No Henry.We need a new Bank owned by the Govt to create our new currency.The reason why rates are going up is that the US Fed is printing $ trillion in phoney money and it comes here looking for a safe haven.The stimulus money Rudd borrowed from China,ie $40 billion put pressure of interest rates.We got the debt and the big end of town got most of the $40 billion.It is a scam.

Arjay, has got to be something different. A one track mind suites all situation.
How about saying something constructive. A country with money in the bank, is a country without infastructure.

The interest rate is supposed to be the price of money.
Like most prices, it is better to let the market set the price for if it is imposed artificially then other distortions are felt: Someone ends up paying.
When folks want to spend, but there is not enough saving then rates should go up. When folks are saving more than is needed in investment then rates should go down. It should be a no-brainer that you cannot spend money that hasn't been saved yet. (Well, someone has to create currency, but that shouldn't be a bunch of wealthy selfish bankers! Like it or not, there is a role for governments in capitalism.)
By keeping rates too low for too long we have created speculative bubbles. Some have "cashed in" on this bubble, no more so than the Banking "industry" and the folks old enough to already own property. There has also been public asset sales, corporatism and other "selling the farm" short term profiteering. Unemployment has been redefined to exclude under-employment so whilst a truly massive wealth shift has occurred in the economy, the statistics have hidden the impact.
Clearly market manipulation is harmful, so why to the "free market" folks not worry about this particular distortion? Answer: profits, lots of them! And all at the expense of the worker, not through any gains in wealth production.
What we *need* is for folks not to reap $M from doing *nothing at all*. We need science, engineering and real infrastructure. We do NOT need several banks and taxpayer insurance companies making $Billion dollar profits whilst contributing *nothing* to the wealth of the nation. We do NOT gain from wealthy people getting *much* richer at the expense of workers!
Forget dodgy economic faux-theory and get back to basics. If only half the boat is rowing then we need to throw the parasites overboard, or make them row!

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=11064#185131

Correct as usual Arjay.

But wait, there's more, the mining revenues have allowed the Bligh government to spend like drunken sailors, The BER ripoffs took tradesmen out of the regular building industries, causing a property bubble that is about to burst.

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=11064#185139

579, 100% wrong, a country without money in the bank after a mining boom has no reserves to establish a safety net or relieve, high unemployment with some infrastructure spending during a recession, after it starts.

Haven't you ever seen "Wall Street" or Micheal Moore's films post GFC?

I strongly suggest you go to see "Wall Street 2".

The "Raving Right, Extreme Capitalists" will not be able to get the next Boom/Bust cycle going, if they are not, "Aided & Abetted" by "Great Big New Taxes" & more, profligate spending from the Red/green/getup/labour Communist coalition.

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=11064#185157

Ozandy, correct as well, our greatest export product is empty containers.

I can remember discussing in "1984" with Don Chip, the worsening "current account deficit" & predicting the crash in 1987 together with the 1989/90, recession, we had to have.

Things don't seem to be improving, getting worse if anything, they exported almost all industry other than mining, "financial services" or "do you want fries with that".

The mining boom is still in action if you haven't noticed. You have a funny idea of a comunist coalition.

579 Mining boom for whom?
You'd better start to understand some basic economics.Our Govt Banks should never have been sold off.$91 billion of new money is added to our economy pa.This is GDP + inflation. It is $8500 per working person.Our Govt banks such as the commonwealth used to create much of this money debt free.They could create it through infrastructure or as loans to the private banks.We now borrow 30% of our mortage money from Global Reserve banks who just create it in their computers anyway.

We have no infrastructure,are selling of all our Govt income earning assets and are drowning in foreign debt.

Under this thieving system,eventually the amount of money in our economy will be equal to the debt.We will all then be insolvent.This is modern day economic serdom!