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AP - President Hugo Chavez on Sunday ordered Venezuela’s military to prepare for a possible armed conflict with Colombia, saying his country’s soldiers should be ready if the United States attempts to provoke a war between the South American neighbors.

Read more of Chavez to troops: Prepare for war with Colombia (AP)…

Reuters - Iran has charged three detained U.S. citizens with espionage, the official IRNA news agency quoted a judiciary official as saying on Monday.

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Sometimes, it’s difficult to get a sense of what people in other countries have to deal with. Luckily, the guest post today addresses this, even in a very small scale.

A massive stimulus plan, reduced consumer spending, increased unemployment – we aren’t just talking about the United States here. The effects of the American financial crisis have stretched worldwide, and Australia has not been left unscathed. The current recession’s sticky tentacles have managed to drag down with them many economies that before 2008 were functioning and growing quite well. Unfortunately, Australia is one of those countries and here’s several first hand effects that I noticed.

1. Consumers Buying Less
   With credit restricted in both the US and Australia, consumers are tightening their belts when it comes to purchases. A ‘Cash for Clunkers’ vehicle trade-in program in America paired with a nearly trillion dollar stimulus package, tends to overshadow a 26.5 billion (USD) Australian package, but for a country like Australia that is used to running a budget surplus and with a proportionately smaller economy, such numbers come as a shock. With no promises being made on either side that these plans will fix the economy and unemployment still rising in both countries, expectations are being tempered, leaving consumers wary as to whether they should dip their toes back into the spending waters. It is worth noting however, that consumer confidence is rising in Australia and has recently hit a two-year high.

2. Buying Better & Smarter
   One of the benefits to the consumers of both nations during the financial crisis fallout has been a reawakening to the art of the deal. For many consumers used to paying sticker prices for vehicles, appliances, and electronics, the sudden abundance of great deals and lower prices have provided those who have money to spend the chance to buy the best products at a fraction of what they were offered at just a year or two ago. Lower housing prices, retail discounts, and government assistance programs such as the Cash for Clunkers program and first time homebuyer’s tax credit in the US or the Australian stimulus package’s cash to low income families, have somewhat helped to ease the strain on consumers, but have far from mitigated the consequences to retailers and manufacturers during the recession.

3. Eating Out Less
   Unfortunately, there is a downside to certain instances of consumers spending less on products, more so than just the effects on economic growth. While the differences in the foreclosure status between the two countries are significant, it doesn’t mean Australia hasn’t been affected by the ripples of the credit crisis. The Australian banking system hasn’t been affected as adversely as in the US, however; rather than shutting off available credit to consumers as has largely been the case in the US, Australian banks have upped the ante when it comes to borrowing, tending to continue to offer credit to consumers and businesses but at higher interest rates. The effects on both sides of the Pacific result in tighter credit, which in turn affects consumer spending all the way down to the food they eat.

   Credit constraints, paired with rising job loss in both countries and fear regarding the future, leaves many families with less to spend on food products and often looking for cheaper alternatives at the grocery store. Lower prices typically does not equate to healthier food either. Often, sale or discounted foods offer lower nutritional values and benefits when compared to more costly food products, and therefore promote less healthy eating during times of economic distress.

4. Increased Saving: A Positive Aspect of Recession
   On the positive side of the recession’s effects upon consumers is increased saving. People around the world, have learned the valuable lesson of preparing for the future and unforeseen events through increased personal savings. Nowhere has this lesson hit home harder than in the United States where personal savings levels dipped into the negative just several years ago. The recession has awakened consumers to the benefits of saving and has pushed personal savings levels back into the black, moving to nearly seven percent in the US this year. Conversely, as saving levels increase, spending decreases, which means consumers are tightening their belts when it comes to larger purchases.

   It’s yet to be seen as how the recession will affect Australian personal savings rates as statistics aren’t readily available, but anecdotal evidence points to increased savings down under too. While savings rates have steadily been declining since the mid-80s, with higher interest rates available and consumer spending down, it may be assumed that Australian personal savings rates will increase slightly, at least temporarily, as people hunker down for the short term.

5. Lower Consumer Spending Hits Small Businesses Hard
   The changes in consumer spending mean a shift in the way many businesses interact with and meet consumer needs. While nearly all businesses have been adversely affected by the recession, small businesses in particular have taken a hard hit due to their lack of recourses and available cash flow to ride out a prolonged economic downturn. Again, rising interest rates in Australia and lack of available credit in the US has made it difficult for businesses to tap sources of credit for continued cash flow. This negative impact on small businesses leaves their owners and employees less willing to spend, and thus results in a snowball effect that minimizes consumer spending.

