Market meltdown | National Museum of Australia

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The collapse of the United States subprime mortgage market had a ripple effect throughout the world. The subsequent collapse of several American banks and falling international stock markets had severe implications for the world economy. For cartoonists, the challenge was to reflect rising fears centred on the stability of interest rates, superannuation funds and the credit squeeze with pathos and humour.

Political cartoon of a boardroom interior with a floor-to-ceiling window, which shows a modern city with a busy port. A dark storm cloud rolls in from the left horizon. A butler enters from the left, a man hides under the table in the centre, a woman to the right looks at him, a man further right looks glum and behind him a man in top hat, tails and striped trousers looks at the scene beyond the window. The entire cartoon has been rendered in a 'tone dropout' style – black and white with no shades of grey. - click to view larger image — 'Boardroom crisis' by Michael Fitzjames

Political cartoon of a basement containing plumbing-like machines and boxes of pipes. There are cobwebs on some of the machines. Wayne Swan stands in the image centre opening a door marked 'Freezer'. Above the door is written 'Finance Museum'. A large contraption in a glass dome is falling out from behind the door. Mr Swan is saying 'I've found the controls if we want to re-regulate the economy...'. Kevin Rudd stands to the image right, looking back at Mr Swan and holding a newspaper. Its headline reads 'The market does not correct itself'. - click to view larger image — 'Re-regulating the economy' by Bruce Petty

Political cartoon of a beach scene. The surf is rough and the sky filled with leaden storm clouds. A headland and rocky point are seen in the left middle distance. In the left foreground stands a man, facing the right side of the image, wearing a hooded raincoat. A dog sits at his left foot, also facing right, its eyes shut and ears blown back in the wind. The man is looking at a sign close by on two poles. The sign says 'Beach closed due to bad debt.'. - click to view larger image — 'Beach closed' by Rod Clement

Political cartoon of a suburban home, in a cottage style with front porch and dormer window on the roof. A man, woman and their daughter stand on the footpath in front of the home's welcome arch, which is decorated in flowers. To the left of them stands a man in a suit with a briefcase. He is saying to them 'Good news!... there'll be no interest rate rise because the United States is going down the gurgler and may take the rest of the world with them'. The family look dismayed. - click to view larger image — 'US going down the gurgler' by Ron Tandberg

Political cartoon featuring the left side neck and head of a brown bear. It has the Earth in its mouth. Two of the bear's left upper teeth can be seen puncturing the Earth's surface, drawing drops of blood. The bear has its left eye tightly shut and its ears are flattened toward its body. The bear's fur has been rendered in light and dark watercolour brushstrokes. The background is pale purple. At the bottom of the image in the white border is written 'World in jaws of bear market'. - click to view larger image — 'Bear market' by Sturt Krygsman

Political cartoon of a café interior. A bear wearing a shirt, white apron and chef's hat stands at a stove top. His left paw holds an egg over a frypan. Behind him a man and woman, nearing retirement, sit at the café counter. A newspaper sits on the counter; the headline says 'Market dive'. The bear is turning to the couple and saying over his right shoulder 'How do you like your retirement nest egg..? Scrambled, fried or poached?' The backs of two other café patrons can be seen roughly sketched in the background. - click to view larger image — 'How do you want your retirement nest egg?' by Mark Knight

Political cartoon of a modern home kitchen. A cow in an apron stands on her hind legs doing the washing up. A bull with horns and a nose ring sits on a chair. A male calf stands on his hind legs talking to the bull. The cow looks through a window at a neighbour bull that has two large bags with 'Manure for sale' on them. A 'For Sale' sign is in front of the neighbour's house. The bull in the seat says to his calf son 'Why are we selling?... because of the cliché glut, son... market rationalisation, property cycle, dead-cat (sic) bounce, correction, interest rate pain, bull market sell-off...' The calf son replies with 'Don't forget "securitisation", Dad!..' The cow at the sink looks out at the neighbour bull and says 'Gosh... looks like the Johnsons are in trouble...'. - click to view larger image — 'Cliché glut' by Dean Alston

Political cartoon of an office building towering into the sky. A sign on an upper floor says 'Stock Market'. Six men are jumping from the building. All wear suits except for one who is naked. One man sits on a ledge, one stands in an open window and another stands on the roof looking down. In the lower right corner the Easter Bunny is seen falling with a basket of Easter eggs. Other Easter eggs follow the bunny down. A man and a woman watch from a window. The man is saying 'It's more serious than we thought'. - click to view larger image — 'It's more serious than we thought' by Peter Nicholson

Political cartoon of a flat, featureless landscape. The sky contains blue-black storm clouds. A tornado funnel emerges from the upper centre clouds and snakes to the ground at the lower left. In the right foreground a bubble floats near the ground, as though it were attempting to get away from the tornado. - click to view larger image — 'A business cycle chasing a recovery' by John Spooner

Political cartoon of an American one dollar note, in landscape format. The image of George Washington in the middle of the note has had some chin stubble added to it in black ink. His mouth has been changed with the ink to look as though he's talking. A speech bubble is to the right of him; in it is written 'Brother, can you spare a dime?' A plain white coffee mug has been drawn in front of the note, to the right of George Washington. - click to view larger image — 'Brother, can you spare a dime?' by Reg Lynch

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