The muppets are at it again.

In my two most recent posts I've criticised the government for constantly talking the economy down. Well the negative nancy pants on the treasury benches are at it again. From the Australian: Unemployment will rise this year, Lindsay Tanner warns

Minister Lindsay Tanner said: "We're expecting unemployment to get worse during the course of this year." Mr Tanner's remarks were echoed by Treasurer Wayne Swan, who said: "There's still a very big employment challenge out there."

Enough all ready! God almighty, we all know what the forecasts say, but that doesn't make them a foregone conclusion. Indeed when the principal economic ministers of the country say things like this all it does is increase the chance that their utterances become self-fulfilling prophesy.

Building consumer confidence is the key to domestic recovery. Australia is in a very different position to other jurisdictions like Iceland, the US and Britain were their financial systems have essentially melted down. Australia's fundamental financial frameworks are sound. Our equities markets have taken a hit, but that was only to be expected given the global nature of equities markets. But essentially our domestic enconomy is only suffering from a lack of confidence, and much of that lack in confidence isn't helped by having the Prime Minister, Treasurer and Minister for Finance continuously coming out and telling us how terrible everything is.