Well I'm sure there are people of this site who may have lived through something similar in the past , perhaps here or perhaps in anther part of the world where there were no jobs and the economy had stopped.
So we know this is going to change many things so let's try and determine what may change.
I imagine if 2 million loose their jobs as they say than there will be a huge cash shortage.
So I see people will start selling off their assets .Big and small I imagine.
But very few people will be in a position to buy them so the prices will come down.
I see the second hand market being flooded in items as people try to raise cash.
I would think the housing market will stall , because you need a good job to buy a house.
My next guess would be that food and groceries prices would likely sky rocket.
I'm 50 so I have not experienced such a down turn as is predicted . . But I feel some of you guys here would have more foresight .


Pete

The last time I saw so many on the dole queue was back in the early 1990s during Paul Keating's recession that we had to have.

Whilst on this occasion there will be a higher number of people, the percentage will probably be about the same. Back then it was around 1 million unemployed in a workforce of 8.5 million, resulting in around 11.5% unemployed. These are round figures.

The fact that Australia has had around 30 years of continual economic growth has left us a bit unprepared and people are a lot more scared than last time because many people who work in cafes and other unprotected industries have never seen an economic downturn in this country.

One thing is almost certain - it is going to cost the country a lot of money to stay afloat. We all may as well get used to that idea, and the resultant addition to government debt which is already too high.

Not easy to forget their gift of inflation -- you know the one that Margaret Whitlam famously declared to be "a lot of hoo-ha" -- when interest rates on home loans hit 17%. Thankfully, our existing mortgage was pegged at the ceiling of only 13.5%. Mortgage rates took ages to come down to the bargain basement level of 12% (from State Bank) which I jumped on for my next mortgage.

I think travel will be a lot more expensive in the future since a great many budget airlines will disappear.
It may end up like the 60's when overseas travel was for the well heeled.
I also reckon there will be a slump in the housing market with a lot of properties on the market being sold by the banks as mortgages are for closed due to our casualised workforce.
A succession of short sighted governments have allowed this to happen.
I bet the polly's aren't affected to any great degree financially in all of this.

Irext
Yep I can see travel may go up yep.
As for housing yeah I think it will plummet big time.
It's been going crazy for years and became out of reach for many young families.
But as people loose their jobs and the economy gets the worse housing will drop.
Anther thing that will drop is classic cars .
I've seen that before.

Pete

Pete

The prices of classic Holden's since GMH closed has got ridiculous.

Some very unrealistic sellers out there
I have always dreamed of owning an EJ or EH Premier

But then I guess that goes for a lot things

I see some people asking $500 + for battered Radiograms and Vintage TV's

Hah
When I was 11 years old I lived in the country and I owned a EJ ,use to drive it around the paddocks like a rat bag.
All us kids learnt to drive at a young age in the bush . Just in case!

An EH station wagon was going to be my first car, but it was sold by the time I arrived. The owner pulled a swifty on me.

My parents traded their FC in on a new EH sedan. It rusted before our eyes. Sills, boot lid, rear window.

It would have been lovely if they galvanised car bodies back in those days. My 2003 Commodore is galvanised and not a speck of rust anywhere. Just imagine how many of these great cars would still be going if the bodies didn't rust? The engines were bulletproof, no worries there.

It's a seductive concept:
Assemble the world's largest collection of pinball games and charge for people to see & play them, as these "art treasures" increase in value.
What could go wrong?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/game-over-the-pinball-wizard-and-his-lost-dream-of-a-washington-museum/2014...

^ Tells me its a subscriber-only article.

Pinball machines used to be in virtually every milk bar in Sydney. Most of the milk bars are now gone and all the pinnies are in private collections.

If you want to spend a lot of money you can get the old car "dipped" with anti corrosive. I was told by an ex Ford engineer that they rust from the bottom & to keep the drains clean. Even on the Mazda it is the same as the Zephyr in collecting leaves & such which hold water just in front of the front doors.

At least the Ford makes a valiant effort like most British vehicles, of rust proofing the under body by sustaining a consistent film of oil from strategic leaks. Stopped the one from the fuel pump recently, Zephyrs sump is not as big as a Jag: Unsustainable.

"^ Tells me its a subscriber-only article."

Just google "Silverman pinball Washington Post" it should come up free; it's a staggering story.