Superannuation fund members will soon start seeing better benefits as technical reforms – now under way – progress.

The industry and the government both believe the new systems – and clarifications – contained in the reforms will cut costs and boost benefits.

However the Senate could still block one key proposal.  That is to use Medicare’s powerful computing systems, as a financial services clearing house.

The Federal Superannuation Minister Chris Bowen said the Opposition has threatened to use its numbers in the upper house to do just that.

However the Parliament has now passed financial market supervision reforms, which the government proposed.

Mr Bowen said these would “enhance the integrity of Australia’s financial markets.”

The superannuation industry welcomed this news, praising the government, in particular, for extending consumer protection to superannuation borrowing arrangements.

This was done by declaring that these borrowings are financial products under the Corporations act.

Though technical in nature, the Australian Superannuation Funds Association, said this would help to curb the industry’s costs and the savings would be passed on to fund members.

Mr Bowen also welcomed an announcement by three of Australia’s largest superannuation fund managers, AAS, Pillar Administration and  Superpartners, that they would accept a common set of computer protocols, to cover the movement of data and money between funds.

“This agreement will make it easier and more efficient to transfer money between funds,”
Mr Bowen said.

That, too, would result in lower costs for fund members, he added.

Kids staying at home longer?

House bursting at the seams?

Don’t worry.  You are not alone.

The Reserve Bank knows of your problems.

Indeed, it fears that these trends could push house prices – and rents – even higher

Its Assistant Governor, Philip Lowe, spoke at some length about these issues, at a seminar in Sydney today.

He noted that the number of houses being built in Australia over recent years had been below average, even though the nation’s population has been growing strongly.

That had meant house prices had been rising and rental vacancy rates had been very low.

Mr Lowe spoke of other, less obvious, trends, too.

He said that, on average,  more Australians are now living in each house and more money is being spent on renovations, rather than new buildings, now.

“Obviously examples of this are the trend towards young adults staying in the parental home longer and a rise in the number of people sharing accommodation,” Mr Lowe said.

“In a sense, as a society, there has been a trade off between quality and quantity.

“In particular, we have chosen to build bigger and better appointed dwellings, rather than more dwellings,” Mr Lowe said.

Mr Lowe said if strong population growth continues over an extended time, Australia might have to devote a bigger share of its gross domestic product to housing in future.

“If this does not happen further adjustment in housing prices and rents is likely to occur,” Mr Lowe warned.

Australia’s economic recovery is deepening.

And the Federal government’s economic stimulus is playing its part.

Fresh evidence, on both fronts, showed up in  new capital spending figures, that the Bureau of Statistics has just released.

These showed that spending on industrial equipment, plant and machinery leapt by 12.4 per cent in the December quarter to $15.1 billion, on seasonally adjusted figures.

That was  7.2 per cent higher than the amount spent in the December quarter of 2008.

The bureau took the rare step of noting that
a large number of companies, which responded to its survey, said they had taken advantage of a tax break, that the government offered, to purchase new cars.

That break was part of the Federal government’s stimulus package.

The bureau’s figures strongly suggest that Australian car makers increased investment in their plants, to cope with this extra demand.

The bureau also reported that full time average weekly earnings, in the private sector, rose by 1.5 per cent in November and by 5.4 per cent over the year.

The comparable figures, for the public sector, were 1.3 per cent growth for the month and a 5.7 per cent rise over the year.

The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, told parliament that investment in private sector housing had fallen by more than 20 per cent last year, in the wake of the global economic crisis.

“But that has been offset by an increase of 42 per cent in public construction activity,” he added.

The Federal government has announced a $41.2 million program to help workers who were    retrenched after its home insulation was cancelled, as a result of safety issues.

The industry estimates that some 6,000 workers have already been put off.

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, who made the announcement blamed a small proportion of unscrupulous firms in the industry for the trouble.

Four insulation workers have been killed – and more than 100 homes have become fire traps – as a result of shoddy insulation work, performed  under the government’s home insulation scheme.

Some of the sacked workers will be offered financial assistance.

Others will be eligible for retraining.

The issue has dominated question time in Federal parliament all week, with the Opposition demanding the sacking of the Environment Minister, Peter Garrett.

However Mr Rudd struck back at opposition members, who have questioned him aggressively on the matter.

