Grahame's Blog: Why we do what we do and how we can do it better

There is lot of speculation as to whether our $dollar will reach parity with the USA Dollar.

I spent Thursday night with the team of people I use for my investments where we saw Ted give a great presentation on the fundamentals of the stock market.
Mike then gave a holistic view of the world situation, where we sit in the midst of it all and what is looming.Then Carlos gave a technical view of the market and where the sentiment is.

We can get caught up in the histeria of what is going on around us and it was great to hear from some level headed people who respond according to what is happening today with an eye on the big picture.

What I have done is then form my veiw of where we are and where we are going and that is all we can really do.
The US$$ is eventually going to lose it place as the world currency - this could take a while but there is no turning it around.China and Russia will play a role in providing a new world currency eventually, which is probably ok considering they are our major export market.

Our Dollar is going to continue to respond both up and down with movements in the $US - no one is saying parity but it could do that and beyond. Parity could be sooner rather than later if we get another interest rate rise next week, when you consider you could borrow $US for 0% interest and invest here.

Gold in $Au is staying about the same as it is responding in the same way to the declining $US.

Interest rates are going to rise, even if they don't the banks are going to be charging more for funds.I talked to a property developer,a home buyer and several others who all said it is very, very difficult and slow to get funds through the pipeline.This slows down business and caps the ability to take opportunities.

I think it is kinda funny that we have China being the big capitalist out there wanting to buy business's, gold and commodities and we have Obama saying he is cutting the salaries of bankers by 90%. Not that I agree that soemone should be paid millions in salary but there is a bigger picture when we interfere with the free market.
I guess the govt in USA and England pretty much now own the banks so they are public servants really !!!

I came away quite concerned about how prepared we are in agriculture to embrace whatever is going to come our way. Next time you sit down to plan your business over the next couple of years consider the big questions :
How will I be affected if the $AU goes to parity and beyond ?
How will I be affected if interest rates rise another couple %% ?
What can I do right now to reduce costs or increase turnover ?

I remember when wool dropped in 1990 we sat down and pruned our budget by 50% overnight - we did not wait until it was too late to respond.
I have spoken with some producers recently who are doing some amazing things to create more cashflow.Others who are looking long and hard at how to position themselves for the opportunities to come.
I will leave you with the thought "Through every adversity, there is an opportunity"

Here is a video of Tony Robbins speaking on
"Why we do what we do, and how we can do it better"