Suprise Suprise

Who of you really thought Swan could manage a budget?

THE Government today will trim prized tax concessions for business and a teacher payment-for-merit scheme as it reveals a $20 billion slump in tax revenue.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/business/way...et/story-e6frfm1i-1226208662017#ixzz1f2f7RmF7

 

Well, if you credit Wayne Swan with having control over the global financial system then yeah, I guess he messed up.

 

haha good retort big a.d but how come in 2007 we needed spending increases however ironically now we need spending cuts

 

Because he's an idiot who promised to return the budget to surplus in 2012-13

What I'm getting at is there is only so much the Treasurer of the day (whoever that is) can do when there are so many external factors affecting the local economy. Europe turning suicidal is one of them, as was the U.S. seriously talking about not paying their bills a few months ago.

 

The Labor party couldn't manage a cake stall at a school fete. By the end of the day 1/3 of the cakes would have been spent on prostitutes and travel, and the people running the stall would have spent the second half of the day on strike.

 

My opinion is that Labor and the left just don't understand economics. Sure, conveniently they can blame the North Atlantic Financial Crisis of '08, and that's fair enough. But there was also an Asian Financial Crisis in '97, a hell of a lot closer to home, and I didn't hear Peter Costello whinging and whining and carrying on about it.

The undeniable conclusion I've come to is that strong economies require small government, low taxes, and sound money. Labor just doesn't get it, they just don't get that, like a butterfly flapping its wings in new york causes a tidal wave in tokyo, so to do minor changes to government policy cause enormous effects on the economy.

So we see the re-regulation of the IR Laws after 2007 has caused a MASSIVE decline in Australia's productivity. We see that the government's "stimulus" spend-a-thon, which seemed justified at the time, has now put the budget into structural deficit. And now its getting worse with the new mining tax meant to be paying for a raft of new entitlements, yet if the price of commodities declines even slightly, all the extra government income is eroded away, yet the liability for all the new entitlements remains.

Its ludicrous, they're out of control. And Swan's swaggering around genuinely deluded in the belief that he's 'the world's greatest treasurer', its a fvcking farce. Its become manifestly apparent to EVERY other country in the world that Carbon Taxes/ETS' are not the way to go anymore, yet here we are in Australia ponying up to carry a Carbon Tax 400 times bigger per capita than even the failed EU one. Its insane.

And its people like Big A.D. who are to blame for this, by continually apologising and defending for this government. They would have fallen already if EVERYBODY got behind the Opposition, but its the die-hards like Big A.D who are ruining it for everybody.

 

Well, now is probably a good time for me to offer my unreserved apology for not "getting behind" a party being led by a narcissistic whack-job with no actual policy agenda.

I know, I know. Tony Abbott may not have any remotely credible economic policy, he may not be able to fund many of the promises he makes to the electorate, business leaders may continue speaking publicly about how how incredibly damaging his style of attack politics are for Australia's sovereign risk rating, but dammit he's not Julia Gillard and that should be enough to have him voted in by a landslide to the applause of the bogan public who actually believes his constant sloganeering.

And yet...

 

Abbott leads a party that has a sound economic management record. Gillard leads a party that has an extremely poor economic management record. Look at the party, not the leader. Both of them are temporary. Labor are economic amateurs with little experience of being in government. Everything they touch, from IR laws to pink batts turns to s%*t.

Enough said.

 

Both are just different side of the same crap coin.

You choose your poison, either one still kills you.

 

They know exactly what there doing, there not stupid, theyve been told what todo and they are obeying their masters orders. sure there are many with good intention who dont have a clue about economics, but the ones in key positions know exactly whats going on

 

I am surprised everyone hasn't realised that both parties have it wrong.

Too short a space here for my manifesto but surfice to say we can do better as a nation.

 

I think that we are seriously being short changed by politics on all sides at the moment. There is not one credible party who can come up with sound policies to keep us out of debt. Ohh where has Costello gone?

 

We need a Nigel Farage here, someone who's actually capable of opposing. I can't remember seeing such a bunch of misfits in government as today, and that goes for both sides. Add the fact that there are a few fringe elements who basically hold the balance of power and this is what happens. It's just such a waste.

 

John Howard once said that interest rates will always be higher under a Labor government than a Liberal government..

Now don't tell me that any supporters of both political parties control the interest rates in Australia?

Both parties claim to leave it up to the Reserve Bank which is supposed to be acting in the best interest of all Australians.

If China, the USA and Europe fall into a depression, thats when you will see the drastic cuts that will bring many of us to our knees.

Its a global economy today..Tony an Julia go so well on the international stage, like a teenager applying for their first job.

