While the Australian economy has been unquestionably strong, it has given the Australian public perhaps too much consumer confidence and may be setting the nation up for problems with the value of the Australian dollar similar to what was experienced in Thailand and South Korea in the past.
Conclusion
One difference is that it appears that Australia may have learned from the mistakes of the United States. Prior to 2000, United States Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan, himself, was overenthusiastic about where the US economy was heading. The Reserve Bank of Australia, on the other hand, has repeatedly sounded the alarm and has even raised interest rates twice in an attempt to throw a bucket of cold water on the over exuberance currently threatening the Australian economy.
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