Chairperson, the Minister, the Minister's committee on the Budget, and indeed the Cabinet as whole have, since the onset of the recession, repeatedly said that all government employees and those who get paid by government in one way or another, which includes all of us sitting in this august Chamber, need to be extra careful about what they are spending their money on and how they are spending it. In particular, the hon George will be very familiar with my repeated reminders at the committee level and in this Chamber about the issues that he has raised. So I trust that he will use the time of this House to raise much more serious matters.
The Protection of State Information Bill was not directly related to what happened to the Rand. [Interjections.] I've got an analysis in front of me which says ... [Interjections.] No, either you want to hear an answer or you want to howl, hon members. So let's decide on that. [Interjections.] No, we'll discuss that later.
Here's more scientific evidence. Broadly, all emerging market currencies have been dropping in the last few days. Secondly, there is a serious decline in global risk appetite. Yesterday, we heard about the GDP figures from the United States, which were not as good as we had expected. Late yesterday, figures in regard to retail sales in the United States came up and they were less than what had actually been expected as well.
Today, there was a failed German bond auction. Now, if there is a failed German bond auction, it begins to tell us that the world, and investors in particular, are taking a very dim view of events in Europe and events generally in the Western World.
We can't attribute all of those massive developments in economies that dominate more than 50% of the world's economy to one Bill in this humble House. [Interjections.] That's all I have to say. [Applause.]