6. Even Optimists are Wary
   While stock markets around the world are on the rise, and there is now a glimmer of hope for a worldwide recovery, many consumers are still hesitant to resume there previous spending levels. While many in the US and Australia are hopeful that within the next year more signs of a recovery will become evident, few expect things to return to where they were just years ago anytime soon. It certainly appears that Australian consumers will most likely be feeling the effects of a recovery sooner than those in America. However, even the most optimistic consumer on either continent must have inklings of the acute possibility that such a crisis could occur again, whether due to looming mortgage resets in the US, continued restricted and pricey credit, or a still unforeseen event that could act to alter the way in which we spend our money.

About The Author

Kris writes about personal finance for an Australian credit card comparison website offering a range of cash back credit cards that help everyone save money. You can read more of his writing on The Credit Letter.

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Related Articles at Personal Finance Blog by Money Ning:

• How Has the Recession Affect You?
• Glad To Be Back Links
• What Does Fiscal Stimulus Mean?
• Recession and The Stock Market For The Public
• Changed to Wordpress!

Read more of 6 Ways the Recession Has Changed Consumer Spending in Australia & the USA…

AP - A man who was so deep in debt that he did not have the money to visit his son 30 minutes away opened fire Friday at the engineering firm that fired him two years ago, killing one person and wounding five, authorities said.

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It seems like there isn’t much that has to go into it. All you have to do is know what you are doing. You just need to go to school for a while to learn how to do it all. After learning all the computer stuff, you then just need to spend time coming up with a brilliant idea.

If you are working for a big company then you don’t even have to come up with the idea. All you have to do is sit at the computer all day and type out the code. I think that would be the best job ever. It’s too bad I’m already old and have a job.

Godzilla crushed a city last night. It was New York Yankees designated hitter Hideki Matsui’s six RBIs…

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Just got an e-mail from MicroPlace that they are running a gift certificate promotion where if you buy a $20 GC, you get another $20 GC free. The gift recipient can then lend out the money to a poor entrepreneur and receive interest + $20 back later. Since the person actually gets the money back (or at least most of it assuming some defaults), and thus isn’t the same as a “$XX has been donated in your name” gift, I think it’s a cool twist on gift cards.

Give a Gift that Keeps on Giving
Give a unique and special gift this holiday season. It is a gift of connection, a gift of hope, and a gift that believes that poor people can use their ingenuity and hard work to break out of the cycle of poverty.

Your gift can help fund loans to poor people who could start a business, save, and work their way out of poverty. And when you purchase a gift certificate of $20 or more on MicroPlace, we’ll give you a free gift certificate of $20 to send to someone else on your shopping list!

To learn more about Microplace check out these posts, including my last microlending update.

Read more about MicroPlace: Buy a $20 Gift Certificate, Get One Free…

This was pretty much me yesterday Photo: http://flickr.com/photos/powi/

I didn’t really do much of anything at all. I was going to go swimming at the gym, but I never got around to it.

I watched a silly movie on the television. I missed the first half, so I didn’t really know what it was about.

Today I am planning on going swimming again. Hopefully I will actually go this time.

Maybe I’ll get ambitious enough and go play some tennis as well. I need to do more than just sit around and watch movies.

I guess yesterday I did do something productive; I went shopping. I went to a book store and looked around at everything for about an hour. That was fun.

I always like going to places with books. Libraries are fun. You can check out books and return them later.

Whoever came up with the idea of libraries that you can borrow books from was a genius. They should be given a gold medal or something.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nosha/

But they are such a pain to peel. It takes so long, and it takes even longer if you insist on peeling off all the white stuff (I forget what it’s called).

I don’t really care if the white stuff is on there or not. Most people don’t like it, but I think it tastes just fine. It has got a lot of nutrients in it too. At least that’s what I hear.

I wonder if that’s just something my parents have made up to get us to eat it instead of taking forever to peel it all off.

Photo: http://flickr.com/photos/9110245@N02/

It was pretty funny to watch the game. My nephew accidentally slipped and fell. At first I was a little worried that he was hurt and there was nothing I could do to help him.

I eventually just laughed when I realized there was nothing wrong with him. It was quite humorous. I know he is only eight but watching the way that he slipped in the mud and fell on the ground was really funny.

I guess that you could say it was something I would have sent to America’s Funniest Home videos. I wish I had a recording of it.