SYDNEY - Australia's big four banks, which control about 90 percent of the country's $1 trillion mortgage market, cut variable mortgage rates by 25 basis points on Thursday, after political pressure to pass on the central bank's rate cut of earlier this week.
The National Australia Bank, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and Westpac Banking Corp voiced concerns over rising cost of funds and shrinking margins, and ANZ left the door open for independent moves in the future.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) also cut its variable mortgage rate by 25 basis points, but made no ...
martina - in poll Political situation in Australia (October 2009 DSP National Committee plenum)
The DSP and Socialist Alliance are fighting against capitalism’s destructive environmental practices, its drive for profit at the expense of working people, its attacks on the rights of Indigenous Australians, its attacks on the civil liberties of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people, and its attacks, via the so-called anti-terror laws, on minorities such as the Tamils and Somalis.
The capitalist class is fighting to increase its profit margins by reducing wages and conditions, and trying to forestall any threat to ...
barby - in poll Political situation in Australia This document was written as part of Socialist Alternative's pre-conference discussion bulletin in October 2009.
At the centre of the Australian political situation today is the contradiction between the deep crisis in world capitalism on the one hand and the ongoing stability and political quiet in Australia on the other.
1. TURMOIL IN THE WORLD SYSTEM
As Tom Bramble has outlined (Crisis and contradiction in the world economy), the world economic crisis is deep seated and systemic - easily the most serious economic turning point since the Great Depression. The economic consequences ...
marta27 - in poll Political situation in Australia
