Economy roaring after Keating ??? WTF $96 billion in debt is the real picture, A decade to pay it off, and you might want to go look at the state govt's themselves and what they did with their windfalls as well. Ministerial responsibility ? Slipper as the speaker ? Wedge politics ? Australia day riot instigated by who ? , Gun seizure I will pay , Boat people ??? Give me a FKN break. As far as debt and dirty politics goes Rudd/Gillard shit all over everyone, as the old school Labor polly Richardson put it "whatever it takes". Howard will go down in history as one of the Best Prime ministers this country has ever seen, at least he had the balls to take things to an election. Unlike the snake of a person who lies non stop to install a Fabian society in Australia and sell's the country out at every chance.
and Keating on Keating Anyone got a list of reforms, works and changes that Howard wrought - other than the GST and the Gun buy-back - oh and joining the 'coalition of the willing' with George and Tony BTW The Left hates Hawke and Keating. I'd have thought that would win points in this discussion: http://www.solidarity.net.au/50/labors-accord-how-hawke-and-keating-began-a-neo-liberal-revolution/ and if anyone can be bothered: . http://www.themonthly.com.au/lessons-leadership-and-paul-keating-book-paul-george-megalogenis-4158 or in the words of Keating himself speaking on politicians [Most politicians have] brains like sparrows' nests - all shit and sticks. last bit (promise!) http://www.themonthly.com.au/lessons-leadership-and-paul-keating-book-paul-george-megalogenis-4158 "and that's all I have to say about that".
This is a common misconception I'm finding. The first, largest, most deadly Bali Bombing was in 2002. One year before the Iraq War even began, I'd like to point out. I have to clarify this, it grates me.
Great posts JulieW I'm not a Labor supporter, but I hate to see Howard put on a pedestal. Everyone repeat after me: "correlation does not equal causation"
Maybe if you had anything more than Tony Jones and Megologenis to offer so as to back up the original post or to my reply but you don't and you didn't. Just more pap from the left as an empty reply really. Take a look at the books, Surplas v Debt, Labor V Liberal, Squeak all you like about the feds at the time but be honest about the states as well. Money in the bank spending as opposed to outright waste and debt spending when it wasn't needed nor justified. Keating would have to be one of the nastiest M/F's who has ever been given the vote in our lifetime. The man is a pig who still disdains his own voting base. Do you forget his little pig farming enterprise ?
Given a choice of Howard running the government into a surplus or the ACTU sock puppets and their constant stink of corruption that we have now running us into bottomless debt I prefer Howard. At the moment we have the Marx bros of Labor and the Greens And the 3 stooges or the independents fighting over the controls of an aeroplane that none of them know how to fly.
"In 1996 the Liberal opposition was in no doubt that the current account deficit was Labor's fault. Part of its campaign was to drive a "debt truck" around with big billboards highlighting that Australia owed $193 billion. By the time of Howard's defeat in 2007 that figure had grown to $544 billion." This 'debt' is NOT government debt in the form of OZ Treasury Bonds. It is money borrowed by banks and mining companies etc etc etc over the years to finance bank loans and mine development, factories, etc. It is NOT a liability on the Australian people to be serviced and paid back by them/us. It is a liability on the banks and mining companies etc, their shareholders in fact! In 1996 as stated here, the OZ$96 Billion was slowly at first stopped, and then rolled back to a NET debt situation of NIL by the end of 1996. That debt has now been exploded out to near OZ$300 Billion again. OC
"By the time Labor left office in 1996 the government had virtually abolished tariffs and had ceded its control over interest rates to an "independent" Reserve Bank and the dollar and wages to markets. This was the biggest transformation of the Australian economy since the end of the Second World War, a neo-liberal market revolution." Agree about the tariffs, but that closed factories all over Australia. The RBA has ALWAYS been 'independent' in that it is charged with overseeing employment and inflation, (and the OZ Banks) and its decisions on Interest rates are made by the Board, which is appointed by the government, but the Government has not and will not reverse such decisions. The RBA is NOT, repeat NOT, 'owned' by anyone but the Government. OC
Since moving Bob Carr into her cabinet was such a success last year perhaps Gillard should move more ex NSW Labor politicians into Canberra to help her out. Eddie Obeid and Eric Roozendaal would be perfect candidates, they are archetypal Labor people and they seem to be able to "Get Things Done". They would fit in perfectly and enhance the integrity and trust factor of this government.