He said the jobs these workers had held would never have existed under a Coalition government.

Mr Rudd said  his government had  initiated the home insulation scheme to create jobs, after the global economic crisis struck.

“There would have been no such program under the Coalition,” the Prime Minister said.

Mr Rudd said any insulation worker, who lost his job, would also be eligible for assistance under the Federal government’s Compact for Retrenched Workers.

This would mean immediate access to high level support.

People who can’t afford private health insurance are being forced to subsidise it for “millionaires,” according to a Federal minister.

The Federal Finance Minister, Lindsay Tanner made the charge in parliament.

He did so shortly before his colleague, Health Minister Nicola Roxon announced that private health fund premiums would rise by an average of 5.78 per cent from April 1.

Mr Tanner said the “subsidy”  is the result of the opposition’s decision to block changes the government is trying to make to the private health insurance rebate in the Senate.

Mr Tanner said the Opposition is now facing a big test, on two fronts.

These were fairness and fiscal responsibility.

“Are you going to support the government or will you continue to subsidise private health insurance for millionaires?” Mr Tanner asked.

The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, announced in his budget speech last May, that the government would cut the private health insurance rebate for people on higher incomes.

Mr Swan also said that the Medicare Levy surcharge would also be increased for higher income earners.

However the Opposition, with the support of the Greens and other Senators, is blocking these moves in the Senate.

Mr Tanner said the Coalition’s obstinance would cost the government almost $10 billion over the next 10 years.

This would damage its efforts to get the Federal budget back into surplus.

He said the government had been forced to make tough decisions in its last budget.

One of these had been to apply a means test to the private health insurance rebate.

Mr Tanner said he would pay more, himself, under the government’s proposals.

“But I am afraid, Mr Speaker, that I don’t see the logic of why ordinary working people – on fifty grand – sixty grand a year – should have their taxes pay subsidies to my private health insurance, when many of those same working people can’t afford private health insurance for themselves,” he added.

“What the opposition is doing is protecting subsidies for higher income earners; doing great damage damage to the government’s budget settings; at the same time as claiming that they would be more fiscally responsible and that they would have lower deficits than the government.”

Mr Tanner said, too, that the Opposition’s Finance spokesman, Senator Barnaby Joyce, had initially supported the government’s position, but had later retreated.

“I am worried that he has been got at or something,” Mr Tanner said.

“I would like to see him step back up to the plate on this issue.”

Australians are rapidly moving past  full reliance on the Age pension in retirement.

The compulsory superannuation regime, introduced by Paul Keating, is providing better results, on several fronts.

A senior Federal Minister, Chris Bowen, spelt that out in a speech he delivered in Melbourne.

He said the introduction of compulsory superannuation “…has meant we are all, collectively, saving more.

“The resultant national pool of wealth – which is available for investment in Australian companies, property and infrastructure – has been a crucial source of funds for our economy,” he added.

That had helped Australian industry, in the wake of the global financial crisis.

Mr Bowen, who is minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law, also said “The Age pension will inevitably continue to supplement retirement incomes in future.

“But a far lower proportion of retired Australians will be full pensioners,” he said .

“And a far higher proportion will be part pensioners,” Mr Bowen added.

He also quoted lines from Tony Abbott’s book, Battlelines, which Mr Bowen said  suggest that a Coalition government might slash the present tax concessions on superannuation, to fund abolition of the means test on Age pensions.

“That “would be a very retrograde step.”

“We rule it out,” Mr Bowen said.

“Mr Abbott should  as well,” he added.

So far there has been no response from the Opposition Leader.

Watch the North Atlantic.

According to one expert, that’s where the lingering risks from the global economic crisis are likely to appear.

Guy Debelle, an Assistant Governor of the Reserve Bank, who specialises in financial markets, delivered this warning in a speech he gave in Sydney.

Addressing a Women in Finance lunch, Mr Debelle said:”We are now into the phase where weakness in the global macroeconomy is feeding back into the financial sector.

“In that regard, a significant risk, in my assessment, is that we are still to see the full impact of the weakness in the North Atlantic economies on the loans on the books of financial institutions.”

“…this was a big recession which, combined with large falls in both commercial and housing property prices, should result in large loan losses,” Mr Debelle said.

