Australian (ASX) Stock Market Forum

The state of the economy at the street level

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divs4ever said:
after sitting through various health and safety lectures and site inductions .. getting on with the job is very difficult after your brain has been mushed for 15 minutes or up to an hour

there are often an adequate number of workers .. all being lectured at company expense
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Unfortunately I have been some of these safety and cultural lectures when employed as an outside contractor.
I don't have a particularly good attention span when it comes to this b/s particularly "cultural".
 
frugal.rock said:
I know where you were trying to go here rumpy, but mate, have you had contact with youngsters these days?
Work is an inconvenience around device usage.
Even where there is decent direction from parents, the child is in an age of entitlement and the worst cases know that and exploit it to it's fullest.
Quite a pertinent topic in its own right under the thread heading, a direct effect.
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Not just youngsters who feel that they are entitled. I gave a "reformed drug user" a go after he did 4 years at Acacia.
Spent most of his time on his phone texting and when not doing looking for a cancer stick to light up.
Probably got about 3 hours of effective work out of him a day.
After a week said tut tar goodbye this is not working for me.
 
sptrawler said:
Interesting article.
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I've noticed the author is mainly a doom n gloom protagonist with sensationalised headlines.

Meanwhile, the underlying commodities are all making a comeback in price.
EG; Both Zinc and copper up 5% in the last 3 weeks or so, 2 base metals of a good indicative market measure of industrial activity.
Nickel up 11% same time frame etc

It doesn't mean what he is saying isn't true, it's just it might scare one out of buying, at possibly the exact right time to be buying....
 
frugal.rock said:
I've noticed the author is mainly a doom n gloom protagonist with sensationalised headlines.

Meanwhile, the underlying commodities are all making a comeback in price.
EG; Both Zinc and copper up 5% in the last 3 weeks or so, 2 base metals of a good indicative market measure of industrial activity.
Nickel up 11% same time frame etc

It doesn't mean what he is saying isn't true, it's just it might scare one out of buying, at possibly the exact right time to be buying....
Click to expand...
Agree wholeheartedly the thing that resonated with me, is the fact the lack of value adding and manufacturing is starting to be noticed and commented on, until recently all the talk has been about record exports of materials.
At least now people are starting to say, hang on Indonesia is value adding, Thailand is industrialising, we just seem to keep on digging.
This eventually needs to be addressed and it is only people talking about it, that brings it to the Govt attention, the more mainstream commentators talk about it, the better chance that it will be addressed IMO.
It gives off bad optics for the Govt and that's the last thing they want, as was shown with the changes to the stage 3 tax cuts.
 
frugal.rock said:
I've noticed the author is mainly a doom n gloom protagonist with sensationalised headlines.

Meanwhile, the underlying commodities are all making a comeback in price.
EG; Both Zinc and copper up 5% in the last 3 weeks or so, 2 base metals of a good indicative market measure of industrial activity.
Nickel up 11% same time frame etc

It doesn't mean what he is saying isn't true, it's just it might scare one out of buying, at possibly the exact right time to be buying....
Click to expand...
With you frugal. I think we are at the bottom and its time to buy. China is corralling the market at present and doing some dirty tricks to lower prices and stop opposition mines not owned by them starting up but long term this won't last. As they control a lot of the technologies after being foolishly given to them by the USA. they own half the lithium mines in the world!

You want to be in copper, rare minerals, graphite, most things really. I will see if I can find a graph but mineral prices are sinusoidal and we are near the bottom. This excludes iron which doesn't have a long history and works in a completely different way.
You don't sell papers/make money from punters from being positive though.

from article below: "U.S. military is still entirely dependent on China to build its weapon systems."

foreignpolicy.com

How the United States Handed China Its Rare-Earth Monopoly

And how Washington could get it back.
foreignpolicy.com foreignpolicy.com

Biden is building the a critical minerals facility and there is now USA money for creating mines not owned by China. More needs to be done and I think it will be - whoever is in power.

www.energy.gov

Biden-Harris Administration Invests $16 Million to Build America's First-of-a-Kind Critical Minerals Production Facility

Projects in West Virginia and North Dakota Will Help Strengthen America’s Clean Energy Supply Chain, Revitalize Energy Communities, and Enhance National Security
www.energy.gov www.energy.gov
 
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From two different sources, talking business over dinner last night. A couple of medium to large companies are reducing the hours of casual workers so that they don’t get caught out with the new regulations that will force them to give extra paid benefits. They are looking at reducing staff and invest in technology as a means of reducing the forecast cost increases from the changes that are expected.
 
JohnDe said:
From two different sources, talking business over dinner last night. A couple of medium to large companies are reducing the hours of casual workers so that they don’t get caught out with the new regulations that will force them to give extra paid benefits. They are looking at reducing staff and invest in technology as a means of reducing the forecast cost increases from the changes that are expected.
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That bottom line , the all important line.
 
Maybe these two stories don't affect most of us, but if it's a sign of what is happening in the business community we are in a bit of trouble.

www.abc.net.au

UnitingCare lays off 340 staff amid cost-of-living crisis, causing customer service delays

One of Queensland's biggest non-government employers has sacked hundreds of workers after recording a $54 million "total comprehensive loss" last year.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au

www.abc.net.au

'It could cost lives': Patients and staff 'devastated' as two Sydney mental health hospitals set to close

Health provider Wesley Mission is planning to shut down its Kogarah and Ashfield hospitals, which provide mental health treatment. The news has shocked patients and staff.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
 
wayneL said:
I am seeing a noticeable increase in beggars at intersections around Perth... In places I've never seen them before
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In Sydney City recently, have noticed the same.
Plenty with dogs and a few were ultra obese, reminded me of big sea lions lying down, bellies hanging out.
One asked me for spare change, I replied I didn't have any, but gave him a fiver. Felt rather futile.


SirRumpole said:
Maybe these two stories don't affect most of us, but if it's a sign of what is happening in the business community we are in a bit of trouble.
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Could it be purely belt tightening causing the issues?
IE; less donations to charity.
It would seem Ukraine is feeling the same effect.

An afterthought is, how does moving towards being cashless affect giving to charities?
 
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On the news tonight, Comm Bank is closing down all BankWest outlets and ATM;s about 350 staff are in limbo.
Been a R&I/BankWest customer all my life.
An account was opened in my name when I was born by my Grandfather.
Rather sad that this iconic WA bank will no longer be.
Going to have to change institutions as i can't stand Comm.
 
wayneL said:
It's been interesting that the "conspiracy theorists" have been warning of a campaign to get rid of the middle class for several years now.

...and then, an Adecco like this comes out on mainstream news. Is yet another conspiracy theory coming true?

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Well, I'm afraid it's nothing new, the trend has been evident for some time. Once you gave people with spare money extra incentives to invest in housing, home owner occupiers were quickly priced out of the market.

It's has the potential to bring the whole economy down when people who have been renting all their lives retire or are made redundant because they are too old and are forced to live on social security and still paying rent, the economy simply won't be able to afford them and there will be a massive social crisis.

Governments have to make the hard decisions to give owner occupiers a fair chance in the market, or the situation will only get worse.
 

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