" Howard wasted the future fund and a variety of other initiatives buying votes with middle class welfare" Sorry, but the Future Fund is still there, untouched and growing year by year with its interest and dividend income, which i am CERTAIN the politburo has its eyes on. The FF now has about OZ$90 Billion in it. I disagree strongly with its investment portfolio, and believe that it is in great danger in any SHTF situation. FAR too much money in (US?) Treasury Bonds and the stock market, but those decisions are not mine. http://www.futurefund.gov.au/ OC
Jonesy, Aren't most ALP pollies in gaol for child molestation, or fraud/theft etc etc etc etc etc etc.? OC
Lovey80 summed it up - while Howard did lots of bad things (like any politician) the overall direction was significantly better than others. Chalk and cheese. Yes, I would have rathered they did lots of other things (mostly cut many govt interventions even more - especially removing the reserve bank etc) but as we've discussed recently, a lot of cuts/changes will take time if you want a proper transition.
The socialists cannot ever get their head around the fact that you cannot spend the same dollar twice! You cannot divert it to getting rid of debt, thus saving interest, and spending it on building a new freeway. JWH chose the prudent thing and the gullible bogans blame him for the original problem. Virtually every thing komrade bob and komrade paul ever did for Australia, they did with BORROWED MONEY! OC
very true. the right always ignore how much restructuring happened under Labor. The heavy lifting for the strength of the australian economy was done under hawke and keating. howard couldn't get anything done while treasurer even though he new it needed doing. put in the too hard basket.
Every one says "oh Howard and Costello just rode the wave", but have they ever tried to surf before? Surfing requires skill and technique and balance and ability. Surfing's not easy, its not just a matter of paddling out there and being lucky, you actually have to know how to catch waves. Now, yes, Keating was a tremendous Treasurer, and made a lot of good reforms, but he lost the plot in his last term as PM from '93 to '96 and started pandering to the social left too much and squibbed on his duty to continue the good reforms he had led in the 80's. But then Howard and Costello came in and set about slashing the Government budget with vigour. Costello slashed something like 5% of Government spending in his first budget, and immediately set about delivering surplus after surplus and income tax cuts for 7 years in a row. GST tax reform was an epic win, but you know a lot of good governance is just setting up a business-friendly environment to encourage prosperity, which is something that Howard's government certainly did, but the current Labor government certainly has not, in fact the opposite. Julie W, I implore you personally to vote against the Labor government in the election this year, because they have been incompetent and deserve to be punished. Think of all Keating's good tax reform, and Costello's GST tax reform and income tax cuts/simplification, and now contrast with the Swan's record: a Mining tax which doesn't raise a cent in revenue but does chase off billions of dollars of mining investment to Africa, a Carbon tax which doesn't reduce C02 emissions but has caused the manufacturing sector to shrink every single month since its implementation, and will see tens of billions of Aussie dollars shipped off overseas to "Carbon Cowboy" fraudsters in China and India each year from 2015 onwards, honestly, you cannot support this. You cannot abide this. You must punish them in the only way which is possible under our current system: by voting for the Liberal opposition candidate in the election. It amazes me when people criticise the Howard government as being the highest taxing government or the highest spending government or whatever, because that should actually be a compliment. Somehow Costello figured out a way to hack the Laffer curve and collect more tax more efficiently whilst enormously growing National and personal prosperity. I tend to suspect the Laffer curve is a hell of a lot more to the left side of the chart than all Statists realise. But if you flatten the income tax system, cut corporate tax, and move to a Consumption tax, you can sort of "hack" the Laffer curve to deliver more government revenue (to be spent) than you could otherwise get away with by following more "progressive taxation" models. Therefore, the Howard government should be congratulated, and the current government condemned, and voted out of office resoundingly at the next election for being the abject failures that they are.
Here is a nice article demonstrating how the article in the OP is faulty reporting: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2013/01/11/howard-was-a-big-spender-who-knew/
:lol: Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. Ignoring a bucket load of simple common sense by focussing on getting the math to "work".