At least Kevin and Malcolm can conduct themselves with dignity and on an equal footing when they meet the overseas politicians.

I am a political atheist and I don't think it will make any difference WTSHTF as Who ever is in power will feel the power of the sheeple come election time.

I find it amusing that some posters push the wheelbarrow of Party A or B.

To me none of them show any foresight but only play the issues which they feel they have the upper hand. But then again thats politics isn't it.

Regards Errol 43

 

If only we could.

Abbott is not a conservative in the traditional sense of the word. Conservative policies I can respect. Some of them are very sensible, given the right circumstances. Conservative philosophy dictates prescribed courses of action in a vast number of different scenarios and a real conservative would act appropriately.

The closest political philosophy you could reasonably ascribe to Abbott is "neo-conservative" and even then he doesn't rate compared to real neo-cons with actual agendas.

Can anybody list ten of Abbott's policies that don't involve undoing something the Labor government did recently? Just ten actual, real policies involving what he claims he'd do as Prime Minister, rather than what he wouldn't do? Bonus points if you can list ten that haven't been widely discredited by legitimate, independent sources. (Don't bother trying to make a list because we'd only end up arguing about the credibility of who's in favour or not in favour of any of the policies and my point is that he's got nothing that everybody genuinely agrees is a good idea).

And before anyone jumps on the "Big A.D. is a Gillard-worshiping, Fabian-loving communist traitor" bandwagon, I don't think Gillard or anyone one the Labor front bench rates very highly at all. The quality of politicians in this country is absolutely pathetic and it's ultimately our fault for not demanding better representation in Parliament. To be honest, I'm not that fussed which party holds government so long as it isn't full of raving lunatics. Labor is currently ahead in my books, but only because they're too feeble to be raving anythings.

Credit where it's due: Wayne Swan is a genius compared to his international counter-parts (which, at the moment, is all that really matters), but a terrible excuse for a Treasurer compared to those who have held the office before him.

 

I don't think Julia Gillard is terrible, I think she's a bit out of her depth, but she's doing the best that could be expected of her under the circumstances. Look I don't blame her, but its just her ideology is wrong. Just like Kevin Rudd, the guy's a fantastic diplomat, and he has got real clout on the international stage, I actually kind of like the nerdy little guy, but when it comes to economics, he's just wrong.

Likewise, Tony Abbott is wrong on economics in many ways, but he's less wrong than Labor. And the Libs are less wrong that Labor in general. I don't buy this media spin that Tony Abbott is a whackjob loon. He's a bit wierd, sure, but I think of him as the Iron Monk, not the Mad Monk. Honestly, he's really not that bad. He's made mistakes, but he seems pretty genuine. I used to support Malcolm Turnbull, but after learning all about the nefarious ways and dark powers of Goldman Sachs, I don't really want the Australian Prime Minister to be Goldman Sachs' number 1 man in Australia.

Joe Hockey impresses me with his committment to the laissez-faire ideals of small goverment and low taxation, but he's a bit of a bumbling fool, although far less foolish and bumbling than Wayne Swan if you ask me. You can't expect politicians to be perfect, especially considering all the crap they get given anyway no matter what. But this hatred of Abbott and villification of the Opposition leader is over the top if you ask me.

It seems to me that his only crime is to be a white male and a conservative catholic. The left hates men, they're all feminists. And they hate catholics because they all support abortion and gay marriage and all that stuff that the church opposes. So they absolutely hate Tony Abbott, but in reality Tony Abbott has done nothing really major to earn such ire. He is hated because of what he is, not what he's done.

 

I agree with this to an extent. But to disagree with you slightly, I would say Abbott is most accurately described as an old-school DLP-style man, rather than a US-style neo-con. I also don't care about whether or not Abbott has too many policies. In my opinion, all that matters is that the government "does no harm", like the hippocratic oath. If they didn't do anything, well at least they're not growing the size of government, and in my opinion that would be a good thing.

 

I just wish that they would all have to take down their campaign posters from the various trees and light poles once their election has finished. It is just litter. I still see an unsuccessful candidate's poster in the Upper Hunter.

 

And likewise, I agree with you to an extent: Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan are out of the depth, but (a) they're trying, and (b) they're coping, even if it's just barely and they're hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Given the international situation, they're doing quite well.

That said, just standing back and seeing what happens isn't what something I consider to be an appropriate response to what's going on in the world. The office of Prime Minister isn't meant to be that of a mere observer. Anybody here could be the PM and not do anything. The requirements for being able to do nothing are pretty low (not to insult anyone here who is just generally lazy).

Seems like it's just a case of who you think is the lesser of two evils.

Vote for Us: We're a bit less crap than the other lot.

Awesome