With this Interest rise today Will that hurt?

Question

I wonder who now can keep on saying that they and can keep on saying that they can keep interest rate low now.

John Howard cannot even do that, so he has lied to keep interest rates at record lows, but now it has been 6 rises since 2004, how many more are there on the way up from now on. its the 10th rise since 2002 and has not gone down but up.

Yes there will be the one's on a low income wage bracket and and they may even put their houses on the market. I agree with what you are all saying . See Howard has forgotten That the cost of Borrowing to day is out stripping their wages, even on a two person wage, as each interest rise adds another cost to their living .

I did notice that when Howard went on tv with a chart , his years of being Treasurer was missing , at 22%,
Whitlam 10.8 %
Bob Hawke 17%
Keating 12%
Howard & Costello since 2002 has risen 10 % and if relected will rise even further, Under the Labour Government those rate were coming down but slow, and now they are rising and Howard was the one who " Said Under a Liberal Party they would keep record rates low " and have risen 6 times since 2004, at what costs to the Australian people who are struggling with a low pay wage.

Answer 1

I am tired of the deception over issues starting with Tampa and including Iraq, Interest Rates, Howard's retirement. I am sick of the vast amounts of money being thrust at the electorate to BUY votes. Why didn't these things happen years ago. It is time to give the drover's dog a go - time for a change.

Answer 2

Well,interest-rates in my mind, with this government in place will go up and up and up. In fact there now at 11 year highest, Mr Howard said he would keep them low, but never said how low.

However if they go up again, pretty soon you will need to be a million air just to be-able to buy a small two bedroom home. Here in Australia housing price's-es is one of the most expensive in the world. Because interest rates are not balanced with incomes
.What you end up with is same working hour's and less pay .Bill's go up, and you have less money to pay them with .

Also having such a lazy ungrateful workforces . Helps no one. The people expected everything for nothing .Being Australian but growing up in African , and schooling mostly in the UK , has shown me, how “1st world Australia is not.” How much thing's would have to changed in this country before one would be able to call it “1st world” . I must say mostly because OLD cant get its acted together and catch up .

The fact that there is no Price regulative body here is also not such a good thing .Why should one pay $100 at one food shop ( Cole's! and so on) when you can buy better and more for $50 at another store ( ALDS) .That is silly! If the price's were regulated , food would cost less , inflation would be less and so would interest rates .The same go's for income, there is a large gap, this also makes thing difficult .

The above points are never a good thing, when its on a large scale.

No one really benefits, in the long run, be it low income to high. With rising food,fuel and everything else one wonders what will happen. Strong economy is only good for somethings, and what go's up, must come down. Many people believe that Bonsai ( Sorry Mr. Howard ) in resent times( last 3-4 years) has made the Australian economy strong ( way too strong in fact ) I disagree . It has been a weak US economy and growing Asian markets, ( Driving very already strong mining sector to become stronger , with very high wages, hence imbalanced) but mostly a very week US market that has made the economy what it is. The fact that Mr Howard is so pro-bush, when all the world can see he is useless with a capital “ASS”.Things will only get worries, if Australia do's not fined some space from America.

So basically yes it will hurt, and it will keep on hurting, until three things happen: 1) Cap inflation (2) Rely less on US Markets and Governmental polices (Such as ratifying Kyoto, Australia needs to be seen that it can make its own mind up, and not be a sheep. Kyoto may not do anything, but as a “So called First world Country we should be seen to be doing more on key things then we are.( As it is we are seen as a joke .No one takes Australia very seriously , that needs to change) (3) Cap consumer spending.

Answer 3

It's important to understand that the RBA is a power unto itself in this country. They decide how much our mortgage and credit repayments will be, and they answer to no-one (in this country), not even the Prime Minister.

It is a mistake for any political leader to promise that they can keep interest rates down. It is 'completely' out of their control.

John Howard has certainly made a mistake in this regard and as interest rates are trending strongly higher (taking our dollar with it) and we have a booming economy fueled by a commodities 'super-cycle', I can only foresee further rate rises in the future, which will put even more strain on borrowers across the board.

I'm not sure how much the RBA interest rate hike will hurt the PM's campaign to get re-elected overall, but the fact that so many Aussies will now need to dig even deeper into their pockets to keep their interests (pardon the pun) afloat, it is definitely an unwanted blow for the Coalition.

Also, in my humble opinion, 'apologizing' for the rate rise was not a wise move. Only makes him more of a blame target.

Ah, the fun and games of election politics!

