The Law of Unintended Consequences

[sptrawler]

The generation of "bringing up kids without boundaries" is starting to cause issues.

'Disgusting and disturbing': Why some female teachers are leaving the profession

Female teachers are being sworn at, sexually harassed and physically threatened in high schools by male students. They say young men are bringing the misogynistic ideas of Andrew Tate and other online influencers into the classroom.

www.abc.net.au

 

[sptrawler]

Is it too hard for middle Australia to get loans from risk-averse banks?

There is evidence that banks have become too conservative in lending to some businesses, and it’s hurting the economy.

www.smh.com.au

JP Morgan analyst Andrew Triggs points out that the major banks’ share of the commercial real estate loan market shrunk from about 85 per cent in 2015 to 70 per cent at the end of 2022. As the big local banks retreated, international lenders and private credit funds sought to fill this gap, but Triggs says they can be less reliable or more expensive.

This decline in the banks’ market share came about after regulators reviewed commercial property lending and decided lending standards were too lax. This led banks to tighten their policies in areas such as the pre-sales a developer must make or loan-to-valuation ratios.

This pullback from property developer lending has been a double-edged sword, which highlights the trade-offs that banks and regulators face.

On one hand, the big four banks have benefited from writing fewer bad loans. Triggs pointed out in a recent research note that the non-performing loans in the banks’ commercial real estate books were “very low,” despite the sharp rise in interest rates. But it’s also likely that the cautious attitude of banks is making it much harder to provide a much-needed boost to housing supply.

Small business lending is another area where some have argued it’s too hard for borrowers to get credit, leading to economic costs.

Barrenjoey analyst Jon Mott argued in a report earlier this year that banks had “de-risked too far” – pointing to small business lending as an example. For years, smaller firms have complained about how hard it is to get credit from a bank without putting a property up as security.

 

[wayneL]

Is it too hard for middle Australia to get loans from risk-averse banks?

There is evidence that banks have become too conservative in lending to some businesses, and it’s hurting the economy.

www.smh.com.au

JP Morgan analyst Andrew Triggs points out that the major banks’ share of the commercial real estate loan market shrunk from about 85 per cent in 2015 to 70 per cent at the end of 2022. As the big local banks retreated, international lenders and private credit funds sought to fill this gap, but Triggs says they can be less reliable or more expensive.

This decline in the banks’ market share came about after regulators reviewed commercial property lending and decided lending standards were too lax. This led banks to tighten their policies in areas such as the pre-sales a developer must make or loan-to-valuation ratios.

This pullback from property developer lending has been a double-edged sword, which highlights the trade-offs that banks and regulators face.

On one hand, the big four banks have benefited from writing fewer bad loans. Triggs pointed out in a recent research note that the non-performing loans in the banks’ commercial real estate books were “very low,” despite the sharp rise in interest rates. But it’s also likely that the cautious attitude of banks is making it much harder to provide a much-needed boost to housing supply.

Small business lending is another area where some have argued it’s too hard for borrowers to get credit, leading to economic costs.

Barrenjoey analyst Jon Mott argued in a report earlier this year that banks had “de-risked too far” – pointing to small business lending as an example. For years, smaller firms have complained about how hard it is to get credit from a bank without putting a property up as security.

The entrepreneurial impulse is gradually being strangled out of Middle Australia.

Many years ago I read an opinion that this is the goal of the globalists, creating a two tier society between big business and plebeians wanting to achieve a better life by starting a small business, especially if they are in competition with the multinationals.

Slowly but surely, this is coming to pass.

 

[basilio]

Thought this would be as a good a place to open this discussion.
Last week the world reeled from the computer outage caused by an innocuous update from Cloudstrike on thousands of clients computers. The blue screen of death flashed everywhere.

Where do we go from here in terms of the dangers of mass computer software failure ?

Why global tech meltdowns such as the CrowdStrike outage are the new normal​

ABC Science
/
By technology reporter James Purtill
Posted Yesterday at 5:30am

The unlikely sight of the "blue screen of death" in public places opened the eyes of many to the threat of major tech outages. (Getty Images: Diego Radames/Anadolu)

Link copied

In short:​

Cybersecurity experts say more global tech outages like last week's are "inevitable" — and next time could be far worse.
Security clients now face a difficult choice between trusting third-party security vendors with the keys to their systems, or accepting a higher risk of cyber attack.

What's next?​

There are calls for Australia to add analog redundancies to critical infrastructure, such as back-up copper wires for telecoms networks.
Last week's tech outage — the world's worst yet — shocked many and exposed the underlying fragility of our digital networks, but for those working on the front lines of cybersecurity, it was merely a taste of things to come.

In the often-secretive world of network protection, where well-heeled clients are kept out of the media and details of hackings and ransoms paid are swept under the rug, Friday's "blue screen of death" meltdown was not entirely unexpected.

"These things are going to happen periodically, and we're just going to have to be prepared for them in some way to recover as quickly and as smartly as we can," Jeffrey Dodson, a leading cybersecurity expert, says from Washington DC.

The CrowdStrike outage took many by surprise, but there have been warning signs for years

The world's worst tech outage shocked many and exposed the underlying fragility of our networks, but for cybersecurity specialists it's merely a taste of things to come.

www.abc.net.au