, Columnist
Australia's Hunger Games
Take out mining, and spending by businesses has barely increased since the global financial crisis.
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If economies need animal spirits to thrive, what sort of beast is Australia in the aftermath of its mining boom? Something like a wounded bear that would rather hibernate than go hunting for food, if you listen to Treasurer Scott Morrison.
Governments need to work at building an economy that "can coax private capital out of its cave," he said at a Bloomberg Address event in Sydney Thursday. "Global capital is sitting dormant. How else do you interpret the absurdity of negative bond yields?"