Ryan Bridge: Australia's economy is a warning of what's to come

The inflation thief might be gone but it lurks in the corner and if you’re not careful, it happily leaps out and steals your wages. Last week we spoke about the fact their inflation’s running hot - almost 4%.  They’re now world leaders, with the highest rate in the developed world. More than the UK, US, Germany, Japan, Canada, Spain, and France. Not something Albo or anyone in Canberra should be proud of. So yesterday the Reserve Bank of Australia did what central banks do when things are getting too spicy - they hike rates.  They’ve just done a quarter of a percent. They’re likely to do another one next month. Labor has a very generous system that gets Aussies into houses. First home buyers can get in with 10%, there’s cash at the ready.  Housing costs are partly driving this inflation. No such thing as a free lunch. The subsidies are also helping to drive house prices, which in places like Sydney, Melbourne, and even Brisbane are completely out of reach and not even comparable to our big cities. Now the interest rate hikes these young new buyers are going to have swallow, as rates go up, will leave an estimated 1.3 million mortgage holders under stress. Roy Morgan says that’s 30% of mortgage holders.  Albo and Labor are overseeing near record highs of government spending - almost 30% of GDP. Now, the problem is that when the private sector runs up against competition from the public sector it can cause the whole thing to fizz and bubble up to the point of overheating.  And overheating needs cooling, and cooling causes pain.  So, the next time politicians on this side of the Tasman tell you more borrowing and spending will solve our problems, ask them how much, from where, for what exactly and whether the spend carries an inflation risk or not.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.