Answer 4

As a single-income earning family with four children, I have to say that the interest rate rise will hurt a bit, but thankfully I managed to get a fixed rate on half my loan a couple of years ago so it is not too bad. I also have to say that I didn't believe three years ago that the Liberals would keep interest rates low, because that is something driven by the economy. With the rise in interest rates it shows that the current Australian economy is very strong - with retail spending increasing and unemployment at almost record lows. I can't help but worry that when the Labor party gets into power, as seems inevitable, and roll back work choices and many of the other initiatives that are keeping this country strong on the world market, that we are going to quickly slide into a recession, if not a depression. Interest rate rises do hurt the hip pocket a bit, but I haven't heard Kevin Rudd or his cronies say anything that makes me think they could do anything to keep rates low without destroying the economy.

Answer 5

Let's face facts and accept that the economy goes up and down and interests fluctuate in cycles. If you want to believe little Johnie that he and Costello are economic wizards then go ahead and get sucked in. The reality is that interest rates will now continue to rise until there is a recession, which in modern times seem to last about 18 months or so. What we should be worrying about is what the government will be doing in relation to improving infrastructure, health and education and and that is an area we know we cannot trust the Coalition. Get them back in and they will make it far worse for the not so wealthy and run the country into the ground.

Answer 6

I am a first time voter. So I don't have a favorite party. Interest rise will hurt some people who have poorly managed their income. These people need to take their own responsibility. I believe good management will help to get the best out of an economy. The matter of fact is we are part of the world, no one have any control over the influence of others economy on our part. In another country where I came from, food price have soared, their currency has depreciated due to their pegging with US dollars, and hence their petrol price has soared over the roof. They have not blamed the goverment, their average income for working family is AUD$500.00 per month. We are fortunate, a lot more than many parts of the world.

Answer 7

I'm not an Aussie, but rising interest rates are GOOD for the economy at certain points in the business cycle. They encourage investment and savings, strengthen the country's currency, encourage foreign investment, slow reckless/predatory lending, and discourage government deficit spending.

I wish the U.S. Fed and policy would naturally allow interest rates to drift higher. We've been artificially keeping them too low for over 7 years now, and our dollar is feeling some real pain. Real commodity prices are rising in this country and we are faltering on the edge of stagflation (rising prices with negative growth).

Interest rates should be allowed to be determined naturally in the open market. The government should step in ONLY when an emergency is on the horizon (runaway inflation or a recession). Stagflation has no known cure.

Answer 8

The problem is that it will hurt more struggling families who are trying to pay a mortgage. Young people trying to enter the housing market are again pressured into losing home ownership again as this rate rise will hurt only those in the mortgage belts of our nation and of course the farmers trying to get through this drought with massive bank loans.

I personally will be ok, i fixed my home loan rate about 2 years ago at 6.6%, i am in the know, i am one of the lucky ones who knew rates would continue to rise for a couple of years, in fact rates will continue to rise for the next year or two until there is a slowing of the ecomony in 2010-11.

These days the effect of interest rate rises on the economy is not as powerful as it used to be, in my opinion there has been a significant change in Australias age demographic over the last decade. Aussies are gettng older, there are more self funded retirees and more middle aged people with significant investments, this means that as interest rates rise, so does the wealth of these retirees and investors, theonly people adversley affected are the few with motrgages. With rising rates increasing so many peoples wealth, it causes the economy to grow stronger and these investors and retirees obviously have more money to spend as their investments grow, this in turn puts further pressure on the reserve bank to curb inflation. I think in the near future the RBA may need to re consider the way they shape the economy with interest rates, possibly lower rates will reduce spending as it will reduce the income from so many peoples' investments.

Answer 9

Of cause it will hurt many Australians, homeowners and small business owners alike.
HOWARD brings in the G.S.T you know the one he said he would "never ever" bring in LIAR!!. And then the housing industry complains that under a G.S.T it will stifle building of new housing so he introduces the first home owners grant and people start buying new and already built housing. This starts a property boom and the average Joe thinks because HOWARD said he can keep interest rates low and with all this equity in his home he is rich. So then the predatory leading practises of mortgage brokers kicks in and average Joe sells his house and buys a bigger one and the property boom continues. House prices start to drop and INTEREST rates start to go up And average Joe is in trouble.
And it was average Joe that voted this Lying little rodent in and it will be average Joe who votes him out.

Answer 10

Will an interest rate hurt sorry Tex that is like asking if little Johnny is going to tell another lie this election campaign. Its just going to hurt those a bit further up the income ladder as opposed to those that are all ready in in trouble or those that are in poverty all ready. Australian families have never had it so good John please go get a dictionary