’s results were mixed.

External coal – face market examinations can deliver dire consequences where our property markets are mapped on anecdotal market results. Simply put: our property housing market remains a bit skittish and definitely improving. The media companies may well be right although – only time (not crystal balls) will tell. When media companies talk the real estate market up one would be dumb and dumber to assume that vendors are not upwardly repositioning their greatest asset.

In this week’s edition of Virtual Realty News we identify – what’s going up and what’s going down. It’s a week by week proposition given last week the adjusted auction clearance rate in Mosman was 77 per cent then, this week, it dropped to 38 per cent? Next week will probably be a different story.

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Admiralty House is arguably Australia’s most prized real estate holding as identified by Tim Mooney when he captured this amazing shot this week. Hopefully, The Emperor (Kevin Rudd) did not have Pink Batts installed in his Sydney harbourside residence – a question never tabled in Parliament House?

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Tim Mooney Photography

Housing market shows signs of cooling – a frustrating report given that in January (every year) Australians are on holidays. Every year, our two quietest months are January and July, “The Bureau of Statistics says only 667 NSW residents took out construction loans in January, down from a high of 1,270 in September. “ September is a peak month so not exactly an accurate market critique.

Just look at our share market for a clue – weaker economies leave us in their wake.” Australia’s share market has been stalled for six months and has performed worse than many countries that are in much poorer economic shape. Twelve months after the depths of the GFC, the All Ordinaries Index is up 54 per cent from its low, but has improved just 4 per cent since September. In contrast, US shares have climbed 60 per cent since March 2009 and 9 per cent since September despite a deep recession and unemployment at 10 per cent.” A possible answer could be investors grab bigger share of home loans the grab for their largest share of housing loans since 1994.

On the flip – side business confidence at a four month high but growth remains below the highs seen in late 2009, a survey shows. The National Australia Bank (NAB) business confidence index gained four points to plus – 19 points in February. This was the surveys highest level since November 2009 when it also touched + 19 points, which just so happened to be a seven year high. What Australians spent money on during the GFC and why, in most countries it means bunkering down however, Australians went in the opposite direction when in 2009 we spent $5.000 billion on boats, bikes and caravans. In 2008 we spent $3.500 billion!

This is the telling graph given Australian home prices surged 13.6 per cent in 2009. What many are missing, is exactly what triggered the recovery. Earlier this week I was chatting on the phone with a Virtual Realty News subscriber who also happens to oversee one of Australia’s largest mortgage books. He pointed out that as first home buyers entered the market they drove prices up and the recipients then went out and purchased more expensive property. In January this year home loans slump most in a decade falling by 7.9 per cent which was the largest fall since June 2000. “The number of first – home buyer loans as a share of total borrowing edged down from 21 per cent of the total in December to 20.5 per cent in January 2010. Home loans for new houses dropped 13.2 per cent to 2,146 in January, while loans for established dwellings dropped 8.2 per cent to 42,303. The true real estate market grows organically and I don’t support government cash hand outs to entice purchasers, knowing that cash rates will continue to go up – not down.

On the flip – side RBA warns home prices could go higher. Assistant governor Phillip Lowe said if the nation’s population growth remained strong, more of the economy would need to be devoted towards housing, presenting challenges both to labour markets and governments. He must have read last week’s edition as Fort Fumbles (Federal government) have our builders constructing school halls instead of working on bricks and mortar. Liberal backbencher Malcolm Turnbull wrote an interesting piece in The Sydney Morning Herald this week The government throws prudence – and billions – to the wind. Great to see our Virtual Realty News commentaries remain a week ahead of our elected politician’s viewpoints.

We all share an obsession for Sydney’s top end of town property results so here is the Dyson Austen Top 10 Prestige Residential Survey for Quarter 3 – 2009 and Quarter 4 – 2009. The Sydney top – end barometer and the results identify our markets road to recovery.
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Dyson Austen Top 10 – July to September 2009

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RWM led this recovery when we posted $63 million worth of sales in June 2009 and grabbed top spot with the sale of Lodge Road Cremorne (this is the very first time that a Cremorne home has attained poll position). The vendors are subscribers. This survey identifies that the Top 10 was up 7.2 per cent from the previous quarter.

Now we see (with the published results for the December quarter 2009) the obvious upward movement as the economy recovers. The previous quarter’s top sale would have come in at position five. The Top 10 jumped up another 12.2 per cent when compared to the previous quarter so it will be intriguing to see what the first quarter of 2010 delivers. What we see here first hand is our property market recovery from the GFC first hand. For mine: the top end identifies the exact strength of our markets because it is the indulgence market that sets market sentiment. Just as interesting, when Australia was in the midst of the GFC this market all but shut down – a clue. The first home buyers stole the limelight with cash government incentives, marinated with record low rates. Remember also, that The Emperor removed foreign ownership constraints when he dismantled the Foreign Investment Review Board – Top Sydney properties snapped up.
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Dyson Austen Top 10 – October to December 2009

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Great commentaries on our blog regarding last week’s edition. The Henry Tax Review keeps grabbing attention for most obvious reasons. The Emperor was just too busy to release tax review. He was probably engrossed in reading review ‘hollow’ with no income tax re-jig”.

We went further a field for those who love paying tax and are happy to present The Unfinished Business of Australian Tax Reform which is an amazing report by Robert Carling. I loved this quote “Do we really want more redistribution? Don’t we already have too much, in that policy is paying too much attention to re – slicing the economic pie at the expense of making it larger”?

