he would have handled it the right way - by increasing peoples' purchasing power through TAX CUTS (instead of handouts borrowed from the future). we would not be in the massive debt pit we now find ourselves in - which you seem to think is such a wonderful outcome
thats how it should work, you cant have permanent growth and prosperity, we need time to cleanse every now and then, your favourite man once said, "its the recession we had to have" even he knew it, maybe he wasnt a socialist after all :lol:
I suspect that the judges for the award basically said to each other: Australia isn't bankrupt. Therefore the Australian treasurer must be the best treasurer in the world. Lets give him the prize. What's his name, anyway? Where are the donuts?
Ah Mr Costello should win by a mile..Wait a sec...Didn't he sell all our gold! Yes I'll have to downgrade you to a good treasurer. Regards Errol43
yes - agreed that that was not his smartest moment... but he's still light years ahead of that Keynsian moron Swan!
So Mr Costello wins the blue ribbon..Now who comes 2nd?. Would it be MR Keating or Mr Howard? Most of the people under 35 know about Mr Keating as treasurer but what about Mr Howard as treasurer.. When Mr Howard was treasurer in the coalition government 1976 to 1982, did he tell the full story about the financial situation at the election when the coalition was defeated..He said we were in the red to a tune of $1billion, Mr Hawke gets elected and finds that the real figure is $9.1 Billion. Now give your 2nd preference Mr Howard or Mr Keating! Regards Errol43 The are all the same I keep telling you!
So basically you're saying Costello's solution to the GFC would have been to do exactly the same as what he did during the boom before the GFC. A cunning plan to be sure, but I see one or two small flaws.
Of course they're wrong. You're all wrong. He IS the greatest finance minister on the planet bar none, it's a published fact. And before he was elected to parliament he was a TAFE teacher. Stands to reason doesn't it, TAFE teacher -> Member of Parliament -> Greatest Treasurer of the World . . . It's incredible how far you can go without actually having to create any original wealth in one's life, with just slipstreaming the public purse. He's fought tooth and toe-nail to get that job and deserves all the accolades thrown his way. Give the guy a break. After all, didn't he give you all some cash a few years ago. . . and give all those grannys set top boxes ... and all those single mother free TVs ... pure genius on a global scale. And I don't want to hear any complaints about a two speed economy or "if it wasn't for China" comments either. You should all be bloody thankful to have such a pre-eminent intelligence managing the economy. Remember, it could always be worse. He could always re-establish a telecommunications monopoly, create a carbon tax, introduce a super-profit tax and tap your super funds.
Well basically yes, except he would have lowered tax rates FURTHER... Government meddling is what's causing the GFC to last much much longer and making it far far worse than it would otherwise have been had the markets been given the chance to cleanse the system of bad investments. Not a concept i expect a collectivist to comprehend
You have to hand it to BigAD he certainly puts his opinion out there,without fear! Disagree most times with him agree sometimes but you got my respect~Your no May flower or fence sitter REDBACK
Whether Wayne Swan is a good treasurer is almoat irrelevant as far as being named finance minister of the year goes. Look at the other contenders this year? Maybe he is just the least bad of a horrid bunch right now.
So when the economy is doing well, the government should cut taxes and when the economy is doing badly, the government should cut taxes? See, the problem with this that I alluded to earlier is that after a while, there aren't any more taxes left to cut (which is sort of what the United States is discovering at the moment). Australia didn't need a tax cut anyway. Australia needed a massive amount of money pumped directly into the economy in the space of a few months, right before Christmas when poor trading conditions would have hammered confidence into the ground. And no, you don't do that for fun - you do it because its an emergency and you need to do it.
