Australia 1930

Today I wish to discuss so far as time will permit three of the major problems, not entirely unrelated, which confront us in Australia in this year 1930. I will begin with the most immediately urgent, the present financial and economic position - the difficulty in meeting our obligations abroad, the loss of income at home and-the menace of catastrophic unemployment. The gravity of the position is generally accepted - with signs of panic in some quarters. Let us first recognize it as a...
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Today I wish to discuss so far as time will permit three of the major problems, not entirely unrelated, which confront us in Australia in this year 1930. I will begin with the most immediately urgent, the present financial and economic position - the difficulty in meeting our obligations abroad, the loss of income at home and-the menace of catastrophic unemployment. The gravity of the position is generally accepted - with signs of panic in some quarters. Let us first recognize it as a severe attack of a malady incident to young countries in process of development, and dependent on a large export trade in raw materials. Such countries, with a rapid increase in population, are very dependent on external capital for both intensive and extensive development. These capital imports, whether public loan or private investment, for the greater part must take the form of consumable goods and add to the national dividend. Such a country is, therefore, of necessity spending more than it earns, and its national income is inflated above the value of production. ...