Charts of the Week

The purple areas are spreading the arms wealth+

Note Australia not in the big league

High levels of household debt will eventually have to be reversed. The argument of the Reserve Bank is that because most of the debt is owned by richer households it will not be a problem going forward. I'm not so sure.

Housing dominates household debt, funnily enough. 

Investor housing has shifted into the purchase of existing properties. One day soon Australians will realise that buying and selling houses to each other and digging things out of the ground is not a sustainable model for a rich country. 

The growth of apartment building.

Foreign ownership of farmland. Why this is a more important issue than our 80 per cent foreign owned mining sector is beyond my reasoning capabilities. Farmland can be neglected or overused but it can't be taken out of the country. Mining commodities are exported and gone.

We don't seem particularly concerned about the Canadians buying farms and agricultural producers.

Rapid Chinese growth from a low base.

The growing importance of services in consumption, with education more than doubling its share

US as an outlier on health spending

 The breakdown of taxes levied by the Commonwealth in Australia.

Greeks work longest in Europe, apparently.

Coal use continues to expand in Asia, while oil continues its slide. Gas and renewables continue to gain ground.