Tariff Man Donald Trump shakes the world economy

Marvel has Iron Man. DC has Wonder Woman. The real world has Donald “Tariff Man” Trump.

Two of those three have the best interests of humanity at heart.

Trump’s latest intervention in global markets, by using social media to talk about this protectionist “super power”, was the last thing economies around the world needed.

A small insight into the damage that could be wrought could be found in Australia’s national accounts released yesterday.

Despite Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s claim that the 0.3 per cent growth through the September quarter was “strong”, it was actually the softest quarterly result in almost two years.

It could be discarded if not for the kryptonite-like details in the data that forced financial markets to start factoring in an interest rate cut next year.

The household savings ratio is at a 10-year low. Real net disposable income was down 0.1 per cent through the quarter and flat for the past 12 months.

Flaccid household consumption figures inched up only because of spending on essentials.

For non-essentials, the cream on the economic pie, spending is down. For instance, car buying fell to its lowest level since early 2016. Industry figures showed car sales last month were more than 7 per cent lower than for the same month last year.

And those were flattering. Sales of passenger cars and sports utilities - the ones that ordinary mums and dads buy - were down sharply, only offset by the tax-advantaged working vehicles bought by businesses.

It all goes back to the lack of real wages growth. People are dipping into their savings to make ends meet. This is at a time when interest rates remain at 60-year equal record lows and unemployment is just 5 per cent.

In other words, the broad economic picture is fine but even that’s not enough for people to stash away cash for a rainy day.

Factor in the decrease in wealth via the fall in house prices or the Trump-induced gyrations on the world’s equity markets and you’ve got the makings of a real problem.

No superhero is going to stop it.