Australian companies post massive losses

Qantas, BHP Billiton and David Jones have all suffered under the deepening global financial crisis, experiencing major slumps in profits and sales.

QANTAS
Australia's national airline Qantas reported a 68.2 percent fall in first half pre-tax profit amidst the global economic downturn and announced a plan to raise millions through a share issue.

BHP
The world's largest miner, BHP Billiton also reported a drop, registering a 56.5 percent slump in first-half profit and warned demand for its products was likely to continue falling over the medium term.

David Jones
Despite the initial $10.4 billion stimulus package boosting consumer spending before and after Christmas, major department store David Jones said its sales were down as it struggles with a difficult economic climate.
First half sales fell 6.5 per cent on the same period last year to 1.06 million dollars.

My wife's boss is a multimillionaire that has deep interests and stocks in the mining industry. My wife's life is made a living hell at the moment at work as her boss is in a perpetually bad mood and is screaming about firing people.

What I find disgraceful; about this situation is that these rich elite think they can detrimentally affect other peoples live with their attitudes and want to try and save some of their fortune. I told my wife the other day that if he gives her attitude for no reason ever again that she is to get up and walk out (which would leave that company up the proverbial creek as she is in a top position in their head office and nobody else has a clue how to do her job). While that would screw us in the short term - it would stick it right up his elitist rectum and perhaps he might see the light of day - although I'm not holding my breath on it.