(A copy of his speech can be found on the Reserve Bank’s website, at www.rba.gov.au).

Mr Debelle stressed, though, that this warning should not be taken as his central message .

“The central case is that financial markets have improved considerably over the past year,” Mr Debelle said.

In a separate development, the Reserve Bank warned that more interest rate rises can be expected this year, but that they will probably not be on a monthly basis in future, as they were late last year.

This message was contained in the minutes of the Reserve Bank board meeting, held earlier this month.

The board, then, surprised many economists, by keeping interest rates on hold.

The minutes have just been released.

They noted that board members had been briefed on Australia’s economic prospects.

Then the printed  minutes  then offered a ray of hope to struggling home buyers.

They said board members:”…did not regard that outlook as requiring an increase at every meeting.”

The board, generally, meets on the first Tuesday of each month, except January, to review rates.

It’s main aim, at those meetings, is to keep Australia’s underlying inflation rate within a 2 to 3 per cent range, over the course of a business cycle.

The minutes described the case for keeping rates on hold earlier this month as “stronger” than that for another rise.

The minutes also said that  although Australia’s underlying inflation rate is still  3.25 per cent, it is expected fall to around 2.5 per cent this year.

The Federal government is  to tighten supervision of Australia’s financial markets and take over present State responsibilities for consumer credit.

The Federal Financial Services Minister Chris Bowen announced both moves.

Mr Bowen said the Federal government would introduce legislation into Parliament today, which would reform the way Australia’s financial markets are supervised.

“In doing so, the bill will enhance the integrigty of Australia’s financial market and contribute to the goal of making Australia a financial hub,” he said.

Under the government’s plan, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission will be given clear responsibility for the supervision of these markets.

Mr Bowen said this bill would contain three key provisions.

• It would remove the obligation Australian market licencees presently have to supervise their markets
• That obligation would go to ASIC
• And ASIC would be given extra powers not only to make new rules, but also to enforce them.

Mr Bowen said he would also ask parliament to approve the transfer of State consumer credit powers to the Commonwealth.

“Passage of the National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment bill is the final step for the Commonwealth in creating a single, standard, national regime for the regulation of consumer credit,” Mr Bowen said.

He said this “landmark” change is being achieved in a spirit of co-operation between the Federal government and the States and Territories.

Sometimes the best explanations come from the most unexpected sources.

That happened in Federal parliament, when Malcolm Turnbull explained the proposed Emissions Trading scheme.

The proposed scheme is complex – and even the Federal government, which is sponsoring it admits it is having trouble explaining it.

The Former Opposition Leader, though, displayed his forensic skills brilliantly,
when he compared the proposed ETS – with the rival plan, that his successor, Tony Abbott, is offering.

Mr Turnbull’s speech is displayed in full on the ABC’s website www.abc.net.au, in The Drum section.

It’s a good read,  especially for those who  are still confused over what should be done about climate change.

Mr Turnbull says, for example, the government’s scheme, as amended, is now very similar to the one John Howard proposed, shortly before his government was defeated.

Surprisingly, perhaps, Turnbull also concludes that the ETS will be cheaper, in the years ahead, than Tony Abbott’s alternative.

He says the best policy, to cut carbon emissions, must have a price signal.

Mr Turnbull declared his belief “as a Liberal” that market forces would deliver “the lowest cost” and “most effective” outcomes.

He warned, too,  that alternatives, which rely on direct regulation and subsidies “would be more costly to the economy.”

Mr Turnbull quoted from a letter, that he had received from a senior public servant, to emphasise that point.

It said:”While I worked in government for a significant part of my life, I am horrified by the prospect of a ‘fund’ from which public servants give handouts to grow trees.

“It just does not work.”

Summing up, Mr Turnbull said:”This legislation is the only policy which can credibly enable us to meet our commitment to a 5 per cent cut in emissions by 2020.”

He said the proposed ETS would also have the flexibility to enable Australia to move to bigger cuts, when they are warranted.

The Federal government expects the Reserve Bank’s decision to keep interest rates on hold will help to sustain Australia’s economic recovery.

The Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, explained why, at question time shortly after Parliament resumed, for its autumn sittings.

“Today’s decision means that a families with a $300,000 mortgage are still paying around $600 a month less than they were paying 18 months ago,” Mr Swan said.

