Regarding the $900 all taxpayers got in April/May here in Australia. Our financial position is hanging onto the cliff-edge. We went out and spent for our country,( I bought a new smallish flat-screen TV) , and we are officially NOT in recession! Our employment is holding steady after a little fall over christmas (5.2 over Xmas and 5.7 now). All this good news seems too hard to believe in a world where economies are really faltering, and it probably won't last, but even the opposition parties have to admit the economic stimuli may be working. We'll see when they stop. Tax has stayed the same so the govt has been able to give money towards building things like roads and schools to create jobs--- and of course cutting carbon production is getting little attention.
However the Oz economy does seem to be travelling quite well all things considered. Maybe the free money does help---who knows!
PS. I read an article regarding Islamic Banking last week. I will not attempt to explain it as I do not know enough about it, but there is no 'interest' charged as that is forbidden. An Islamic bank is looking to start up in Australia. The differences in approach were interesting.
