Aren't we so lucky! I may have to change my thoughts on the man and his management after reading this ... :lol: FEDERAL Treasurer Wayne Swan is about to become the second Australian MP in 29 years to be named Euromoney magazine's Finance Minister of the Year. The London-based finance publication is due to make the announcement in the early hours of tomorrow. But news of the award is already circulating in Australia after being revealed at Labor's caucus meeting in Canberra this morning. Paul Keating won the award in 1984 when he was Labor treasurer - and was later referred to in some quarters as the "world's greatest treasurer". Source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...minister-of-year/story-fn59niix-1226142066426
LMFAO when I heard that on the news, what a tragic pool of treasurers other countries in the world must have.
I know this is a wildly controversial suggestion but is it possible that if you think Wayne Swan is a bad treasurer you're...wrong? I know, I know, the possibility that you're wrong about something is completely ridiculous. Silly of me to imply it. Carry on.
and if Swan was a 'man' he would present the award to Costello, with grace. Joe Hockey "Mr Swan has racked up $154 billion of deficits, he's yet to deliver a budget surplus and has turned $45 billion in the bank into a $110-billion-dollar credit card bill," he said in the statement. Read more: http://www.news.com.au/national/way...ar/story-e6frfkvr-1226142199651#ixzz1YXcUmGmv
Its the Steven Bradbury award.... everyone else falls over at the finish line, last man standing wins
ha ha, nice comment It was the possibility of using the future fund established by Costello with the 'We'll put it back later' attitude that did it for me. As far as i am aware - and i'm not an expert by any means, all they have done is spend, spend, spend. The discussion on the carbon tax is the only inkling of a grand plan that i've read about. Okay i'll admit that i do tend to switch off when the current leaders of both sides and the treasurer are commenting. Something i didn't do with Costello as i thought he had something useful to say - like when he warned that there was a financial hurricane coming and it was time to prepare for it. It was unfortunate for Costello that he was treasurer during the good times. Swan is being made to look good by the calamity occurring in the rest of the world and Australia's favourable financial and policy positioning that has been established for some time.
And EuroMoney Magazine's award for Excellence went to the firm.... drum roll.... "Lehman Brothers"... only a few years ago. hiaay faiive!
I got a suggestion, why don't we export Wayne Swan to the E.U. he could be our secret export weapon his guidance would most certainly ensure Australian companies would be on the ground floor in the ensuing fire sale kind regards non recourse
Well, there are a lot of "if"s about all of it. If Costello had been treasurer during the GFC, who's to say he'd have handled it well? He handled the preceding boom reasonably well, but would he have handled the crises with the same degree of success? I have a feeling he would have stuck to the conservative "let the market figure it out" position and we would have suffered a lot more than we did (and that "feeling" is largely based on the statement's he's made about the world economy saying "let the market figure it out"). Likewise if Swan had been in Costello's position at the time, would we have had the capacity to deal with the GFC without the surplus and the financial reforms that were introduced by the Coalition? Dunno. Maybe. Probably not though. Personally, I think Swan happened to be the right guy in the right place at the right time. I also think he doesn't has the same degree of vision that Keating had so while he might have performed well in a crisis, he's still not as great as people who have come before him.
Sorry I can't copy the article to repost for you. Here is an interesting comment re the domestic situation. Not sure about the comment. Interesting take that "Australia is a lucky country, run by second-rate people who share it's luck". http://www.euromoney.com/Article/28...011-Swan-confounds-his-domestic-sceptics.html Some hilarious comments from Keating here: http://www.euromoney.com/Article/28...ward-became-an-Aussie-political-football.html
Unfortunately I think that this can apply to the current crop of politicians across all parties. That said, while someone has to do it i certainly would not be interested in putting my hand up for the role and therefore, surely that means that i should not whinge at someone else having a go?
the market will figure it out without fail, it needs no guidance or manipulation, its only a matter of time, you see the market is apolitical.
Not really, too many tax cuts overheating the economy and pushing interest rates up just as the GFC was getting under way. If those tax cuts had been held back most likely all the government would of had to do was start giving tax cuts during the GFC and let the market sort it out.
That means the market doesn't care if people become unemployed and live on the street. If you're no longer necessary to your employer and you don't have any money to be a consumer, the market doesn't care what happens to you. Not saying being apolitical is a bad thing (and sometimes its a very good thing), but it's worth remembering what it actually means in practical terms.
