Musings...: August 2011

Well, Spring is just round the corner... where has the year been?

I think this year has been truly challenging for a number of people. Thought I'd pen some thoughts and reminders on how this year is turning out to be thus far... not necessarily in any chronological order ...

Local news

I was away beginning of the year but we ended 2010 and heralded 2011 with news of flash flooding in south east Queensland and northern NSW. One of them notably was the ravage floods in Toowoomba which resulted in a few lives lost. The water levels rose very quickly and I think the residents themselves did not expect the severity of the floods.

While efforts to rebuild these cities were underway, next came Cyclone Yasi in February which was destined for Cairns. The early warning and preparation meant that no lives were lost while the Cyclone came through the town and the town suffered relatively minimal damage. Thank goodness for this but it meant that the price of bananas went up to about $15 / kg!

One of the obvious implications of the bad weather was that there was a huge reconstruction bill (thus the Flood Levy this financial year), and disrupted crucial industries.

Last year the Australian economy looked to be on its way up. The dark days of the global financial crisis seemed to have passed and consumer confidence was high and business conditions were strengthening. Fast forward a few months and consumer confidence is at an all time low... there are hardly any people buying frantically at the shops and Myer and DJs seemed to have ongoing sales campaigns. Sales in NSW have now contracted for four straight months and for five of the past six, with the exception of Zara which opened its first shop in Sydney Australia followed now by another outlet in Melbourne.

People have not been spending but our savings rate have also been at an all time high - all due to job uncertainties and the inclement economic outlook. Businesses are sullen and debt-laden consumers ultra-cautious.

We saw the demise of Borders and Angus and Robertson stores falling prey to the online industry.

The Australian dollar continued to soar. It reached parity last October but reached a historic high of 1.10 this year.

NSW heralded a new change of guard - out with the Keneally Government and in O'Farrell after a period of wastage and mismangement and appropriation of public property.

Meanwhile, federally, Julia's one year in office was not celebrated with much fanfare. Australians are seeing and suffering the effects of a hung parliament, there is a lack of direction from Julia, suffering from a backlash to her proposed Carbon Tax. Is this the right time to introduce the carbon price? The carbon tax is definitely affecting the confidence of the economy.

We have been advised that the price of electricity in NSW will increase by 17% this financial year. This raises concerns among households about the rising cost of living. It is no surprise that Sydney is the 7th most expensive city to live in.

It's been more than 10 years but Sydney is still waiting for an e-ticket system... sigh!

This month (August) also saw the passing of respected and much loved artist Margaret Olley. Meanwhile Edmund Capon announced his retirement from the gallery after 33 years at the helm. Edmund was appointed by Neville Wran and brought the highly successful First Emperor's collection to Sydney.

It was also time to undertake another Census.

The first Costco wholesale supermarket opened in Auburn, Sydney but the prices were apparently more expensive than Woolworths or Coles and most of the stuff had a shelf life of one day. Cost of membership is $60 and you need to be a member to enter with another guest.

Sydney had a warm start to winter. However, it was short lived as Sydney subsequently experienced about 10 days of wet weather... the wettest in 61 years! The wellies came in handy! Prior to that Sydney suffered from wild winds and rain. The wind chill factor dropped the temperature a couple of notches.

I also read with dismay that a 14 year old girl had cut short her life after suffering from relentless bullying on the internet. This makes me question what the parents are doing but more specifically the impact or "invasion" of the social media in our lives. What would life be without our smart phones? Is this a growing trend that will never be reverse but will only increase in intensity? Are we being too concerned about missing something rather than having deeper and more meaningful exchanges and quality time spent? What would life be without being "connected" 24/7? I think this so-called "smart technology" is in danger of making us less smart and more frenetic, not to mention the amount of electromagnetic exposures we are exposing our bodies to... sigh!

A note of tribute to Al who died suddenly (age 41) while out jogging on March 14 leaving behind his wife and 3 young girls. You are missed, Al!

International arena

While Australia suffered from the floods, Christchurch was shattered by an earthquake. In March, Japan was hit by an earthquake and tsunami which morphed into a terrifying nuclear crisis.

Problems in Greece, Portugal and Ireland reared its ugly head with the EU trying to find a suitable rescue package. Italy and Spain have been drawn in. Together these countries account for almost 30 per cent of euro zone activity and about one third of its debt. While the rescue package is being worked out, stock markets around the world were in jitters, resulting in some volatile markets.

