Sinking AUD$

[bill937ca]

Have a look at the 10 year AUD$ to JPY exchange rate. 

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=AUD&to=JPY&view=10Y

[KenS]

At least it looks like it's bouncing back.  I find the U.S chart much more depressing:

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=USD&to=JPY&view=10Y

[Mudkip Orange]

The yen is crazy-crazy-crazy right now and you really can't use it as a basis for anything.

USD vs Euro has been basically flat for the previous four years.

What I find more interesting is the USD vs AUD - the Aussies gain on us at about 4% a year. And somehow they do this with full employment. YOU CAN'T EXPLAIN THAT

[linkey]

oh man, I got a lot of items on reserve and with the bouncing AUD at the moment I think I might be losing more money than saving some. But did see some good bargains on eBay. lol

[The_Ghan]

Mudkip,

If it wasn't for the EU mess the AUD would be worth around US$1.12-$1.15 and 90Y. 

Cheers

The_Ghan

[linkey]

so the moral of the story scrap the EU and make us happy people to buy. :) :P :D lol

[The_Ghan]

Today the $AUD is continuing to drop.  As I write, it just passed below US$0.97 and JPY 75.  I think it will continue to head south.  I'm expecting the $AUD to crack 90 cents over the next month and break the 70 yen barrier.  The simple reason for this is that the EU debt crisis is still expanding.  France and Netherlands have basically run out of funds to bail out nations in trouble.

To further complicate things, I'm a self-employed architect.  The building industry is going to the dogs in Sydney ATM.  I have no new work coming.  Staff will be put off after Christmas (I can't bear to do that to them before).  Our turn-over is down nearly 50% since July.

Because of this I won't be spending any more money on trains for a while. I've got 3 pre-orders with HS with a combined value of $1,300.00 which I'll honour.  But there'll be no Black Friday order today and no mre RT orders (ever).  No orders until I have enough work to hold my staff and .... and .... the $AUD is safely above JPY 80.

Cheers

The_Ghan

[keitaro]

that sux mate.

the fed govt needs to saturate nsw with land and cut out the big greedy developer to make the land prices crash.

I really hate how big greedy developers purposely release only a few block at a time every few months then add $10000 to the next release of blocks and make smaller than the previous release.

ropes crossing is an example originally right next to the new shopping centre and school 550 - 650 sqm blocks were about 240k, now for a 300 - 400 sqm they want 240k only 1 and a half years later and they always only do 1 street at a time in release what a joke.....

i wonder why there having trouble sellling  

[cteno4]

Ghan,

sorry to hear that. that must be the worst feeling of having to lay someone off like that. ive had a couple of architect friends here in the states go through that cycle in the last couple of years. one decided to drop back to being a small 1 man shop and scale the whole business back to smaller projects for good, the other one limped along with little/no staff for a year or so and is now staffing back up as he had gotten a couple of larger projects. they complain about the boom bust cycle as they both have gone through it a few times now in the last 25 years, but this one has been the hardest on them.

same thing in the exhibits world except its looking like there maybe a longer term crash in the small to medium museums which most of the small exhibit shops and freelancers live off of.

I have resisted over the years doing the full office and staff. lots of folks i worked with and clients pushed for it a lot over the years, and i would have been able to work on the big projects then, but after working in some really small companies i could see the wild swings they could go through and the related trauma so made the decision to keep it to me and just work with a small group of people like me on a free lance basis. actually works out well in the end as we can form the teams as needed for a job and being limited to the small projects usually allow us to find the small and really interesting projects where the clients are willing to step outside the traditional lines and really get creative. also means though there is not as much a machine to keep the work coming in and smaller projects mean much lower margins and overhead has to be totally minimal. always a trade off...

best of luck finding some projects here so you can keep the team together. i know how much work it is finding good people, getting them trained and working well together. batten down the hatches and get ready to dance.

jeff

[The_Ghan]

Thanks folks ... we're working hard on some new prospects ... and a new webpage too.

Cheers

The_Ghan