Ryan Bridge: We need to believe in our economy

We're cruising towards 2% growth off the back of these two bits of good news on the economy. 

2% is not rocketing along, but it's not stuck in a ditch either. 

And given the war, and diesel, and Trump, some (i.e. the Government) might even say it's fantastic. 

As you know, we follow the data quite closely on this show – many of you are businesspeople, farmers, small business owners, do-ers in the economy and want to know what's going on. 

Manufacturing hit it out the park and now services, two-thirds of our growth, is expanding. 

The key missing ingredient is consumer spending – discretionary spending. 

You see that in hospitality and the other fine print from the services sector read yesterday. 

And while an OCR hiking cycle doesn't help with confidence, most of it's priced in and at this point, the rates are still technically wind at our backs, not our faces. 

American consumers are far more robust and confident that us. They spend like tomorrow they'll win Lotto, and they basically do that 99% of the time. 

We're far more cautious, and often with good reason. 

Not only does that demand help push their economy along, even when headlines suggest they shouldn't, but their ability to dream big, invent new things, and create value is also important here. 

The AI surge. The share prices. The investment it generates. The plants it builds. The jobs it creates. 

If success is a positive mindset and unequivocal self-belief, the Americans have it bottled.

We have it too, but perhaps we can take a leaf out of their book and actually believe it. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So we're cruising towards two percent growth off the back
of these two bits of good news on the economy.
Two percent is not rocketing along, but it's not stuck
in a ditch either, is it. Given the war, given diesel,
given Trump. Some I probably the government might even say
this is a fantastic result. As you know, we follow
the data quite closely on this program. Many of you

(00:21):
are business people. Many of you are farmers, small business owners,
doers in the economy, and you want to know what's
going on. Manufacturing headed out of the park on Friday. Now.
Services two thirds of our growth is expanding. The key
missing ingredient is consumer spending. Discretionary spending. You see that
in hospitality. You see that another fine print from the

(00:41):
services sector read yesterday. And while I O see our
hiking cycle certainly doesn't help with confidence, most of it's
priced in, and at this point the rates are still
technically wind at our backs rather than in our faces.
American consumers are far more robust and confident than us.
They're far more robus and confident just in general, aren't they? Americans?

(01:02):
They spend like tomorrow they'll win lotto, and they basically
do that ninety nine percent of the time. We're far
more cautious here, and often with good reason. Not only
does that demand in America help push their economy along
domestic demand even when headlines suggest they shouldn't, but there
are ability there to dream big, invent new things, and

(01:23):
create value is important here. The AI surge, the share prices,
the investment it generates, the plants that builds, the jobs,
that creates the technology that we the rest of the
world then adopt. If success is a positive mindset and
unequivocal self belief, the Americans have it bottled and we

(01:44):
have it too. Perhaps we can take a leaf out
of their book and actually believe it. For more from
early edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to News Talks
it be from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.