Region. 'Recession is inevitable

Associate Professor Steve Keen, from the UWS School of Economics and Finance, an economist and expert on debt, said the one percent fall in retail sales, in June, seemed to be “the first swallow of the recession we can't avoid. A recession is inevitable, because the boom times of the last 15 years were almost entirely driven by spending borrowed money. Anyone can look rich while spending borrowed money. But when the borrowing stops, spending collapses - and that's what appears to be finally happening now.” Despite this, Associate Professor Keen did not expect the Reserve Bank of Australia to drop the official interest rate at its board meeting tomorrow.