4 ms·

I think jacques was referring to the sale itself, which would be in USD, I believe. [Below is an explanation of why he lamented the skyrocketing AUD.] As for

by jimminy 15y ago

I think jacques was referring to the sale itself, which would be in USD, I believe. [Below is an explanation of why he lamented the skyrocketing AUD.] As for the revenue for The Inquisitr, it all tends to come from ad companies that pay out in USD. Having discussed this before with Duncan, on Twitter. Since his revenue stream was primarily in USD, as the USD and AUD came to and surpassed parity, the value of his income in the local economy decreased.

jacques_chester 15y ago
> I think jacques was referring to the sale itself, which would be in USD, I believe. That's a pity. Comes to around $310-312,000 local. The strong AUD has been great for consumers, but not great for exporters. Duncan was an exporter, the dollar rising was going to hurt him. Tourism has taken a double-whammy with locals going overseas and foreigners staying away. As a net consumer I am loving the AUD-USD exchange rate. Mind you it's a historical abnormality; for about 70% of its life as a floating currency the AUD has traded at less than 80c US. If the AUD falls before oil prices, the current government will be (more) doomed.
- nl 15y ago
  If the AUD falls before oil prices, the current government will be (more) doomed. That's simplistic. If the AUD fell back down to 80c US it's unlikely it would hurt the government, and might even help it. It would depend on other factors... If the AUD falls then presumably we'll sell even more iron ore. However, the high exchange rate is one factor in discouraging the RBA from raising interest rates (they don't want to encourage more capital inflows to take advantage of our already high interest rates). At the same time, the increase in the exchange rate has done a lot to combat inflation (imports cost less), but has distorted the price basket somewhat (foodstuffs cost a lot more compared to TVs now, for example). If inflation was higher then interest rate increases would be more likely. But.. a high exchange rate helps protect the Australian housing market from foreign real-estate speculation, as it is relatively a lot more expensive. But.. a lower exchange rate would help the tourism industry, which is a big employer of groups of people who have been unable to take advantage of the mining boom. Conclusion: it's a brave person who predicts the political fortunes of a government based on exchange rate movement.
  - whatusername 15y ago
    I think the grandparent may have been referring to the prospect of $2AUD/litre petrol.
    - jacques_chester 15y ago
      This was my precise point. Australians have been buffered from the rising price of oil by the rising price of the AUD, but there's no reason why these two prices should continue in lockstep. If the AUD goes down, petrol prices in Australia will soar and the government's already dismal ratings will sink. Plus, as was pointed out, a weaker dollar would embolden the RBA to raise interest rates. Two nails, one coffin. Folk in Australia forget what a minnow this country is. Our mindshare of worldwide attention is utterly disproportionate to our economic status.
      - nl 15y ago
        Oh, right. Yes I agree with the petrol pricing thing. I think we are sometimes too eager to class ourselves as a small economy though. In GDP terms, Australia has a bigger economy than South Korea, and is close behind Russia and India - we rank 13th in the world [1]. Far from a big economy, but not a minnow either. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomin...
- hartror 15y ago
  Two factors that the government has little or no control over, yet the libs will attempt to heavily capitalise on. Oh how I wish politics focused on the real issues. Clarification: high fuel prices is an issue, just not a direct one. Rather it is an issue of planning, technology and development. For example, build better rail infrastructure, public transport and plan away the suburban sprawl in the major cities and people will be less concerned with fuel prices as they won't need to drive as much.
  - jacques_chester 15y ago
    > Two factors that the government has little or no control over, yet the libs will attempt to heavily capitalise on. Sure, but they're the opposition. Blaming the government for factors outside their control is the job of an opposition[1]. Taking credit for factors outside their control is the job of a government. [1] You may recall the libs copping a beating over rising petrol prices circa early 2001. For a while it looked like it would cost them government.
    - hartror 15y ago
      I wasn't claiming Labour are any less opportunistic, though I do seem to remember they went after Howard's policies on boat refugees on humanitarian grounds, rather than a hysterical stop the boats platform. Which makes their attempts to reinstate it all the more despicable.
    - nl 15y ago
      Blaming the government for factors outside their control is the job of an opposition. Taking credit for factors outside their control is the job of a government. I love this quote. It's like the whole "if we achieve a budget surplus it will be made in China" thing being preemptively put around now. These days it is almost impossible to imagine a surplus that isn't made in China. Our economy is so closely tied to China it is good - in a way - to see it acknowledged.