The Reserve Bank’s target rate was still 7.25 per back then. It is just 3.75 per cent now.

These rates have a big influence on home loan interest rates.

And the extra cash, now in the monthly budgets of several million young to middle aged families, packs a wallop, at suburban supermarkets and in local businesses throughout the country.

There was, of course, never any question of the Reserve Bank now returning to anything like the target rate, that it had set, back then.

At most, a rate rise of 25 – or perhaps even 50 – basis points might have been expected.

Even that, though, would have led to another round of rises in home loan interest rates.

And that would have further eroded the spending power of many Australian families.

The first three rate rises, that the Reserve Bank announced late last year, have already had that effect.

And the Reserve Bank board learnt, just three hours before it announced its decision, that business confidence slumped late last year, after the last of those three rate rises was announced.

The board’s decision, though, should be seen as a reprieve, rather than a firm declaration that Australia’s interest rates won’t rise anytime soon.

They are still well below levels the bank regards as normal.

What happens now?

The Treasurer spelt out the government’s plans as he continued his answer.

“…we are committed to a long-term strategy here,” he said.

Mr Swan said the government would do  everything it could to expand the productive capacity of the economy.

It would also do everything in its power to lessen inflationary pressures.

“We on this side of the House are determined to do everything we can to see sustainable growth which lifts living standards up and we are determined to make the necessary investments for the future,” Mr Swan said.

Thousands of Australian families struggle to meet their child care bills, with mid level fees, at government approved centres, reaching $285 a week.

That national figure, from a report by the Productivity Commission, is for full time care, of 50 hours a week.

Even the  fees, for approved family day care are not much lower, at a mid level of $267 a week.

As child care fees are commercial charges and the amount of time children spending in care, weekly expenses do vary widely.

But Canberra families, which face the nation’s highest fees, must find more than $300 a week for full time child care, either at their local centres or in appproved family care.

The report, by the Productivity Commission, also exposes significant inequities in the way government child care subsidies are spent.

It shows, for example, that many of the Australian children who most need help miss out on their fair share of subsidised child care places.

These include kids with a disability, those living in remote areas, Aboriginal children and children of migrant families, who don’t speak English well, if at all.

The report says children in all of these groups get fewer places, in subsidised child care, than those from the broader community.

But poor kids don’t.

The Commission, says children from low income families get child care places at much the same rate as the broader community.

Child care subsidies, in various forms, are a big – and rapidly rising – expense for Australian governments.

The Commission reports that Federal, State and Territory governments spent $4.5 billion on these subsidies in 2008-09.

In real terms, that was a 51 per cent rise over their spending in the previous 12 months.

The Australian notion of a fair go suggests that big ticket government spending, like this, should be spread evenly throughout the community.

However the report says only 13.2 per cent of  children from non-English speaking backgrounds benefit from subsidised child care, against 18.8 per cent of the broader community.

The participation rate for Aboriginal children was just 2.3 per cent, although they make up 4.4 per cent of the population.

The Commission also said:”Children aged 0-12 years with a disability had a lower participation in child care (3.2 per cent) compared with their representation in the community (7.7 per cent).

And only 1 per cent of Australian kids, living in remote areas, get subsidised child care, even though 3 per cent of the nation’s children live in remote areas.

John Howard came to power, many years ago, promising that  red tape for small business would be cut in half..

At that time, though,  small business operators were generally filing just two tax returns a year. One for their business and a second for personal income.

By the time Mr Howard left office, though,  thousands were preparing no less than six tax returns a year, five for their businesses and one personal return.

While most could prepare their own quarterly Business Activity Statements themselves, many sought professional help with their annual returns – both business and private -  because of their perceived complexity.

The cost of getting their accountants to fill in those annual returns, though, was high.  Accountancy firms thought nothing of charging as much as $2,500, and sometimes more, for this small service.

Predictably, accountants protested loudly, in submissions to the Federal government’s tax review, at a proposal to make annual tax returns not only simpler, but also  voluntary in many cases.

The details are not yet clear, as the review’s report, which the Treasury Secretary Ken Henry handed to the government just before Christmas, has not yet been made public.

We can, however, expect the present arrangements for taxing superannuation to be comprehensively overhauled.

At present, superannuation money is taxed at a flat rate of 15 per cent, on its way into a fund.

