R Word

I stated the other week that things don't seem to be quite as bad out here and that they don't seem to be talking things down as much as they do as home. Having been here that bit longer now, I can say that there is definitely talk of recession here, but they still tend to put a much more positive spin on things.

Just yesterday, the Prime Minister here was quoted as saying that while the world was in recession, he didn't expect it to last for more than a year and the long term outlook was pretty good. This tends to give confidence to the plebs, which can only be a good thing especially when it comes to getting them to spend. Contrast that to home where you have George "The Grim Reaper" Lee et al putting the heebee jeebies up everyone!

The big "R" word here is retrenchment, not recession. As far as I can tell, this is what we call redundancy at home, the difference being mainly a matter of semantics. As the economy shrinks, companies are letting go staff, especially before the bonus season (end of December). After a major retrenchment by a large bank (surprise, surprise!), the government is practically pleading with companies to reduce bonuses and/or salaries rather then cut staff completely. This is especially important in a non-welfare state, where you can't fall back on government hand outs.