Australians have been trapped in a long, drawn-out per capita recession. As the following chart illustrates, Australia’s per capita GDP has recorded nine declines in the past 11 quarters. While the cumulative 1.7% decline in real per capita GDP is rather shallow compared to the early-1980s and 1990s recessions, it is the longest-running slump in
Looking at the facts, there’s no reasonable conclusion except that US democracy is done for. But rather than face facts, I’m turning to fiction. So, here’s a story about the collapse of Trumpism, crony capitalism and the AI/crypto bubble. Fiction is a relatively unfamilar mode of writing for me, so critique (on style and structure rather than plausibility) is most welcome.
The crash of 2026
Yet another major bank is on board. Credit Agricole. After years of resistance, the RBA has lowered its productivity growth assumption. This has not led to higher inflation forecasts or the risk of tighter monetary policy. The RBA is assuming lower productivity growth will not only weaken supply but also demand via lower income growth.
The post Everybody wants Australian dollars appeared first on MacroBusiness.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has escalated her anti-Russia rhetoric, calling President Vladimir Putin a “predator”and reciting NATO’s talking point about a looming Russian threat to justify the EU’s push for accelerated militarization.
Another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please.
I’m now using Substack as a blogging platform, and for my monthly email newsletter. For the moment, I’ll post both at this blog and on Substack. You can also follow me on Mastodon here.
According to Cotality (formerly CoreLogic), Australian rental affordability was at a record low at the end of 2024, with the median household required to spend 33% of their income to rent the median home. Cotality’s latest Quarterly Rental Review, released in July, showed that rents nationally have surged by 43% over the past five years:
By Lucinda Jerogin, Associate Economist at CBA Australian headline inflation surprised to the upside, sharply rising by 2.8%/yr in July. However, electricity and travel prices contributed to the majority of the forecast miss and will likely unwind in coming months. The Minutes of the August Monetary Policy Board meeting highlighted a shift in focus for
The post The economic week ahead appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Donald Trump demonstrates deep understanding of George Soros' nefarious role in supporting “engineered chaos,” both inside the US and abroad, retired Colonel Hatem Saber, an Egyptian expert in international counterterrorism and information warfare, tells Sputnik.
"Democrats use Soros and his organizations as tools for regime change," Saber says.
Saber highlighted the evolution of Soros’ role by decades:
I wrote a piece about the religious bastardry afoot in the US about 18 months ago which argued the Christian nationalism was a misnomer, and that christofascism was a much more accurate term1.
Australia’s auction market has gathered strength over recent months. Last week’s national final auction clearance rate of 70.0% was the strongest result since the week ending 11th February 2024 (70.3%). This weekend’s preliminary auction clearance results showed further strength, with Cotality reporting a national preliminary clearance rate of 76.3%, a full percentage point higher than



