Rhrosty some times you really get it so wrong.

The only places wealth & prosperity has been generated is where private enterprise has generated it, just ask the Russians. You can't generate wealth by printing money either, just ask the Rhodesian/Zimbabweans about that.

Mate even China had to switch to a private enterprise industrial system to become profitable. Rather than drive wages down, everywhere that industrialises has a rapid growth in wages.

As for government getting involved, just look at our health system. Private hospitals make a fortune, public hospitals waste an even bigger one.

Interest rates are low because of 6 years of Krudd/Gillard mismanagement, & the failed economy they left us. God lets hope we don't get another lefty bunce back in power. Another lot would probably give us Keating's 17% interest rates back.

Arjay, despite their high gross value, the net value of those contracts is zero.

The claim that shareholders would be paid ahead of depositors is an outright lie.
How secure the depositors' money is is a matter for national governments, but no government would permit an insolvent bank to pay its shareholders.

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rehctub, it's our dollar rather than our wages that's unsustainably high.

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Hasbeen, our public hospitals are generally more efficient than our private hospitals. The reason some of the latter make a fortune is because they charge more rather than passing the benefits on to their patients.

Money is not wealth, but when money's so scarce that unemployment is high, more money is needed to create wealth. The wealth generation process effectively involves printing money whether in the public sector or private sector. And while State Owned Enterprises don't generally have a good track record, there are some very efficient ones out there. Exactly the same can be said for privatised utilities.

Rudd did not mismanage the economy. Gillard did, but nowhere near as much as Abbott.

Aidan you have the problem with reality and truth. Here is evidence of "bail in" http://cecaust.com.au/bail-in/ Cyprus style bank confiscation of deposits was passed. Even Rhonda Jamb on Graham Young's blog knows this.http://www.ambitgambit.com/2014/12/03/could-the-banks-seize-our-cash-g20-sold-us-a-pup/

Derivatives are honoured and they are interwoven into our whole finance system. Why do you deny the reality ?

Are interest rates low? That is a very general question. Do we borrow from the reserve Bank?
I think Reserve Bank interest rates are low because many many people are now awake to borrowing when the rate is low, and then having to pay more than expected.

Many people now have experience with foreclosure following interest rate hikes, hikes sometimes reaching a record high.

Many children have grown up while observing and listening to their parents struggle to meet the increase in interest rates. Now as adults they try not to borrow.

To many people, interest is a dirty thing, a destructive soul destroying thing bordering on legal extortion. Foreclosure involves threat bordering on terror/ism.
Money should be money with enough of it to live while able to afford daily needs like adequate healthy food and reasonable non-plastic clothing.
I think many people are tired of being ripped right off. Why borrow? Why buy goods in general under such circumstances?

Just look at the cost of petrol now, about $1.50 per litre while a barrel of oil is less than $50. What an absolute rip off.
Cost of fuel affects all food and merchandise consumers.
Productive infrastructure and properly remunerated employment is needed, then government could generate tax revenue, instead of milking cash from motorists through excise tax at the pump. No wonder the motor industry is on it’s knees. No wonder consumers reduce spending.

Government should be up and running with development of new PRODUCTIVE infrastructure instead of just engaging in new road 'infrastructure' that produces no export product whatsoever.

Who wants to borrow money under such downhill sliding circumstances involving such hopelessness? Of course if you have a well paid job these problems may not be seen and understood.
Cont’d……..

Continued…….
Young people get conned into housing but soon many learn their mistake.
Major media lets it all happen. Major media is stifling news of new economic development opportunity.

Whatever happened to all the "seasonal adjustment" in GDP and GNP and other reported figures?

Why was fish removed from the CPI? Fish used to be a staple food for poor people. The CPI is supposed to be an economic indicator.

Then there are the hidden cameras and 10 km over the limit $109 speeding fines and 5 minute late $104 parking fines that are all bleeding available cash from pockets and purses of would be consumers.

Foreign investment in real estate is causing inflation in the housing and rental market.
New Zealand has recently found over 40 percent of housing and land real estate sales in Auckland have Chinese names. (And I like Chinese people).
Now there is talk of a bubble burst as government consider controlling such foreign purchase, that will likely decrease the value of what buyers have already paid.

I blame major media for failure to report truth of reality.
For example why was fish was removed from the CPI. WHY?
Just look at the price of fresh healthy fish now, quality local fish, not imported catfish.

Why has the major media gagged the real state of ocean and river seafood that is now causing 70 percent of fish product consumed or used in Australia to be imported?
The plight of our own professional and amateur fishing tourism industries and livelihood of all associated families has not been duly reported by major media.
Many people dependent on coastal community economies in general are now surviving on social security resources instead of productively supplying seafood and pleasure to the nation.
Who in those communities and associated industry want to borrow and pay unstable and usually increasing interest rates?

Why do we have to pay interest to use money we need?

Rehctub
The very large mining companies in Australia only employ a very small number of people, yet they have a profound effect on the economy due their influence on the exchange rate.

http://www.allianz.com.au/business/small-business-insurance/news/small-businesses-in-australia

Coal high A$142 or US$142 Jan 2011 per tonne
Coal now A$81 or US$60

Iron high of A$187 or US$ 187 Jan 2011
Iron ore now A$70 or US$51.5

http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=coal-australian&months=60

http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=iron-ore&months=60

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=AUD&to=USD&view=5Y

There most definitely should have been a windfall tax on the miners, there was a huge spike in coal and Iron ore prices around 2011 which in turn pushed up the Aussie dollar to such an extent that all our other exports became uncompetitive.

The miners wages were not too high, as the price we were getting for our coal and iron ore was so high we could have paid the miners much more and it would not have made the slightest difference to the bottom line of the miners. The present situation is we have a world wide oversupply of both iron ore and coal so prices are going to stay down for a very long time. We have finished the construction phase of building the mines and that means a big reduction in staff so in every way the mine worker is going to get a raw deal and now you want to push down his wages further ?

IR flexibility has dramatically increased over the last 20 or so years, usually to the determent of the lower paid workers who are today probably worst off now despite the fact that on average wages have risen. There are plenty of workers who are on poorly paid contacts who simply can't afford to take a holiday during the year. Conditions generally have declined for the low end of the workforce and unions are rapidly losing any clout, except in the government sector and a few large industries, which is all largely irrelevant as the vast majority of workers are employed in the service industries and not by the big multinational miners.

Interest rates are low because the economy is stuffed.