Cone on Alan, you've been listening to the ABC again, haven't you.

579

If you mean Tony will face a hostile Senate. That may well be the case. But in the lower house he's already overcome the deficit.

If the actual polling is the same as the last election then he'll have replacements for Slipper, Windsor and Oakshott, who will be automatically elected.

He'll have a majority of two before the polls are counted.

Then watch what the threat of double dissolution does to the Greens and any other Senator who attempts to defy the will of the electors.

Alan Austin,

no you obviously don't live here.

You are not experiencing the increasing cost of living, the skyrocketing price of fuel, the increasing homelessness, the underemployment, a two or three speed economy, you are not seeing billions being wasted on an technological dinosaur infrustructure monopoly project that is seeing an uptake of less than 9%(well below predictions), our soaring public debts (Both State and Federal) an absolutely incompetent bunch of ineffective political operatives who make up our Cabinet and a lying PM. The last two seem to lurch from crisis to crisis and have an ongoing leadership quarrel.

'“We have lost clothing, footwear, solar-panel and steel manufacture jobs ..."' (along with telecommunications, journalism, car manufacture and ancillery industry, banking, food production and distribution)

'But you have gained jobs in education, mining, technology, tourism and elsewhere ...'

Our education industry is seeing falling numbers of students from India and China. Tourism is in a terrible decline. Technology ... really where? Do these jobs requires a Uni education?

Mining ... yes it's part of the economy that is accelerating until it stalls because of labor market rigidity, the new carbon tax and new mining taxes.

But you seem to know all and dare to tell us how better off we are because our lying and distracted government has produced figures that blinkered people like you believe.

Hello Hasbeen,

Yes, I have. Sadly ABC News is now just as unreliable as the other mainstream outlets. But still good for sports results and its fluffy frissons on the Canberra buzz.

Regrettably no established Australian newsroom provides accurate data any more. (Perhaps you read this from last July: http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=27274)

Fortunately you have some promising emerging websites. And we can all access independent academics, the Auditor-General’s reports, plus Treasury, the Reserve Bank, the IMF, the World Bank, the CIA and UN agencies.

Through these and newspapers here in Europe it actually is possible to stay reasonably clued up.

Plus Australia has the Murdoch media which is helpful. You can almost always be confident that when a Murdoch opinion writer makes a statement about politics, economics or social issues, the precise opposite is the truth.

Cheers, Hasbeen.

Hello Imajulianutter. You sound distraught.

You shouldn’t be. All those things you list are measurable. Yes, everyone in every country at any point in time would like to have lower costs, taxes, interest rates and debt, and higher salaries and net wealth. Everyone wants to be better off than they are. Always.

But the whole world is in a major economic crisis, Im. (May I call you Im?) Every capitalist democracy is experiencing huge dislocation. All except Australia, that is, which is experiencing only minor challenges relative to the rest.

Australia’s economy underwent huge structural reform from 1983 to 1993. By 1996 it was the fifth best-managed economy in the western world. This is gauged by growth, income levels, inflation, jobs, interest rates, debt, deficits, social services, superannuation, industrial unrest and poverty. These are all quantifiable, Im, and can be found wherever you are in the world.

The Aussie economy slipped back to about ninth during the fairly lazy Howard years, despite the tremendous structural resilience Howard inherited. Not much innovation and several costly blunders.

But during the crisis of 2008-09 it zoomed to number one – with whoever is second a long way behind.

So you can cheer up, Im. Google ‘Australia Nobel Prize Economist Stiglitz’. And try to get out more. Cheers.

Allan,

http://treasury.gov.au/documents/1496/PDF/01_Debt.pdf

Since the 80s labor has left power with net debt far higher than when it gained power. The coalition took a net debt left by Keating of nearly 20% and took it to -3%. KRudd and Juliar took it from -3% to today at nearly 8% in 4 years, in spite of the largest revenue from mining in history (more than double that under Howard)

While some stimulus was necessary and a coalition would have incurred some debt, it would have been far less, and better spent.

Your comment "“overpriced school halls” Not according to independent economists and the Auditor-General" is false, as the AG was not asked to comment on the efficacy of the money spent. An independent audit showed buildings built by Gillard cost twice as much as those handled directly by the private schools.

Taxes under Howard were lower than under Keating and Hawke, and were continually reduced. Rudd implemented the cuts proposed by Howard, and since then Labor has introduced more taxes.

Unemployment under Howard dropped to about 4%, and now stands at 5.2% in spite of the largest mining expansion in history.

The Coalition's record on economics is far better than that of Labor's.

Hi Mr Minister,

This is excellent. Good research. For a while I thought you got your analysis from Piers Akerman.

Now for a bit more.

Taxes. Yes, Labor introduced new ones, but reduced them overall. Google total tax as percentage of GDP over time.

Unemployment. Yes, we must look at percentages over time. Then compare Australia with the rest of the capitalist world. This is a catastrophic crisis. It has affected jobs everywhere, including Downunder. But far less than elsewhere.

School halls. The spending was not to provide buildings for schoolkids, was it? It was for economic stimulus in city and country regions that desperately needed it. The more the better. The first stimulus just tipped money into the street, remember? It worked.

Inflation. John Howard as treasurer never got inflation below 9%. Keating reduced it to below 4.6% where it has stayed ever since.

Debt. Ever bought a house, Mr M? If so, you will know debt can be good. Same with nations - highly strategic when interest rates are low, when cost-effective infrastructure for the long term can be built, when that construction grows the economy, and where future repayments are easily manageable by the beneficiaries.

“For an American, there is a certain amusement in Australian worries about the deficit and debt: their deficit as a percentage of GDP is less than half that of the US; their gross national debt is less than a third.” – Nobel Prize winner, Joseph Stiglitz.

Remember, Mr M, it was after Labor incurred your current modest debt Australia gained its triple A credit rating from all three international agencies – something the Conservatives never achieved.

You may like to canvas views among economists as to which past structural reforms fireproofed the Australian economy. Who implemented those?

And look at the waste in the late 90s such as the 4.5 billion dollars blown gambling on currency fluctuations. Or the sale of most of Australia’s gold when the smart nations were buying.

So, no, Mr M. There is no evidence that the Coalition handles the economy better than Labor, is there?

The economy is Tony's greatest non event. It's always up to Labor to do the infrastructure in this country. The SM doesn't see beyond the liberal, stance. That 20 billion he talks about, would end up in the mega rich's pocket.