Here in early 2009, we’re all aware of the financial crisis that is threatening to envelope the planet. For many people reading this blog, that is already a reality. As an Australian living in Australia I am aware that we are really really fortunate. We have a highly-regulated banking industry, laws that protect our properties from legal loopholes (like the automatic foreclosures that happen in the US if your property value drops below your loan value, due to movements in the property market), and our economy has been well-supported in recent years by a massive boom in the mining industry and by the property and infrastructure demands of a booming migration programme which has 300,000 mostly cashed-up migrants reaching our shores every year.
The lifestyle implications of all that on this very dry old continent are another matter of course, and not the subject of this post. What it does mean economically though is that where most of the first world economies are in recession, Australia’s national accounts, released early march 09, have shown that our economy is still growing, although only just.
The formal definition of a recession is three consecutive quarters of negative growth, and we’ve not had one yet.
Still, there’s so much fear and gloom in the media, which is the main source of information for most of us, that many many people are running scared. National savings are going up as people bunker down for hard times ahead. And they may come.
And in case you’re wondering why a counsellor is talking about the economy, I wanted to say that fear, anxiety and insecurity would be normal and natural responses to the constant barrage of media attention to all things financial. I am old enough however to remember the last recession – "the recession we had to have" according to our Treasurer at the time, Paul Keating. We were paying 17% on our mortgage and considered ourselves lucky to not be paying 19% as some friends were. Why did we even have a mortgage? Well, people have to live somewhere right, and though it was tough making the payments, it would have been nearly as tough making the rent!
Unemployment went to 12% at the time, and I well remember listening to a radio interview with one of our esteemed Leaders at the time who said that we could well expect unemployment of around 10% to be a possible permanent fixture in Australia’s economy. Well in 2009 our unemployment figures have taken a mighty leap, up to 7% from 4% just a year ago. I’m so grateful I’m not one of the 7%, instead I am one of the 93% still working.
And in the last recession I was a stay-at-home mum and part-time journalist, one of the 88% of people still working.
So while there is an atmosphere of fear around the economy, jobs, houses, and all things related, please, please, take a deep breath and really think through what you’re hearing on the news or reading in the papers.
It’s a sad truth that big scary headlines sell newspapers; good news stories rarely even make the innermost pages let alone rate a decent headline.
And still you might be touched with fear or anxiety. In this case I’d suggest you use EFT or some other method to release the fear. Because remember, whatever it is about, fear will make you feel stuck, trapped, like you have no options, you won’t be able to think your way out of your circumstances. Discharge the emotion and you’ll have access to all your emotional and logical adult resources.
For the next few weeks I’ll be blogging about financial matters and the emotions attached to them, and hopefully you’ll find them useful. If you’d like to receive updates about these posts, please subscribe to my RSS feed or sign up for my newsletter at the top right.
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