I am disappointed that previous posts simply deplore the fact that money rules the world, and don't realise that the world does not owe us a living, and that at the moment, measured by our external financial position, we are living far beyond our means.

The other thing that no-one wants to know about is that we are coming to the end of the age of cheap oil, and that the standard of living of all of us, and particularly those at the lower end of the spectrum, has to be reduced considerably.

This need is not because of any inferiority of those at the lower end, it is because they travel further to work, using more petrol, than more affluent people who have been able to afford to buy houses within walking distance of public transport.

The problem is that we only know how to run an economy that is growing. The last time we had a sustained period of no growth was called the Great Depression, and no-one liked it very much.

Twice in our history, in 1894 and 1931, we have had our foreign debt called in, and that wasn't a lot of fun either.

At least the Howard government has paid off all our government debt, and any default will only hit private citizens with large debts, although, heavens knows, there are enough of them.

With it policy of "borrow from overseas and spend" a Labor government could have us in a major financial crisis in no time, particularly if Rudd plays silly buggers over wirhdrawing troops from Iraq.

Any doubters should remember the golden rule of capitalism:

"The person who has the gold makes the rules".

"Most those positive indicators to which you referred (which in any case are flawed) are due to Australia's foreign debt increased by a staggering AU$200billion last year. Compare that with the $AU10billion "Beazley Black hole"."

Daggett, you are comparing apples with oranges. Do not confuse
Govt debt with private debt. But of course some won't let the
facts get in the way of a good story.

To be good economic managers, most important its required that
Govts don't rush off on hairbrain fruitloops schemes, using
public funds! Given the Kehmlani affair, such economic financial
disasters as the Burke Labor Govt, the Kirner Labor Govt etc,
Labor deservedly have the reputation of being bad economic managers.

"It seemed like it was a good idea at the time" is no excuse for
pissing huge amounts of taxpayers money up against walls.

Keating was the first bright economic light on the labor horizon
for a very long time. But then half of the left were against him
too.

Communicat,

The evidence that Labor does care about people lies in the following achievements of the Victorian Labor Government:
Making government more democratic by changing the constitution so that the Legislative Council is elected by proportional representation and making that change unable to be further changed without a referendum of the people,
Making government more accountable by instituting the auditor-general as a constitutionally protected officer of the parliament,
Supporting freedom of speech by removing the ministerial ban on teachers debating educational issues,
Making health care more accessible by employing thousands of extra nurses,
Making the community safer by employing more than a thousand extra police,
Improving educational opportunity by employing an additional 5,193 teachers and funding schools to cap prep to grade 2 classes at 21 pupils each,
Making education more open by instituting a reporting system that tells parents the level their children are actually achieving no matter what level they are in and showing how much, if any, the student has improved since the previous year,
Improving the quality of teaching by setting up the Victorian Institute of Teaching to uphold high standards of professionalism and ethics,
Improving school facilities by investing $1.4 billion in rebuilding schools so far and promising another $1.9 billion in this term as part of a plan to rebuild every school in the state.

If I want to see Labor’s caring for the community, I take the dog for a walk through my pleasant rural town, whose tranquillity is protected by the Labor Government’s urban growth boundary, past the brand new Labor Government built CFA station, the brand new Labor Government built primary school and the brand new Labor Government built police station.

We aren’t scared of unions.

You want a just society? You can't handle a just society!

Why should it be solely on the shoulders on pollies to deliver a just society?

What are your definitions of a just society? Rawls? Aristotle?

Why is it always the ALP that this obviously pro-Greens advocate turns to when they're threatening not to allocate their preferences to them?

Why do people want to turn the economic clock back to the high tariffs and highly regulated economy of the 1950s?

Yawn

zzz

Maracas,

Why does the left have such a problem with the GST? It seems to me that the issue is just their idiosyncratic and symbolic bit of token resistance. The reality is that the Government of the day is going to get its piece of flesh out of society one way or another. Why not just accept that fact. Then its a logical extension to say that it (the Government) may as well share the burden more fairly (as the application of a flat-rate GST across the whole economy does) instead of overly slugging middle income earners to get its revenue as has been happening over the past 30-40 years. So long as the extra GST income is counterbalanced by a commensurate decrease in Federal and State taxes and charges (preferably the distortionary and nuisance taxes), the economic playing field will be more even for everyone. Isn't that the ultimate aim of the left?

Once you start flattening out the tax system, I suspect you'll see more opportunities for people opening up everywhere.