ABCDiamond

Maybe partly because the Australian banks are still making good profits, and not in need of any bailouts ?

brian.w

what do you mean stacked?

svinnes

Not in use anymore....Saying that still work here compared to the n/sea...My dad worked for Bristows helicopters and he was saying last night that they have cut there flights down from 30 to 18, so not looking good there...Where you thinking of heading??

ramlmmjem

It wasn't really the decline in profits that led to the bail-outs for the banks. Its was the amount of bad (or toxic in the new jargon!) debt they had accumulated and the extent to which they'd counted and accounted for that debt as assets in their financial accounting. That's why the Royal Bank of Scotland and Halifax Bank of Scotland are screwed. They had lent big in the US sub-prime market, done all the bundling of debt and bought and sold that, (probably counting it all twice in the process) and then borrowed on a short-term basis to finance their lending. When the banks and other institutions stopped lending to each other, those that were really badly over exposed were the ones that needed bailouts (or went belly up like Lehmanns Borothers did in the US).


Personally, I'd legislate for anyone working for a bank in the last 20 years during which all of this has been building up and who earned an average of £100,000 a year of more over that period to:

a) have any bonuses paid which were over 10% of theiir salary taken back from them and put into the public exchequer

b) put on a pension which was the average pension for all working people in that country.

If you think that's draconian, in China I suspect they'd have been shot!



Alistair

ABCDiamond

OK, i'll rephrase that...
Instead of "Maybe partly because the Australian banks are still making good profits, and not in need of any bailouts ?"

Maybe partly because the Australian banks did not have such bad debtors, and are still making good profits, and not in need of any bailouts ?

ramlmmjem

Sorry..didn't mean to sound school teacherish...its early morning here and I haven't had a coffee yet!!



Alstair

ABCDiamond

That's like me, I often need my second coffee before I make much sense.

mrsridge

good luck to you dinner-dash. we are renovating and had an english guy do our retaining wall, he was wonderful (did a beautiful job too) he has just recently got his licences sorted and is hoping he will continue to get work (and bought himself a gorgeous boat). However our builder, who quoted more than $70K less than others for our renovation says you build your nest, then when times are tough its those that have been charging too much lose their nest. He's right, I could not praise this man enough, and after all the horror stories we have heard about renovations, we really were lucky to find this man and I have recommended him highly to all my friends who are lining up to hire him! I guess its harder if you are starting from scratch to build a client/word of mouth base.

chuckie76

agreed, and so they are in a position to lend to small business which are the engine of economy...whereas here in ireland the banks are taking the govt recapitilisation money and hoarding it instead of lending small business which is doubly cripplin our sad ass economy....similar in uk as far as I'm aware.......soooo imho oz is nowhere near as f##ked as uk....

fraser_mac

Chuckie you have hit the nail on the head.

I am running a small I.T business in Ireland and asked for an over draft of 5k for 2 weeks. This was purely to cover me purchasing some equipment and cash flow. I did stipulate 2 weeks.

The bank said no. So I had to go and get a loan from family to ease my cash flow.

Unbelieveable to say the least.

chuckie76

yeah fraser i know what u mean - my father and brother are in bgusiness - same deal - used up loans the banks had previously cleared - now BOI up in arms saying loans were never approved......an WE have bailed these f##kers out....€7bn and counting! we'll be bailing out every scumbag property developer in the process....sad thing is it's the likes of us and my kids that will really be paying for it for many years to come.......bit off topic, sorry folks! as far as i know UK is in same boat so just to reiterate any compairosns between UK/Ireland and Oz are pretty ludicrous to my mind...just an opinion!

charlie rara

do it do it.
can i have a job please

mad city fan

All I can add to this is ditto if you have a employment in the uk then stay cos its dog eat dog out here been here nearly 7 weeks and nothing

phat-dave

sure Australia will be hit by the global financial crisis but its financial institutions are still lending to everyday individuals and to small / medium business (the backbone of the Australian economy) - that is the difference.... the government has provided a 30% one off tax deduction for all capital expenditure and this is really starting to accelerate expenditure - of course its not enough to bail out entire industries (trucks/motor vehicles/building etc) but it's enough to keep the economy floating - every major economy around the world is hurting and copping a flogging, of course Australia will not be exempt but our basic fundamentals will ensure we keep battling on and take advantage of any opportunity available....

personally, i hold a management position with one of the big four banks and I am looking to acquire international business exposure and have been eyeing off Canada.... it's a scary and daunting thought to pack up and leave when relatively speaking things are pretty good here in Australia.

brian.w

heading for perth as thats the place i think there is most work onshore and offshore,i fly with bristows to come out here but i would not have any idea if there is less flights going out to the north sea,i suppose i might be one of the lucky ones with still a job offshore.