Please don't abuse Arjay. The general thrust of his comments are okay. Anyone can make a mistake.

I thought the Governor General should have sacked the Gillard government as soon as it reneged on its promise that there would be no Carbon Tax.

I thought the same regarding the Governor of Queensland, when the Bligh government broke its promise not to sell our state's assets.

Any government which reneges on promises which can have an enormous financial impact on the community should be sacked forthwith and a fresh election called. That way the electorate would also avoid a situation involving a landslide victory at the following election, leaving almost no one in opposition.

If a Prime Minister or Premier engages in televised bribery e.g. of the 3 federal Independents, I think he/she should be charged with a criminal offence.

What this country sorely needs is a a Pro-Australian government, something that has been sadly lacking ever since Gough Whitlam signed the Lima Declaration in 1975.

Nothing that happens in the political arena would surprise me any more.

I have never thought of Gough Whitlam as "innocent" in relation to anything. I thought he was the most arrogant man to ever walk the planet, and his main strength lay in gambling away the nation's assets.

When he was sacked by the GG, no doubt the Global Umpire decided it was time to blow the whistle for the ball to be passed from Left to Right again. The reasoning behind this is unclear.

Decades ago, the Democratic Labor Party were right in their assessment that the ALP were communists (and still are). I'm sure they plan to pass power to the Greens, who currently seem to be fooling the people of South Australia into believing they are pro-Australian farmers. When I last looked, they were gaining 80% acceptance in the poll at this link:

http://sj.farmonline.com.au/news/state/agribusiness-and-general/political/we-have-common-ground-greens-tell-sa-farmers/2550531.aspx

Every day they are stealing even more of the Pro-Australian parties' policies (DLP and Katter's Australian Party), in the hope of pipping them at the post.

"Anyone can make a mistake." That is, of course true, Lorikeet… But not everyone is capable of turning such 'making' into a modern art form.

'Modern art' in the sense that you have to keep looking at it – stunned that it is meant to be taken seriously.

Of course any disdain would be ameliorated by any one of three things:

Firstly, limiting the error to a single mistake; secondly, being prudent and detailed in your fact checking in future, which includes getting some 'facts' in the first place; and thirdly, recognising, acknowledging and apologising for your mistakes when they are brought to your attention before incorporating the corrections into a more enlightened point of view.

Such a mistake could be excused in total if all three were applied.

Perversely, the previous paragraphs apply not just to Arjay, but to the themes of GrahamY's article, and probably to every government that has ever existed since the dawn of civilisation.

At times, all you can do is remind yourself that "Répéter Fantastique Imaginé un Danger"…

This article is a load of voodoo.
the "gauging" from the wealthy sector is gauging indeed; a very poor show that would be closed down if it was a mine.
"Rather than a solid exercise in economic management..."
As if economic management was anything more than spin! Economic management amounts to not spewing your guts up on a nauseating ride.
I love this though:
"there should be a substantial surplus at this stage of the cycle".
What cycle? And why should there be?
And what does this mean:
"[debt] is used judiciously to smooth the business cycle".
pseudo-scientific crap. If it's all just clockwork, as economists (and their hangers on) pretend why should we "be piling up plunder in case it is needed for later"? Don't they know?
Surely good management answers any contingency?
"the situation where expenditure exceeds the ability of taxpayers to pay for it".
Euphemistic crap; raise taxes--better still, make the wealthy pay judicious taxes!
"good at promise, but lousy at delivery".
This is the game all governments are obliged to play in an unsustainable system; the promise and the delivery are incommensurable. The easy option for both sides is privatisation.
In any case, since we know the author is completely one-sided, we can hardly read the article as an objective critique.

Both sides of the parliament have to duck and weave all over the place, in failed attempts to disguise the fact that all of the western nations have embarked on a race to the bottom - a decision that was made at the end of World War II, to keep us safe from the teeming billions.

I'm not a Liberal supporter, but I think Graham's article presented a fair description of the status quo.

pericles yopu need to resaerch better than just reading the newspaper articles. http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/fact-sheets/fs239.aspx
The agreement that Jim Cairns and Rex Connor had with Kemlani was 2.5% commission on $2 billion.Kemlani was unable to secure the loans.I see no evidence of the $4 billion costing $18 billion unless they had no intention of paying any interest.So it is pure conjecture on the media's behalf and yours to say you knew all the details since the loans never even got to the negotiation stage let alone being secured by Kemlani.

Their real crime was going outside conventional sources of loans that excluded Western Bankers.They were amateurs true but they defied the establishment which most of our pollies today shamelessly grovel to.

Well intended fools but today we have destructive Labor morons who are hell bent on enslaving us with a CO2 tax which will do nothing for the environment and destroy our economy.