Fears about the overall health of the global economy and the prospect of a double-dip recession in the US, triggered a sharemarket fallout early August sparking further fears of economic turmoil.

I woke up one morning to the news of Amy Winehouse's passing at age 27... possibly from drug overdose.

Meanwhile in Oslo, a wealthy right wing Christian extremist dressed as a police officer gunned down at least 85 teenagers hours after detonating a bomb on government offices in a shocking twin terror attack in Norway.

China has been having a good growth run for the past few years. The growth has been crucial for our Australian economy There are however lingering concerns that the need for Beijing to deal with soaring asset prices, especially housing, could result in a hard landing for the Chinese economy. Whoever scoffed at the Look East policy has had to eat their words. The number of Chinese migrants has now surpassed Britain and one wonders what the demographic landscape would look like in another 10 years time.

The share price for Apple shares soared about reporting record profits on the sales of their iPhones and iPads. “The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $28.57 billion and record quarterly net profit of $7.31 billion, or $7.79 per diluted share. Apple sold 20.34 million iPhones in the quarter, a record for any quarter, and up 142 percent from the same quarter a year ago. Apple sold 9.25 million iPads during the quarter, a record for any quarter, and up 183 percent from the same quarter a year ago. Read more of this success story:
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/apples_q3_earnings_report_digging_through_the_details/?utm_campaign=feature2

On the back of this record profits, Steve Jobs' announced that he would step down - and this resulted in a 7% drop in the Apple share price before news came that he would remain as Chairman.

And... Google shares also jumped 10% after their 36% increase in quarterly profits.

Mind you... all these happened before the world stockmarket tumbled... early August.

As I write this, residents of NY, Boston, Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia has been asked to brace themselves for Hurricane Irene which has the potential to cause billions of dollars in damage. At least 65 million people could be affected. This was the first hurricane warning issued for New York City in more than two decades. The airlines have cancelled more than 2000 weekend flights.

Amidst all this bad news, we also joined Britain in celebrating the union of Prince William and Catherine Middleton on Friday 29 April 2011 http://www.officialroyalwedding2011.org/

Have we had enough bad news for one year??

Let's pray for more good news and good tidings in the months ahead. May the grace of God abound in the coming months.

I was invited to join a few women to Canberra for a meeting with the Hon Kate Ellis, Minister for the Status of Women. The aim of the meeting was to discuss how we as part of The Womens' Investment Club could help empower women in the areas of wealth and finance.

We unfortunately arrived late for our meeting with the Minister due to the Carbon Tax Rally outside Parliament House which caused road closures thereby making us go round and round to find a parking spot. We were however fortunate in the sense that Julie Owens, MP's advisor was escorting us through the various buildings.

After signing in, he led the five of us through the myriad of passages and stairs to get to the Minister's office. As we were walking towards her office, Kate Ellis happened to pass by on her way to a Parliamentary sitting which started earlier. Meena Wahi, the founder of The Women's Investment Club managed to say a few words to her about our intended meeting and what her aim was. Kate Ellis then suggested we speak to her advisor to arrange a follow up meeting.

Not going to be deterred, we went into her office to see if we could arrange an alternate time. We then managed to spend some time with her policy advisor, Amy. Amy told us that currently about 60% of women are going into retirement without much savings. I thought this was sad... but there is much we can do and contribute. We came out feeling that all was not lost but we had achieved a little something... Also, the Minister for the Status for Women seeks to improve the status of women as well as to increase the participation of women in the workforce... I think this is by no means a small portfolio for someone who is only 24 years old!

The corridors exuded a feeling of power and one could imagine the brokering that was going round the rooms when Julia Gillard was planning to overthrow Kevin Rudd... hmm...

Meandering through the corridors, it was like we were in a scene from the drama the "West Wing". There were a couple of buildings and one would need to get up to the right floor to interconnect to the other building. Amidst all the power mongering and brokering, there was a sense of tranquility in the garden settings surrounding the buildings. Walking through the MPs offices, one could also sense their "humour" about current issues facing the government such as the photo with the two bottles of wines.

Anyway, it was a great day and very memorable to have been able to get an inside view into Parliament House. Thanks Meena for extending the invitation and including us!