TREASURY and Reserve bank officials have been warning for a few years at least of the dangers of a "two-speed economy" in which one sector races ahead while others languish.
The latest profit figures from Australia's corporations may support those warnings.
During the last quarter the nation's mining companies experienced a seasonally adjusted jump in gross operating profits of 63 per cent. This has led some to declare the latest mining boom to be the biggest in more than a century.
Companies are falling over themselves to invest in new projects and some are holding so much cash they are having trouble finding appropriate investment avenues to absorb their profits and enable continuing expansion.
For many people in mining regions - including the Hunter - the boom is overwhelmingly good economic news, fuelling employment and prosperity.
It isn't necessarily good for everybody, however.
Booms, by their nature, have flow-on effects that are felt by many people unconnected with the boom industry.
On a small scale this can include people priced out of housing in towns near large mining operations. Cashed-up miners bid up house prices and rents, adversely affecting those on lower incomes.
On a national scale it can be even more significant but harder to see. Currency appreciation driven by a boom in mineral exports, for example, can have a severe impact on tourism and manufacturing. Tourists are discouraged by a high dollar, and manufacturers find their products becoming more expensive in comparison to those of foreign competitors.
Already some are suggesting the economic growth produced by the mining boom must soon translate into interest rate rises.
Such cost of living increases may be taken in the stride of mining sector employees, but for those in less buoyant sectors or in regions that aren't sharing in the boom they represent an unwelcome impost with no offsetting benefit.
This is exactly what Australia's Treasury officials had hoped to address with their controversial proposal for a super-profits tax on mining companies. Extra revenue skimmed from exceptional mining profits was supposed to be used to help level the uneven economic ground created by the boom and the "two-speed economy".
Jets' money woes
SUPPORTERS of the Newcastle Jets will be worried to learn that the A-League football club has this week been unable to pay staff and players.
The club's owner, Con Constantine, has called for help from Football Federation Australia, saying his problem is essentially one of cash-flow.
To their credit, players have assured fans they will look past the money troubles and do the best job they can against Brisbane Roar this Sunday.
They will be hoping - along with Jets' supporters - that given revelations today of further claims against the club's coffers, they will be able to take to the field.
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