by jimminy 15y ago

jacques_chester 15y ago

> I think jacques was referring to the sale itself, which would be in USD, I believe. That's a pity. Comes to around $310-312,000 local. The strong AUD has been great for consumers, but not great for exporters. Duncan was an exporter, the dollar rising was going to hurt him. Tourism has taken a double-whammy with locals going overseas and foreigners staying away. As a net consumer I am loving the AUD-USD exchange rate. Mind you it's a historical abnormality; for about 70% of its life as a floating currency the AUD has traded at less than 80c US. If the AUD falls before oil prices, the current government will be (more) doomed.

nl 15y ago
If the AUD falls before oil prices, the current government will be (more) doomed. That's simplistic. If the AUD fell back down to 80c US it's unlikely it would hurt the government, and might even help it. It would depend on other factors... If the AUD falls then presumably we'll sell even more iron ore. However, the high exchange rate is one factor in discouraging the RBA from raising interest rates (they don't want to encourage more capital inflows to take advantage of our already high interest rates). At the same time, the increase in the exchange rate has done a lot to combat inflation (imports cost less), but has distorted the price basket somewhat (foodstuffs cost a lot more compared to TVs now, for example). If inflation was higher then interest rate increases would be more likely. But.. a high exchange rate helps protect the Australian housing market from foreign real-estate speculation, as it is relatively a lot more expensive. But.. a lower exchange rate would help the tourism industry, which is a big employer of groups of people who have been unable to take advantage of the mining boom. Conclusion: it's a brave person who predicts the political fortunes of a government based on exchange rate movement.
- whatusername 15y ago
  I think the grandparent may have been referring to the prospect of $2AUD/litre petrol.
  - jacques_chester 15y ago
    This was my precise point. Australians have been buffered from the rising price of oil by the rising price of the AUD, but there's no reason why these two prices should continue in lockstep. If the AUD goes down, petrol prices in Australia will soar and the government's already dismal ratings will sink. Plus, as was pointed out, a weaker dollar would embolden the RBA to raise interest rates. Two nails, one coffin. Folk in Australia forget what a minnow this country is. Our mindshare of worldwide attention is utterly disproportionate to our economic status.
    - nl 15y ago
      Oh, right. Yes I agree with the petrol pricing thing. I think we are sometimes too eager to class ourselves as a small economy though. In GDP terms, Australia has a bigger economy than South Korea, and is close behind Russia and India - we rank 13th in the world [1]. Far from a big economy, but not a minnow either. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomin...
hartror 15y ago
Two factors that the government has little or no control over, yet the libs will attempt to heavily capitalise on. Oh how I wish politics focused on the real issues. Clarification: high fuel prices is an issue, just not a direct one. Rather it is an issue of planning, technology and development. For example, build better rail infrastructure, public transport and plan away the suburban sprawl in the major cities and people will be less concerned with fuel prices as they won't need to drive as much.
- jacques_chester 15y ago
  > Two factors that the government has little or no control over, yet the libs will attempt to heavily capitalise on. Sure, but they're the opposition. Blaming the government for factors outside their control is the job of an opposition[1]. Taking credit for factors outside their control is the job of a government. [1] You may recall the libs copping a beating over rising petrol prices circa early 2001. For a while it looked like it would cost them government.
  - hartror 15y ago
    I wasn't claiming Labour are any less opportunistic, though I do seem to remember they went after Howard's policies on boat refugees on humanitarian grounds, rather than a hysterical stop the boats platform. Which makes their attempts to reinstate it all the more despicable.
  - nl 15y ago
    Blaming the government for factors outside their control is the job of an opposition. Taking credit for factors outside their control is the job of a government. I love this quote. It's like the whole "if we achieve a budget surplus it will be made in China" thing being preemptively put around now. These days it is almost impossible to imagine a surplus that isn't made in China. Our economy is so closely tied to China it is good - in a way - to see it acknowledged.