#3 other countries have/are bailing out their banks without being totally screwed (at least not instantly). What makes Australia different?

#1 Maybe? Definitely! :)

But it is not in the Governments interest to be informing the public of that...

"Lies, damned lies and statistics" (Mark Twain) haha

#2 Worse still, Australia can't print money to bail out the banks the way the US do. We don't have a reserve currency, which means if the government bail out, the AUD will be screwed.

#1 Remember in our book, we mentioned tungsten? At the time we wrote that, the tungsten scam story hadn't surfaced yet (at least we haven't heard of it).

Lo and behold, the tungsten scam appeared!

#3 That's the problem i'm up against. But surely you could declare them as legal tender?

It seems that the rules about these things are really hard to understand. Why can't things be straight forward?

I've tried searching the customs.gov.au site for bullion, gold, and coins...and that's all I came up with.

Incidentally, Bron Sucheki has some really good info on the topic of 'Confiscation':
http://goldchat.blogspot.com/search/label/Confiscation

#2 With easy credit, people are just so keen to get into debt any way they can it seems.

Also I guess everything is relative isn't it.

#2 What if you have 100 1oz Australian Kangaroo gold coins? Their legal tender face value is $10000, but the metal content's market value is $120000.

#1 In terms of valuation, American property is certainly a bargain compared to bubbly expensive Australian property. But (and this is a big 'but'), being a landlord in America is very different from being a landlord in Australia. In America, landlords have much fewer rights than Aussie landlords. And the litigation culture over there, plus if you're unlucky, have to deal with drug dealers and the legal system there are very different. Investors beware!

#1 Also for importing/exporting gold (coins interest me):

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page4443.asp
http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page4350.asp

and the very end of:
http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/resources/tariff/chapter71goods_a.pdf

...

Basically, you can take gold/silver coins in and out of Australia, so long as you declare them if they are over $10,000. There are no tariffs.

BUT - that is just stuff I stumbled across. There may be newer, conflicting rules I don't know of yet.

#1 Interesting interview, but very high-level discussions there.

I guess the one problem that is highlighted by Robert is that the economists can affect the economy:

"Well, I don't like to do this. You're making me do a double dip scenario, 'cause it might not happen. We're kind of in a wishful thinking mode right now. I mean, because if I spell out a scenario, that's exactly the kind of thing that diminishes confidence and we're hoping to have confidence come back."

Which makes me distrust economists even more. At least Keen wasn't afraid to say it. But perhaps the angst is getting to such a point in the USA that it could be a bad idea to be selling the gloom story, if you don't want to get blamed for it personally.

This doesn't tell us anything new, but is nice to hear from Robert anyway, with an international perspective:

"And I think that the Australians may well be deceived, just as we were in the United States, by the sense that prices never fall here. That Australia hasn't seen any significant drop of prices, that seems to mean, in a very intuitive way of thinking, that it can't happen here. But that's exactly what ultimately makes it happen."

(touching on the property topic) Personally I see a major problem for our economy. If house prices are not propped up by the Gov., surely the banks will fail. Then the Gov. will have to bail out the banks.

So the scenario is: Prop up house prices, or kill the economy.

Unfortunately, propping up house prices takes a continual - and exponential - financial commitment. Which will kill the economy.

So we're left with: China bails us out, or we're screwed.

#4 Until a crisis :)

One good thing about depressions and recessions...people re-learn what is valuable, like voting for things that are better for all...not voting for corruption.

#3 Voter apathy is one of the reasons why corrupt politicians can get away with it.

#2 They are so corrupt now. Especially NSW and QLD, they are the worst.
I can't stand Keneally or Bligh. Worse than the people they replaced in my opinion.

Almost as bad for corruption is VIC.

Not so sure about SA, WA, TAS and NT though.

...

Then there are the councils...some of those are atrocious.

Does anyone actually vote anymore?

#3 Yes, good point

#2 Or when the push comes to shove, Bernanke could be removed. Or Congress will remove the independence of the Fed.

#1 The State governments should be abolished. That'll save taxpayers a lot of money from being spent on incompetent bureaucracy and corruption.

#1 Hahaha, we knew he was a liar before, but surely this is the lie to beat all lies?

Or is he going to pretend to do something other than print money...such as, erm, underwriting reserves for banks and then borrowing the reserves from them?

It's all lies. He lied before about this stuff, he's lying again.

#1 There are a number of investing books and articles on this topic. But one source I’ve found worth reading due to his extensive industry experience is here: http://www.fi.com/media/ken-fisher-resources.aspx. His firm is a client of mine and I have found his ideas, research, and writings useful.

#3 That is a relevant point David. But there are differences between "home owners".

If people just bought homes to live in them, we wouldn't have this problem.

The 'investors' (speculators) require a minimum return of about 3% per annum, to keep up with inflation, assuming that rents pay the interest (which isn't working out either). So if prices go backwards, they lose out big time.

People who can still service a mortgage at current and future interest rates will have no problems, other than the sickening feeling of knowing that their home is worth less than they paid for it, and knowing that if they decide to sell, they will incure a loss. But, if they trade one home for another similar home, they will also lose out in stamp duty/taxes/fees, but those should be minimal.

Wish I could say it was all roses.

#1 Very interesting and great comment by Saul.

I don't really like Saul personally, but I think this comment is excellent, and very informative.

Not to mention, slightly worrisome in these troubled economic times!

Perhaps this means that the RBA will be very strict on inflation? Somewhat ironic I think. RBA increases rates, puts mortgage holders under stress, starts a chain of defaults, which leads the RBA to drop rates significantly, leading to an even more inflated bubble later on (assuming that a) banks lower their rates and b) the downward momentum has not caught on)

And also somewhat ironic that some of people who have been selling property (i mean the owners, not RE agents) are cashed up and are causing inflation (i think?) by splashing out and putting money back into the money supply. Money that was created with someone else's leverage.