The Reserve Bank intervened to keep a floor under the dollar at around 61 US cents. One big reason the dollar is being dumped on financial markets is because of Australia's reliance on its resources boom to help stave off the recession now threatening America and Europe and because commodity prices have also been forced down by the global slowdown.
Even China's miracle economy has slowed to nine per cent and its satiable hunger for Australian iron ore to feed its steel mills effectively keeping the economy relatively buoyant is also diminishing.
But will Chinese growth be able to resist pressures enough from without and within to save Australia from the worst impacts of the global crisis.
