LEGO,

Stephen Koukoulas just tweeted:

"MYEFO will likely confirm budget deficits will be more than double those left to it by Labor and outlined in PEFO."

So you are saying that the Abbott Govt is attempting to tackle the deficit?

Why then are they going hell for leather "increasing" it over and above maturities of debt (bonds and T-Notes).

(Eg, bestowing $9 billion on the RBA which didn't need, want or ask for it.....The PPL...to name only two)

"..... and who's financial policy it was to spend money faster than it could think up new taxes to fund it's spending, and with the examples of Greece, Spain and Cyprus showing the way to socialist insolvency...."

Check out where Greece and Spain are on the graph:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/linkableblob/3727694/data/possum-graph-8-government-debt-as-gdp-data.jpg

You're talking out of your hat.

Sorry Poirot, I don't click on links. I did it once before and got the worst virus in my computer that I had ever had, so bad that I ended up buying a new computer.

The electorate does not agree with you that Labor is fiscally responsible and the Libs are not. That is one reason why they chucked Labor out. Older people have seen the cycle before. Liberals balance the budget and Labor gets in an spends us into dept. Add infinitum. One pro ALP journo submitted articles on OLO claiming that the economy was doing great under Labor and Spindoc, SPQR and Shockie ate him for breakfast.

Now to Saddam. You did not clarify what point you were trying to make but I figure you are implying that the yanks are reprehensible for sometimes helping Saddam.

The entire world has an interest in the continuing flow of the oil trade out of the Persian Gulf. You do too, unless you are dreaming of becoming an Amish. That these oil rich countries are populated by religious fanatics and psychopathic despots who hate our guts does not detract from that. These people were only a few generations ago sheep stealers, camel thieves and pirates who admired Hitler and tried to aid him in beating us in WW2. About he only good thing you can say about them is their custom of hating each other more than they hate us. We need their oil and they want our money.

Trying to understand their Byzantine tribal politics and stop them fighting each other requires a delicate balancing act on the part of the great powers like the USA. It means that sometimes you support one side until it gets too dangerous and then you support the other. I know that such a concept is difficult for a trendy lefty like yourself to understand, since people like yourself can only think in absolutes

LEGO,

"....Trying to understand their Byzantine tribal politics and stop them fighting each other requires a delicate balancing act on the part of the great powers like the USA. It means that sometimes you support one side until it gets too dangerous and then you support the other...."

In modern times it's always been oil...nothing's changed.

"The electorate does not agree with you that Labor is fiscally responsible and the Libs are not. That is one reason why they chucked Labor out. Older people have seen the cycle before..."

Well...Lol!...they believed Abbott and his band of mendacious scammers.

That's what got them elected.

Swinging voters - and even many stunned dyed-in-wool LNP supporters won't make the same mistake next time.

We've got twelve months more of Hockey/Abbott Govt whoppers until they "attempt" to pork barrel their way to re-election.

Fat Chance!

There are expenses by the Abbott Government which cause people to say "what is wrong with this Government" they are supposed to be bringing the budget down not up.
200 Dollars for marriage counselling for newly weds, outrageous, marriage is your decision so be responsible for it, not the Government.
School chaplains a complete waste of money, this once again is your own decision, if you want some guidance in your life there are many churches to attend to that, so go there. Should not be the taxpayers expense.
The obscene maternity payment up to 50,000 dollars for wealthy women to get back into the workforce, suggest not having children if you cannot afford them.
These are the types of waste of money that ordinary wage earners feel this Government is out of touch with them.
Most people do not realise the seven dollars Dr's visit may not be just that, if you have say seven tests within the one blood test you will be charged for each test, being forty nine dollars, likewise X-rays, obscene
Because also the secrecy surrounding asylum seekers we really do not know how many boats have been turned back there could be many and not the two or three stated
These are just a few of what the ordinary person in the street bring up against the Abbott Government, of course there are many others.
Perhaps the next three years will see a surplus presented by this Government, ,but I think not, 300 delegates to India later on for some obscure reason, one questions is this really necessary to waste more taxpayer money, plus the millions of dollars Abbott is wasting on visits overseas, to prove what.
Australia is insignificant on the world stage, I am sure we all know that when we are overseas as visitors, understand Clive Palmer did hit the headlines recently, not Abbott.

Poirot, in the real world nations compete for resources and there is nothing more important than oil. Oil is blood for advanced societies and a very good reason to go to war to get it.

Japan began the Pacific War to get oil. Germany wanted lebensraum and oil. China is now threatening all of the small nations in the South China Sea to claim all of the oil. Saddam Hussein invaded Iran and Kuwait to steal their oil. It would be a good thing for our economies and the advancement of our enlightened civilisation for the entire western world to invade every oil rich Arab nation and steal their oil. But we consider such an act to be morally wrong.

Unfortunately, much of the world's oil is the property of nations ruled by despots, genocidal maniacs, and religious nutters. But we do business with them because of common interests, we want their oil and they want our money. They can keep on killing each other, stoning women to death, and marrying little girls to old men, and we will consider it none of our business even though we do not approve of their behaviour. But a moral problem arises when these nations turn terrorists as what happened in Libya under Ghaddafi, or want to become conquerors and steal their neighbouring despots oil because they do not have the moral qualms that we do. In such cases it is entirely appropriate for the civilised nations of the world to combine humanitarian ideals with self interest and sort the buggers out. We would not do it for Rhodesia because however much we would like to save the world from itself, some nations are not worth the trouble.

Even a trendy lefty like yourself should have the wit to understand that it is in the world's interests that vital oil resources should not fall into the hands of terrorists or people who want to invade their neighbours to become super rich and a real threat to world peace.

A war in time saves nine.

LEGO:
"It would be a good thing for our economies and the advancement of our enlightened civilisation for the entire western world to invade every oil rich Arab nation and steal their oil. But we consider such an act to be morally wrong".

Apart from the fact that the 'enlightened' West is raping and destroying the only planet available to it, we're a collective basket case in any category you care to name!
And since when has 'morality' prevented the "Enlightened" west stealing?
Ever heard of colonialism, imperialism, hegemony?

The fact that Islamic State stands for a mob of murderous brutes does not set the west off as Enlightened by contrast. There's no contrast; neither side is healthy or accountable. However barbaric their own actions and ideologies, reactionary movements like IS are legitimately pitted against Western imperialism, global cultural hegemony and economic pyramidism.

You and your unthinking ilk are stuck in an old-time WESTern, with cowboys and Indians, good guys and bad guys, us and them.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there are no good guys!