It'll probably do well out of the government today, even though its future looks bleak. It was Keivn Rudd who said, "I don't want to be Prime Minister in a country where we don't make things anymore".

Australia’s inflation rate is set to hit a long-term high of 5 per cent when the figures are unveiled tomorrow – well beyond the Reserve Bank’s target zone. But the Bank is expected to keep on cutting Australian interest rates...

The Opposition and a growing body of economists are calling on the government to release the economic forecasts behind this week's $10.4 billion stimulus package as speculation swirls around what they might contain.

That's how things are looking. Paul Krugman explains:"..the relationship between Fed funds rates and the rates most businesses actually pay is very weak right now, thanks to the messed-up state of the financial system.

Over the past year, the US financial system has faced its most challenging conditions for many decades, prompting exceptional responses from the US authorities.