Independent’s day

Australians are recording historic levels of disappointment with Canberra’s failure to get our economy growing. They are concerned about the increasing rates of unemployment and they are afraid that their kids will not have a real job to go for and a bright future they can seek to achieve.

As in countries around the globe, the younger generation want to see action and activity replace rhetoric.

It is of substantial concern that insolvency practitioners across this country are proudly announcing that they are recruiting record numbers of new staff to close down small and medium enterprises because customers have walked away and are zipping their purses instead of stuffing their wallets.

RBA Governor Glenn Stevens says global financial market conditions have been unsettled during recent weeks, with the Australian sharemarket plunging in response to falls in Europe.

“Participants have confronted uncertainty about both the resolution of sovereign debt problems and the prospects for economic growth in Europe and the United States,” he says.

ARA executive director Russell Zimmerman says the retail sector is in dangerous territory.

“Consumer confidence is at an all time low, which has left the retail sector in the negative as year on year trade figures show declines across categories which rely on discretionary spend,” says Zimmerman. “Retailers can only live in the hope that the strain of interest rates will be eased for consumers in time for the festive season by way of a rate cut in October.”

Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center: “Consumer confidence deteriorated sharply in August, as consumers grew significantly more pessimistic about the short-term outlook. The index is now at its lowest level in more than two years. A contributing factor may have been the debt ceiling discussions since the decline in confidence was well underway before the S&P downgrade. Consumers’ assessment of current conditions, on the other hand, posted only a modest decline as employment conditions continue to suppress confidence.”

American consumers’ short-term outlook deteriorated sharply in August. Those expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months decreased to 11.8% from 17.9%, while those expecting business conditions to worsen surged to 24.6% from 16.1%.

Consumers were also more pessimistic about the outlook for the job market. Those anticipating more jobs in the months ahead decreased to 11.4% from 16.9%, while those expecting fewer jobs increased to 31.5% from 22.2%. The proportion of consumers anticipating an increase in their incomes declined to 14.3% from 15.9%.

Today President Obama, launched a national campaign that will subsequently be recognised as “independent’s day”. It  challenges all parties to come to the aid of their country and address the worldwide need for support for small business to be able to create new jobs.

It goes further. It reverses the trend to wasteful government, unjustified regulation and the slowing down of the future for an educated, entrepreneurial and enterprising trading world.

There are dramatic cuts to payroll taxes and introduction of tax credits for small business to take on the long-term unemployed, support on-the job training for the disadvantaged and make it easier to be innovative and creative.

We will have to wait until the middle of the month to get the details of the massive deficit reduction measures, how the jobs act will be paid for and for evidence that both sides of the aisle understand the need for a jump-start to business and consumer confidence. We do not have to wait in Australia for both sides of our politics to get over the sideshow of sinking boats and get on with raising the tide of enterprise and opportunity in this country.

They can make sure that the Independents (our cross bench balance of power) go ahead with an independent’s tax summit that has a clean sheet approach to promoting entrepreneurship and excellence that regenerates consumer sentiment.

Australian’s have chosen to hand oversight of Australia’s future to a handful of independents who are not ruled by party whips but by a sense of responsibility to the national interest.  Consumers are ready to come back into the retail world, to work smarter as well as harder and to support marketers who are responsive to their demands for better service and fair prices.

Gary Morgan reports that last week the Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence increased for the second straight week to 113.1 (up 2.5 points) – now at its highest for three months. The rise comes on the back  of a rise in their belief that things must get better in the coming year with 38% (up 3%) of Australians expecting to be “better off” financially this time next year.

Smart companies in this country that have been revising their business plans, focusing their inventories, training their staff to create new customers and generating aggressive marketing plans now can join the independent’s call for a new deal for small and medium enterprise here at a genuine tax forum. It’s time for us to lay down a path to the future that encourages smart people and smart companies to cut the costs of rear vision regulation and invest in promoting productivity and market focused thinking.

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Dr Colin Benjamin is an entrepreneurship and strategic thinking consultant at Marshall Place Associates, which offers a range of strategic thinking tools that open up a universe of new possibilities for individuals and organisations committed to applying the processes of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. Colin is also a member of the global Association of Professional Futurists.