What Bernard has not mentioned is that one of the biggest failures of the current government was the rhetoric they used and how they killed confidence levels by using words such as “economic tsunami”, “this is unprecedented…” et al.

I do accept that confidence levels would have been lower anyway, but I do believe that the government pushed confidence levels lower to where they should have been and probably resulted in the loss of many jobs.

I never once heard Rudd or Swan say something such as, “yes this will be a challenge however we are well placed to handle this challenge due to a) our non reliance on the US, b) our zero debt, c) our robust economy and d) our well regulated financial system.”

Admittedly, our housing land markets appear to be heating up again, driven by the ridiculous tax advantages offered for capital gains in this sector versus those available elsewhere, but this is not new and is manageable via management of money supply, first home owner schemes and interest rates.

Australia’s prospects are much better than most comparable countries and appear to be quite manageable.

Be careful of wishing for failure - you might have your wishes granted.

Significant weaknesses still exist in the US prime and commercial mortgage markets. Banks there are still falling.

so I wouldn’t be counting any chickens just yet.