Australia ‘in depression’

Press, 26 October 1982, Page 9

Australia ‘in depression’

NZPA Sydney Australia would have difficulty climbing out of the depression because of the intransigence of union leaders, according to an American, Harry Schultz, the world’s highest-paid investment consultant. By refusing to accept slower wage growth, union leaders were “trying to repeal the law of gravity,” he said yesterday. Australian interest rates would fall a bit lower, but

not as much as in the United States, be said. Unemployment would reach 12 per cent in America and could go higher in Australia. He said that Australia was in a depression — not a recession — and it would last until at least 1984. “I think we’re in what we call the Great Depression Part Two,” Mr Schultz told a press conference. He said that he had predicted last year that Aus-

tralia might escape part of the economic storm. “Australia not only got its full share, but in fact more than its fair share,” he said. However, there was no shortage of approaches to making money in bad economic times. “It was never easier, in fact, to become a millionaire, despite the depression. Obviously you can’t be stone broke, but it can be done witb a very small grubstake,” he said.

Even during the Great Depression, some investors had made fortunes during, dramatic rallies on the downward markets. But investors must learn new rules when investing during a depression. Mr Schultz, in Sydney for a seminar, is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the highest-paid investment consultant in the world. He charges sAust2ooo an hour for his investment advice and sAust4Boo on week-ends.