Very well argued and extremely cogent Jo.

What seems to missing in politics is original creative thinkers and exceedingly rare honesty.

And in his recent address making out the case for keeping him on, Tony Abbott seemed to put personal interest ahead of the party, the party ahead of the nation, and we mug electors/the national interest last!

It seems to be all about winning and personal outcomes, and then beating the other side of politics.

These guys are so immersed in the politic conflict/winning the debate and the inevitable circular thinking that goes with that, they have no time for anything else; and just keep repeating the same old same old/ can't see the forest for the trees!?

And you're completely on the money Jo.

Elections are lost by those currently most on the nose, not by superior tactics or superior thinking/outstanding nation building ideas. Now wouldn't the latter be a new and novel approach?

If only we could attract some creative thinkers not bound by some invisible force that seems to say to all pollies, thou shalt not think!

I mean if it actually happens now and again, the burning smell emanating from previously unused cerebral circuits soon puts an end to that nonsense?

Anyway, most of them are just rubber stamps, and what the hell use are rubber stamps that think or rock the (warm and comfortable) boat?

The South Australian coalition Pollies made one fatal error in their negotiations with Tony?

They didn't get it in (parliamentary props) writing!?

Several more one term parliaments might finally force the message home? i.e., lift your game people, or else!
Rhrosty.

The basic problem of today's times was summed up recently by the Prime Minister of Finland, when he was challenged about politicians not taking action to fix the EU's economic problems.

He said: "The problem is not that politicians do not know what to do; it is that they don't know how to get re-elected after they have done it."

The real problem in Australia today is that there needs to be a large reduction in the standard of living of ordinary people. Unfortunately that is something that no politician with any hope of being elected dares say. As a result we end up with humbug, deceit, broken promises and other twists and turns. I believe that the main game at the moment is to get the other side to get the blame for cuts that both sides realise need to be implemented. Readers between the lines will have noticed that when the recent cuts to the ABC were announced, there was no undertaking from the opposition to reverse them.

Why do voters believe that their living standard must always increase? When the standard rises too high, as evidenced by our huge and rising level of debt, it is obvious that it must be reduced.

The current technological revolution, in which low-skilled jobs are disappearing at a rapid rate, are eloquent evidence that our wages are too high.

All the indications are that the world is heading for a deflationary depression, which will be much worse than that in the thirties. This will crucify any person or country with an excessive amount of debt.

We have the option of cutting the living standard now, or face a far greater crisis on the Greek model in a few years.

Always remember, in all these occasions, that money is, and always will be, much more important than people.

The real problem in Australia today is that we have idiots who think there needs to be a large reduction in the standard of living of ordinary people. Productivity is improving and can be improved more, yet many think ordinary people should be denied the benefits of this!

We're nothing like Greece. Our debt is low by international standards and we have unlimited credit because we own the RBA. People who don't understand economics are told to panic by the Libs and the Murdoch Press, but in reality the government deficit is actually too small for the current economic conditions — we really need another stimulus.

It's not our wages that are too high, it's our dollar. And even that's not much too high.

'We're nothing like Greece. '

no but Labour/Greens very quickly put the structure in place for us to become so.

plerdsus

you summed it up very well.

runner, are you just taking the opportunity to insult Labor? Or do you actually believe what you write?

If the latter, what is the basis of that belief?

Its not the size of the debt as it stands (although that is horrifying in itself) its the trajectory of that debt.

GDP-DEBT ratio.
2007 10%
2009 11.7%
2011 20.5%
2013 27.07%

Thats all under labor. It has to be acknowledged that the GFC is in this period and had an effect on these numbers, equally it has to be acknowledged that the debt was run up at a time of increasing government receipts. The same cannot be said for the situation currently.

Under the coalition it has continued to climb to 28.6% in 2014, which we have to grant is a improvement of sorts, the rate of increase has slowed but by no means sufficiently.

Combine a series of debt bombs left by Rudd-Gillard-Rudd (Gonski, NDIS) and the declining terms of trade we have a big problem that calling on tribal connections of your political party of choice wont change.

We are not yet greece, but we cannot change the rules of math that will give us the same problems.

Goodies presented to us to buy our votes from the Howard years, followed with the wild spending of Rudd-Gillard-Rudd combined with the decline in our key exports make changing what we do a imperative