Times are tough - They are far worse than the 17% rates of 1990 on any metric.

I’m getting tired of hearing (but I’m sure people aren’t tired of saying) “you think you have it tough, we had to pay 17% interest rates in my day.”  This is heavily repeated in conversation and on the legacy news daily. For the most part, the only matter of fact relating to this one liner is that once you ask a follow up question, any follow up question, no one can seem to explain why it was tougher in those days; we just agree that 17% is much higher than 6% and imagine a 17% interest rate in today’s circumstances.

These one-line mainstream talking points, on any topic, aren’t helpful to society at large. We should be having robust conversations, in this instance on the then, the now, and the why; educating the masses, so we are aware of what the government, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and International Reserve Banks are trying to achieve, so we can keep them honest and doing what is best for the majority of people living in this great country we call home.

See the full summary on my Substack.

https://forgetthebanks.substack.com/p/times-are-tough-they-are-far-worse