Canada and Australia - recession?
Canada and Australia - recession?
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Discussion

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

85 months

Wednesday 7th September 2011
quotequote all
[redacted]

Bosshogg76

792 posts

214 months

Wednesday 7th September 2011
quotequote all
I'm not an economist and will probabIy be shot down by the more learned members of these boards.

However I commute to WA to work every 28 days, they have huge natural resources. They pay stupidly well, Pilbarra forklift truck drivers and crane ops went on strike as they were only earning 190,000 Aus $ a year.

Maybe they avoided recession by having commodities to sell as opposed to services.

Bill Carr

2,234 posts

265 months

Wednesday 7th September 2011
quotequote all
Bosshogg76 said:
They pay stupidly well, Pilbarra forklift truck drivers ... were only earning 190,000 Aus $ a year.
That's £126k!!!! Holy titty-fking-crap, are you serious?!

Bosshogg76

792 posts

214 months

Wednesday 7th September 2011
quotequote all
Taking into account benefits yes. We were down to a few bags of frozen dim sum on the rig before they went back to work, and the supply vessel was replenned and sent out. Hand lined caught tuna is nice though smile

Here's the link:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/latest/994203...

Edited by Bosshogg76 on Wednesday 7th September 21:28

johnfm

13,751 posts

281 months

Wednesday 7th September 2011
quotequote all
Yep

the minerals boom in WA has made Perth one of the most expensive cities in the world - now far more expensive than Sydney.

Basically, loads of people work up north in the mines on silly money (even relatively unskilled workers make a pile of cash) and so Perth property and other prices have ballooned.

Ruined a nice place.

ringram

14,702 posts

279 months

Wednesday 7th September 2011
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
CHINA http://www.china.embassy.gov.au/bjng/relations2.ht...

In 2009 China surpassed Japan to become Australia's largest export market, with total merchandise exports to China valued at A$42.4 billion, an increase of 31.2 per cent over the previous year. Resources continue to underpin Australia’s exports to China. Australia exported 266.2 million tonnes of iron ore to China in 2009 (A$21.7 billion in value terms), an increase of 45.2 per cent over the same period in 2008. Australia's coal exports to China grew by 1000 per cent last year to become our second largest export commodity, behind iron ore. Over the last 12 months, two further LNG contracts have been signed for the supply of Australian gas to Chinese terminals. The future prospects for continued growth in our resources exports to China are good.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

85 months

Wednesday 7th September 2011
quotequote all
they dig stuff up, chop it down, pump it up for nothing and sell it for sh1t loads. but i'd replace nz with norway in that list.

oh they also have well capitalised 'dull' banks that didn't fvck up much.

Edited by fbrs on Wednesday 7th September 21:41

Bosshogg76

792 posts

214 months

Wednesday 7th September 2011
quotequote all
johnfm said:
Ruined a nice place.
Perth is still a nice place, just it's offensively expensive and that's one reason I continue commute.

ringram

14,702 posts

279 months

Wednesday 7th September 2011
quotequote all
Plus NZ my ex home smile

"China, the biggest importer of New Zealand dairy products by value, purchased about 353 million kilograms of the country’s milk products in 2010, up from 69 million kilograms in 2008, according to government data supplied by Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd., the world’s largest exporter. Fonterra processes 95 percent of the country’s milk and earns a fifth of its export revenues"

Eric Mc

125,796 posts

296 months

Wednesday 7th September 2011
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
As far as Australia is concerned one word explains their stonger economy - China.

sooperscoop

408 posts

194 months

Thursday 8th September 2011
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Canada always had a regulation that house loans couldn't be more than 80% LTV, I think, so they never had a housing crash. In any case apart from hot spots like Vancouver & Toronto, house prices have always been reasonable.

Add to that oil and gas in Alberta and the East Coast, and timber and minerals everywhere else, and things look good, as can be seen from the appreciation of the Canadian dollar (it was 2.30 to the GBP when I got here in 2007, now it's 1.57).

It's still vulnerable because the export market is so dependent on the US, but definitely cushioned.

EDLT

15,421 posts

237 months

Thursday 8th September 2011
quotequote all
Paddy_N_Murphy said:
Bill Carr said:
Bosshogg76 said:
They pay stupidly well, Pilbarra forklift truck drivers ... were only earning 190,000 Aus $ a year.
That's £126k!!!! Holy titty-fking-crap, are you serious?!
Yes.
Why? Is their idea of a fork-lift truck driver different to the UK's (as in it takes more than a three-day course to become one)?

Thats bubble-about-to-burst money.

RobDickinson

31,343 posts

285 months

Thursday 8th September 2011
quotequote all
Aus is booming due to minerals as said.

NZ has come very close to recession. We dont have the mineral wealth Aus has, but we do export timber and milk powder (white gold, a HUGE chunk of our economy). The Earthquakes have hit our economy a fair bit and almost pushed us into recession but not quite.

we have some sizable public debt but not unmanageable like euro zone.

Bibbs

3,754 posts

241 months

Thursday 8th September 2011
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Mining.

I've been in Perth almost 6 months now.

