Consumers spending despite uncertainty.

According to the advertising industry's "B&T" newsletter, the Australian Centre for Retail Studies
(ACRS) found in a survey that two-thirds of respondents expect their household situation to remain
the same or improve this year.

I'm not able to copy the article, as it's a pdf file emailed to me, but I cautiously agree with what
it says, as my business is dependent on advertising, and although the months of September to
December last year were bad, this year things have started out moderately well. I've been wondering
how much the downturn is fuelled by media gloom-and-doom articles, and also by opportunistic
businesses taking advantage of the global meltdown to sack staff and put pressure on remaining
employees to work longer hours, and blame "the recession". This kind of situation can then become
a self-fulfilling prophecy.

According to this article, most people say the biggest change they've made recently is to reduce
their credit card debt, and are unlikely to make major purchases such as new cars. But they're not
buying the "sky is falling" theory, which they feel applies more to overseas countries than to
Australia.

So, in your business, what is the impression you're getting of the current situation?

In my day job I work (3 days a week) at a call centre phoning people to raise funds for three major charities, and I think that buyer resistance has increased considerably since the financial crisis began.

Certainly a lot of people are saying that they'd love to give to our charities but in the present economic conditions they don't feel it would prudent, and some say that they are cutting back on their charity donations for the time being. And many won't use their credit cards because they are cutting back on credit card use.

I suppose the bottom line here is that donating to charity is something of a luxury, which people feel they can indulge when they feel prosperous..

That said, I am still moved by how generous Australians are -- so often do I hear "well, I'm only a pensioner and times are hard, but will $20 or $30 be OK?"