Submitted by Atlas Indicators Investment Advisors on December 20th, 2018
The movie Crocodile Dundee was released in 1986, over 32 years ago. A quote from the flick popped into my head a few days ago when listening to a podcast mentioning the Australian economy. In the movie, the lead character (played by Paul Hogan) is held up at knifepoint by a few would-be muggers. Ultimately, he pulls out his Bowie knife (which is significantly larger), and the wayward youth run off.
America’s economic expansion has been moving forward for nearly 10 years. In fact, the official decade milestone will happen this June; of course, America’s output will need to keep expanding for six more months. As of right now, the current expansion is the second longest ever for America. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research (this organization officially dates the business cycle), only the March 1991 through March 2001 expansion has been longer, using data that starts in 1854. That’s nice, but it isn’t Australian nice.
The nation which produced the band Men at Work has been working in expansion mode for 25 years. They managed to weather the Asian crash of 1997 as well as the global financial crisis a decade later. Only time will tell if they can survive the next world-wide downturn. Some are skeptical since they rely heavily on exports to China, and that second largest economy in the world is experiencing slower growth. However it turns out, Crocodile Dundee has reason to boast about the duration of his nation’s continuous expansion, especially when compared to the one of which America is so proud.