So people, on very high incomes, can get much bigger tax breaks on super, than others on middle and low incomes.

The government, though, is not likely to agree to the superannuation industry’s request to increase compulsory super contributions from 9 to 12 per cent of salary, in this year’s Federal budget.

The Henry Review is understood to have concluded that the present rate of 9 per cent will provide an adequate retirement income, at least for younger Australians who are now coming up through the system.

It also favours a profit tax, of perhaps 40 per cent, for Australia’s big miners, in particular.

That would, eventually  replace State royalties and other charges.

Surprisingly, the miners themselves were not totally opposed to this idea.  Although high, that tax would not be imposed at all, when commodity prices were low, because the miners then would  be making little, if any, profit.

States like Western Australia, though, bitterly oppose this idea. That’s State’s Treasurer, Troy Buswell, is already fighting hard against it.

The Review has also come up with some novel ideas, such as taxing people who use the nation’s roads at peak periods.

That is based on the idea that if traffic flows could be spread more evenly – throughout the day – there would be less pressure from motorists for expensive new roads.

The Review concludes, too, that Australia’s rapidly ageing population will put heavy – and strongly rising  – pressure on Federal finances in the years ahead.

That’s why the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has been touring the country, over the past week, telling Australians that the nation’s productivity must be increased, to meet these demands.

He has stressed, each time, that this means working smarter, not harder or longer.

But that forced  his Treasurer, Wayne Swan, to remind Australians of the Rudd government’s promise that its total tax take would be no higher – as a percentage of national income -than that of its predecessor, under John Howard.

Few issues, though, are as politically sensitive as tax reform, however well intentioned.

And things don’t always work out, in real life, exactly as intended.

Mr Howard, himself, discovered that.  Mr Rudd will, too.

The Federal government has rejected “wholesale reform” in the wake of the global economic crisis.

The Financial Services Minister Chris Bowen made the declaration in a television interview he gave in Hong Kong.

He said such matters were  always “a matter of balance.”

But Australia’s response to the crisis had been “very robust.”

“We haven’t had any runs on any regulated financial institutions , Mr Bowen said.

“And four out of the nine AA-rated banks around the world are Australian banks

“So we do take the view that our regulatory systems worked well and that there is not a case for wholesale reform,” Mr Bowen said.

His declaration will surprise many.

The government has, for example, ordered a complete review of Ausrralia’s taxation system.

It also ordered a slew of reports on Australia’s superannuation system, in the wake of big losses thousands of newly retired Australians suffered, over the past year, as a  direct result of the stock market crash in September 2008.

The report on Australia’s taxation system, produced by  the Secretary of the Treasury, Ken Henry, has now been completed and handed to the government.

But it has not been published.

However four reports, on the rules governing superannuation, have been published.

They are now being considered by the government.

Mr Bowen confirmed, though, that Australia is working with other governments, on changes that may need to be made.

“Of course, we’re working with our colleagues in the G20 on matters of financial and prudential regulation,” Mr Bowen said.

“And APRA, our prudential regulator, is going through the process of reviewing our liquidity requirements.

“We’re doing that in consultation with the financial services sector,” he added.

Mr Bowen said Australlia has both  a prudential regulator, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority  and a corportate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investment  Commission, with the Reserve Bank keeping an overall watch.

“We find the right balance in Australia, for us, is the twin peaks model , two regulators…” he said.

With the cries of angry shareholders ringing in his ears, Chris Bowen flew to Hong Kong yesterday, to promote Australia as a regional financial hub.

The Financial Services Minister had just moved to overturn a string of expensive court cases, by declaring that some shareholders will not have the same rights as creditors, after all when a company goes bust.

He did that, very simply, by announcing that he will seek changes to the law.

Luke Margaretic, who lost $26,000 when the gold miner, Sons of Gwalia, went broke believed he had established that right.

His claim to have been misled, when he invested $20,000 in the miner, shortly before it failed, was critical to his success in  cases that went all the way to a full bench of the High Court.

While that outcome proved controversial in Australia – as it gave at least some shareholders – in certain circumstances -  a higher place in the payout queue – it was not out of line with international standards.

Commenting on the case, as it then stood, the respected legal firm Allens Arthur Robinson said:”The position is broadly the same as applies in England.

