what does ageing mean for us?

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/keep-up-the-good-work-old-chap-20090526-bm05.html

Over the coming years you will notice more and more policies designed specifically to reduce the massive costs of an ageing population. Rising Government debt will further exacerbate the issue which can only lead to higher taxes and/or a reduction in services. Start saving now, you'll need it.

Investing now...?

How soon will the Australian economy recover, still much speculation: http://business.smh.com.au/business/budget-optimists-are-guessing-too-20090522-biaz.html
Divided opinion, but even the best signs are far from bullish: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25524015-643,00.html

Share markets have shown some recovery in last few months, but stories of business failures remain a relevant consideration: http://business.smh.com.au/business/collapse-a-cautionary-tale-for-ad-industry-20090522-biar.html
Yet, in the same paper you can read about other business successes: http://business.smh.com.au/business/amatil-pops-the-cork-on-latest-growth-figures-20090522-biax.html
Some of you were interested in our big minin firms as a possible investment, yet RIO's prices have taken a battering: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-business/rio-takes-borates-business-off-market-20090523-biiu.html

Appropriate spending?

The Federal Budget brought about some interesting discussion on Fiscal policy and estimates regarding how soon Australia might be back to trend growth.

What were your reactions to the budget? What did your parents have to say?

read budget here: http://www.budget.gov.au/2009-10/content/speech/html/speech.htm and follow links through the site to read more.

Budget week

Much media attention will be directed to analysis and presentation of the Federal Budget this week. A very helpful start in easy to understand language will be found at http://www.sbs.com.au/news/specialcoverage/46/Budget-2009#

We'll have daily copies of the Australian and Courier Mail in the library and my office, but wider reading should also be occuring - try discussing the implications on your family with your parents.

Where is Jung Wu?

Said he wanted some articles to respond to, but he's not responding to the recent posts. In fact, no body is.... should I go on holiday and forget about you all?

Consumer confidence improves... indicating what?

Consumer confidence is a closely watched and hotly debated economic indicator. Some analysts regard it as an exceptionally meaningful barometer and forecasting tool, and many cite it as a strong factor in stock market swings. Yet others question its fundamental validity. Can we trust gauges of consumer confidence? Just what do they measure? How do these measurements interact with economic conditions? Do movements in confidence correlate with other indicators, including personal spending? Is confidence a leading, lagging or coincident indicator of economic recession and recovery?

Here's what was reported in the Australian today - note what story they think the figures suggest:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25307477-5018001,00.html

Why don't you do some wide reading on the usefulness of Consumer confidence as a macro economic indicator...

DRQ:Consumer behaviour changing in response to...

http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13415207&source=hptextfeature

This article from the Economist suggests reasons why consumer behaviour is changing. Explain why using evidence from the article, highlighting the use of coincident indicators such as these figures in the graph. Evaluate the effects through the economy as savings become more of a priority, also how businesses will have to adjust to attact potential shoppers. Using the DRQ answering process to define red terms, diagram to show falling demand, then blue directions for the rest of the answer.