Yes there are so many anomalies in the interest rate/inflation argument that one truly does wonder if living standards are being driven down intentionally and indeed as Arjay states 'by stealth'.

Not to mention the availability of easy credit which has built up debt to unprecedented levels one wonders who is doing all the buying and how are they paying for it. Consumers have little power over prices of food, housing and petrol in a global market.

When the reality of peak oil is forced apon us there will have to be major changes made to adapt and this will involve some courage from our leaders in regard to economic policy and a rethink on the 'religion' of free trade and globalisation.

Ludwig

have you tried using Tiny Url to translate a long link into a handy size?

Here is the link: http://littlurl.com/

On topic: I can understand oil prices impacting on food and every other product.

But I fail to see how PBS is impacting on the overall economy. Without it, people would simply not afford life saving medication. My mother is on oxygen now, but she still contributes to our nation by caring for my niece and nephew - saving on child care and freeing my sister and her husband to go to work. Arjay some evidence please that assisting people to live more productively is "driving down our living standards".

And "by stealth" - what do you mean 'by stealth'? Conspiracy theory perhaps? Isn't it in the interests of the free market that people are able to aspire towards higher living standards?

I think Pelican has a point about the far too easy credit availability - when are the financial institutions going to by regulated?

Australia is no longer an island economy, what happens overseas impacts on us here. Why we are not urgently financing research into alternatives to oil never fails to astound me. All we do is talk. The only action is the Reserve Bank increasing interest rates, which further drives up prices - the only people who benefit from this are those with investments and no outstanding debts.

I wish to pose the following questions for consideration and analysis:

1) Why has the RBA no power to control unscrupulous actions by the Private banks?.....Government can issue Bank Licences, why not be able to remove them?

2) Why did OPEC state approximately 12 months ago, that they would be happy "when oil attained $50 per barrel!" and it is now approaching $120 per barrel?

3) Why doesn`t the Federal Government reduce the Excise Duty on fuels?

4) How accurate or HONEST is the CPI?

or look outside the circle and ask why [cept for votes] did Howard allow interest rates to get so LOW, thus the exponential rise in property prices

and why did he allow Ozzie Home Loans and mates to loan to people with no deposit

and Hey, some of us forecast an energy crisis back in 1970s as plain as nose on der face

but easy to fix, just bomb the sh** out of Iran [Iraq was a dud]

As for: "Driving down our living standards by stealth!":

It seems that the " Masters" of our destiny (the faceless, nameless monsters that profit in power and wealth !.....and wouldn`t it be interesting to know exactly who they are?) have tried to reduce our numbers by various nefarious methods over the years:

a) The Great War (to end all wars)- 1914-1918!

b) The Second World War (sorry we were wrong about WW1!)

c) The Korean Police Action (holding back the yellow hordes!)

d) The Vietnam Fiasco (holding back the yellow hordes-2)

e) The Afghanistan Fuel and Poppy Campaign!

f) Desert Storm (Keeping Kuwait and fuel)!

g) WMD Invasion and ultimate destruction of IRAQ! (keeping ALL the fuel!)

Throw in a plethora of infectious pandemics eg: AIDS,SARS,H5N1,etc and they still haven`t been able to thin out the population sufficiently, so the final solution (save for Nuclear holocaust) must now be utilized: ......we will simply starve the world to death!

The poor will perish and the rich will survive!.....(and your Credit Card will buy you nothing!)

Ludwig,

The link is not active in the OLO post because, presumably, the OLO software recognises the 's' immediately following the 'http' in the link you typed or pasted as a typo.

If you copy and paste the link as you supplied it in your post into the address bar of a new tab in your browser, and press 'enter', the link works.

I thought the 's' was a typo myself, and removed it from the address when I first tried it. The 'corrected' link worked, but only to the extent of getting me to a CIA redirect page, the links in which do work. That redirect page advises that the site is now an encrypted site for the security of visitors, whatever that might mean.

If you copy and paste the link as you have given it, without removing the 's', you go straight to the page in question. It seems the 's' is some sort of indicator of a secure or encrypted site.

Be ye not flummoxed, O Ludwig. 'Tis but OLO being OLO. The 'missing link' in the OLOduvai gorge, perhaps? CIAO.