“In other comparable overseas jurisdictions, there is no subordination of shareholder claims at all,” the firm added.

That is, shareholders are not necessarily pushed further back in the queue than other creditors, such as, say, local shopkeepers who might also be owed money.

But Mr Bowen, effectively, declared yesterday that he is having no more of this nonsense from cheeky, queue jumping shareholders.

Announcing a new corporate law insolvency reform package, Mr Bowen said the government is still worried about the implications of the Sons of Gwalia decision.

He said that decision has the potential to further increase both  uncertainty and the costs associated with insolvency procedures.

“The decision has also been taken in the light of the decision’s potential negative impact on business rescue procedures,” he said.

“Any direct benefits to aggrieved shareholders arising from non-subordination are outweighed by negative impacts on shareholders generally, as a result of restrictions on access to – and increases in – the cost of debt financing for companies,”
Mr Bowen added.

How’s that for Ruddy jargon?

More simply, Mr Bowen insisted that he was just returning Australia to traditional understandings, when it comes to the rights of creditors and shareholders, after a company goes broke.

He said small businesses, which are owed money, could be hurt if some shareholders get a higher place in queue than they have previously had.

No-one, though, could accuse Mr Bowen of leaving an untidy desk, as he flew to Asia.

His Corporate Law Insolvency Package, which does much more than just settle queue jumping arguments, was just one of a slew of announcements that he made before leaving.

Mr Bowen also announced refinements to Australia’s prudential regulation of both companies generally and financial service providers, in particular.

All the details are at www.treasury.gov.au

Where do you stand, at the start of a bright new decade?

An old song puts it well.

“You load 16 tons – and what do you get?

“Another day older – and deeper in debt.”

This coal miner’s lament, which was once a huge hit, still  has lessons for  all Australians.

At the end of the noughties, for example, their nation is more  dependent on coal than ever.

That’s not a good look, in a world – rightly – worrried about climate change.

And debt levels have risen so sharply, in Australia, over recent years, that they now present a real risk to the nation’s financial stability.

At the turn of the Century, the average Australian owed a little more than $22,000.

According to the Reserve Bank,  that’s now $74,000.

So debts have more than trebled over the decade, while prices rose by just 35 per cent.

Repayment capacity hasn’t matched debt growth, either.

While average weekly earnings now stand at a truly impressive $1,249 a week – wages – from which debt repayments are made – rose by just 50 per cent over the noughties.

Don’t despair if you don’t earn quite that amount, though.  Most people don’t.  It’s the relatively small number, right at the top, who push that figure into the stratosphere.

The crash still dominates Australia’s prospects, even though its influence is now waning.

At the start of the last decade, Australia had chalked up 3.75 per cent growth – while  expecting something a little better in the year ahead.

On the latest figures, Australia’s annual economic growth rate was just 0.5 per cent and – once again – we are looking for something a little better in future.

The crash, though, hit Australia’s national finances very hard.

At the turn of the Century, for example. the Federal government took a 23.4 per cent revenue bite from Australia’s output.

That tax take is now up to 24.9 per cent.

The Federal government’s spending has also risen  sharply.

It was just 22.8 per cent of the nation’s gross domestic product, back then.

It is now about 27 per cent.

Stimulus packages might be necessary,  after stock market crashes.

Bu they are not cheap.

So what else hits the pockets and purses of ordinary Australians, today – and how has all that changed, over the past decade?

At 5.7 per cent, Australia’s unemployment rate is still low, by current standards.  The US rate, for example, is 10 per cent.

Most will have forgotten, though, ours stood at 7.5 per cent at the turn of the Century.

And Australia’s inflation rate – which was approaching 6 per cent then – is now down to 1.3 per cent.

Share prices had been rising strongly, as the turn of the Century approached.  But the tech-wreck  rock was just ahead.

That, sadly, became a model for a later disaster, too.

Technical advances were certainly impressive, at the turn of the Century .

But they were also over-hyped, on world share markets.

Sadly we  forgot that lesson, all-too-quickly.

If we had remembered it, we might well have asked some salutory questions, when complex financial products were also hyped, some years later.

So what lies ahead now?

We will make just one prediction, but we offer it with absolute certainty.

Expect the unexpected

It’s a safe bet.