It can be said that a rising tide, rises all boats. But, those boats must be in the water. Thus an improving ecconomy only benefits those who have a skill that is in demand or assets, which are increasing in value and are saleable. Too many Australians are not receiving any benefit from the booming economy.

This article indicates that Rudd’s approach amounts to little more than tweaking the current way doing things. That’s nowhere near good enough for me.

We’ve got huge pressures bearing down on us, in the form of peak oil, an ever-rapidly-growing population with an ever-shrinking resource base, and climate change. And yet stuff-all effort is going to be put into these things, except perhaps the third and least important of these big factors, and the one that we have least control over in Australia.

This is why I won’t be voting for either Howard or Rudd – because they both entertain the same endless-expansionist paradigm conventional-economics, that pays no more than lip service to the true fundamentals of economics and quality of life; the demand-supply equations and the protection of a healthy sustainable resource base.

Their approach (and they really are virtually the same on this) flies blatantly in the face of these fundamentals, and is bound to take us headlong into an economic crash scenario.

We desperately need a sustainability party. Unfortunately neither the Greens not the Democrats come anywhere near this.

And anyone who wishes to vote for a minor party and to specifically vote against the major parties, CAN’T DO IT, as their preferences filter down and end up for one of the two major parties, in just about every case.

Whatever we may say about economic growth it is clear that the proceeds of growth are unevenly distributed. Profits are at record levels as reflected in the record high for profits in the wages-profit share; this has not arisen by accident but is a first cause and then consequence of neo-liberalism and economic policy (the shift began under Labor with the support of the ACTU); people understand, esp ‘cause of “workchoices” that the government is about helping the rich, at their expense (again began with the support of the ALP and the ACTU). Notice that the fact of growth is just assumed by most to be due to structural changes in the economy, i.e. neoliberalism, but if Australia is riding the wave of the global commodities boom it cannot be so for a commodities boom led growth isn’t really due to structural effects in which case rising inequality is a direct consequence (designed as such) of policy whilst growth is a bit of “the lucky country” dynamic…I think voters have a gut feeling about this and understand that Howard is conning them. This and the myth of “strong on national security” are the twin myths of the Howard era, established and sustained with a complicit corporate media which of course is understandable given the direction of the proceeds of growth. Labor understands where power lies and will be different but mostly at the margins of policy. Politics and economics in Australia is dominated by corporations.

Regarding Kevin Rudd and empathy:

Mark, today on OLO you're claiming that: 'One of Clinton's many exceptional qualities as a politician was his ability to project empathy for ordinary citizens. That's something Kevin Rudd understands well.'

On 21 June 2007, you wrote in another OLO piece: 'It’s tempting to suggest that Rudd’s determination and his single-mindedness might leave him somewhat lacking in empathy, and that he might be the worse for not having had a more rounded life.'

Will the real Kevin Rudd (or the real Mark Bahnisch) please stand up?

FrankGol, good point. What I was talking about in the review of the Rudd bio was the way that he has trained himself to talk to "ordinary people" as a quite deliberate political tool of the trade. He's good at it, it just doesn't come from the heart, I don't think.

cheers!

mark

yer right, guys, parliamentary society doesn't work for the bottom half, but it was designed for the top 10% so no surprise there.

frank, the apparent variation in the warmth of the kevinoid is due to manipulation of the temperature control. this is the latest version 'politician' bot- very nearly superhuman, with the right programming.

"you get the government you deserve", so don't blame the pollies for making a good thing out of oz laziness and ignorance. they would have stayed in property development and used car sales, but this pays better, and is much easier.