Unemployment is low (about 4%). Basically, if you want to work, there are plenty of jobs.

The money being thrown about by the government is silly. New hospitals, football grounds, underground railways, entertainment centre, new foreshore development etc. Billions is being spent all over the city.

The big mining companies pay well, but the knock on is that these big wages filter down through the economy as the workers buy new cars, houses, jetskis etc.

The flip side is that it's expensive to live here if you are not earning the local currency. Perth is about 20% more expensive to live than London at the moment, but if your salary is 20% more than it would be in London, do you care?

chunkol

7,703 posts

259 months

Thursday 8th September 2011
quotequote all
Bibbs said:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Mining.

I've been in Perth almost 6 months now.

Unemployment is low (about 4%). Basically, if you want to work, there are plenty of jobs.

The money being thrown about by the government is silly. New hospitals, football grounds, underground railways, entertainment centre, new foreshore development etc. Billions is being spent all over the city.

The big mining companies pay well, but the knock on is that these big wages filter down through the economy as the workers buy new cars, houses, jetskis etc.

The flip side is that it's expensive to live here if you are not earning the local currency. Perth is about 20% more expensive to live than London at the moment, but if your salary is 20% more than it would be in London, do you care?
Friend of mine is in Perth, top end in mining industry. He has a huge house, only sees it occasionally as he is up station earning big bucks to keep it. His family are still adjusting to the odd life it affords them. Big house, big cars, beach, no neighbour contact. A bit surreal at the moment for the family, but I'm sure they will adjust. I went through it all in Malaya with the rubber industry.

XJSJohn

16,152 posts

250 months

Thursday 8th September 2011
quotequote all
chunkol said:
I went through it all in Malaya with the rubber industry.
showing your age there fella hehe

rubber industry in Malaysia still booming, as is Natural Gas. Most of SE Asia is romping on without a sniff of recession, same as Australia, because of natural resources (but with added bonus of mucho cheapo labour) and Singapore continues to boom by providing the shipping, logistics, safe banking and nice housing for the senior management for the other countries.

Question is how much longer can China continue consuming? As long as its domestic markets + Europe and America keep needing i guess, its a fragile thing, better make hay whilst the sun shines!

chunkol

7,703 posts

259 months

Thursday 8th September 2011
quotequote all
XJSJohn said:
chunkol said:
I went through it all in Malaya with the rubber industry.
showing your age there fella hehe

rubber industry in Malaysia still booming, as is Natural Gas. Most of SE Asia is romping on without a sniff of recession, same as Australia, because of natural resources (but with added bonus of mucho cheapo labour) and Singapore continues to boom by providing the shipping, logistics, safe banking and nice housing for the senior management for the other countries.

Question is how much longer can China continue consuming? As long as its domestic markets + Europe and America keep needing i guess, its a fragile thing, better make hay whilst the sun shines!
Well spotted hehe
China scares me, seems to be reaching saturation point on the "need western type goods" side with locally made stuff that isn't up to the job. Rural communities disappearing and wanting high tech now. How sustainable is it?
I was born in Singa, nice to see it is still buoyant after all these years. I should have bloody stayed out there hehe Sampai jumpa hagi.

Bing o

15,184 posts

250 months

Thursday 8th September 2011
quotequote all
XJSJohn said:
showing your age there fella hehe

rubber industry in Malaysia still booming, as is Natural Gas. Most of SE Asia is romping on without a sniff of recession, same as Australia, because of natural resources (but with added bonus of mucho cheapo labour) and Singapore continues to boom by providing the shipping, logistics, safe banking and nice housing for the senior management for the other countries.

Question is how much longer can China continue consuming? As long as its domestic markets + Europe and America keep needing i guess, its a fragile thing, better make hay whilst the sun shines!
GDP forecasts slashed to 5.2% frown

http://www.todayonline.com/Hotnews/EDC110908-00004...

smile

AJS-

15,366 posts

267 months

Thursday 8th September 2011
quotequote all
Bosshogg76 said:
I'm not an economist and will probabIy be shot down by the more learned members of these boards.

However I commute to WA to work every 28 days, they have huge natural resources. They pay stupidly well, Pilbarra forklift truck drivers and crane ops went on strike as they were only earning 190,000 Aus $ a year.

Maybe they avoided recession by having commodities to sell as opposed to services.
Exactly right in my understanding anyway. I know a few people who do the same ("commuting" from Thailand every 4 or 5 weeks) and they tell me that the east coast is in a big slump, but the whole economy is just being propped up by this massive commodity boom. And they're coining it in too.

Makes me wish I had an Australian work visa!

Kawasicki

14,404 posts

266 months

Thursday 8th September 2011
quotequote all
Bosshogg76 said:
I'm not an economist and will probabIy be shot down by the more learned members of these boards.

However I commute to WA to work every 28 days, they have huge natural resources. They pay stupidly well, Pilbarra forklift truck drivers and crane ops went on strike as they were only earning 190,000 Aus $ a year.

Maybe they avoided recession by having commodities to sell as opposed to services.
If they pay forklift truck driver $190k, what do engineers start at?