The same could be said about the Federal Budget Stimulus.

Back again next week and we’ll chat further with you on our blog.

Cheers ^__^

This week’s sales Mosman real estate, Cremorne real estate, Cremorne Point real estate, Balmoral real estate, Neutral Bay real estate, Cammeray real estate Click Here

This week’s RWM open for inspections Click Here

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12.03.10Robert Simeon5 Comments »

Google in Australia is the online monster, better known as Australia’s online library with approximately ten million visitors logging on each month. Last Saturday, in The Sydney Morning Herald, Julian Lee wrote a fascinating article about the “Google Monster” which I recommend you read (if you haven’t already). Nine out of every ten searches on the Internet are made through the Google Monster – which has catapulted this business to Australia’s number one media company. As Julian Lee wrote “Google’s revenue is estimated to be $700 million and fast heading towards $1 billion as more advertisers divert their budgets into a medium that delivers them measurability and sales leads.”

Last month the Google Monster entered the Australian property market when it released its real estate directory Google Maps. What this illustrated to me is just how little Mosman real estate agents know and understand about online given that Google measures all websites based on algorithms – whereby the greater the individual pages from a website, the higher the Google ranking on search enquiries. We try to add around 50 to 100 pages on Google each and every week and real estate agencies with an online plan, are doing very well in the current conditions.

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Tim Mooney Photography

www.timmooneyphotography.com

This week, we ventured into left field (no pun intended) as one expat subscriber was explaining to his son, the importance of Australia winning The Ashes at The Oval. As quick as a flash we sent Tim to capture a photograph of The Sydney Cricket Ground – where we all share so many childhood memories. So if you want a particular photo from Tim, send your request via our blog and if he does not have it, we will pay him to take it and this will appear in future editions –must be Eastern seaboard* (*everything has conditions).

Back to that Google Monster where I remain amazed that Richardson & Wrench Mosman & Neutral Bay (RWM) is the only Mosman agency that directs Google Maps enquiries back to its own website. This explains why our agency is positioned at number one for all search enquiries on Google (Mosman real estate) searches. We have a few thousand pages already on Google which is why we appear at the top of all searches relevant to our market demographic.

Someone is telling “porky pies”. The Weekend Australian ran a story last Saturday saying that Ruddy Fantastic is reportedly planning an absurd tax on family homes valued at over $2,000,000. Political ventriloquist, Wayne Swan, was quick to deny this. Whatever the case, a concerning leak, given that Federal government has to fast track its pay back of the stimulus packages – interest payments alone are estimated at $10 billion a year. In this comprehensive Australian tax review (currently under way by Treasury) it appears that the two worst taxes affecting our property markets – Stamp Duty and Land Tax (both State taxes) would be unlikely to change given that State governments are broke. The only alternate increase would be GST and such a decision would not be popular. With the benefit of hindsight, the stimulus packages were excessive and even though our economy has recovered, Federal and State governments are steeped in their own recessions.

Obviously, Kevin Rudd did not read the Sinclair Davidson (Professor at the School of Economics, Finance and Marketing and a senior fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs.) “Rudd’s stimulus has nothing to do with the economy” which appeared on www.crikey.com.au

Sinclair Davidson wrote “Pessimistic bias is the tendency to over-estimate the economic severity of economic problems. The idea that the Global Financial Crisis is similar to the Great Depression is simply nonsense (I said this a month ago). Australian unemployment in the 1930’s peaked at over 25%. Unemployment is now seen at levels not seen since the early 2000s. The “collapse” in forecast revenue that so spooked the government, returned us to levels not seen since 2006.” Sinclair Davidson then wrote “The government argued that the stimulus package was intended to save jobs. That may well be an admirable goal. But why then stimulate the construction industry? Were the unemployed bankers and brokers and lawyers expected to get jobs building school halls?” Interesting points which no doubt will be debated on our blog (each comment generates another RWM page on Google.)

Before Ruddy Fantastic starts increasing taxes he should read this report compiled by the Australian Housing and Research Institute (AHURI) – Does Higher Housing Wealth Increase Consumer Spending? The key point from its findings was that – A $100,000 increase in housing wealth is associated with an increase in consumption expenditure of approximately $1,000 to $1,500 per annum in Australia. The Federal government can ill afford to infect the property markets with badly thought out tax. Instead, it should look at the tax debacle created by Fort Crumble (NSW government) when it introduced (then embarrassingly dismissed) Vendor Exit Tax!

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But then again I keep revisiting Peter Costello’s musings which appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald on April 29,2009 ” Buy now and pay much more later” . A compelling argument where the stimulus payback may well be worse for Australia than our very quick time in recession.

So let me turn your attention back to the Google Monster – which was not even a concept back in the recession of the early nineties. The Internet has played an enormous part as an accelerated driving force to economic recovery.A majority of decision makers simply don’t understand it and we now find ourselves indebted to their lack of understanding and knowledge for that matter.

In their defence – businesses and governments are now just starting to understand the powers of this monster, and it is not just Google that is reaping the benefits.

Cheers ^_-^

For this week’s recorded Mosman real estate, Cremorne real estate, Neutral Bay real estate and Cammeray real estate sales www.rwm.com.au/news/

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21.08.09Robert Simeon10 Comments »