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The Forum > Article Comments > Rudd on the road to disaster > Comments

Rudd on the road to disaster : Comments

By Henry Ergas, published 3/4/2009

Kevin Rudd's errors are not merely the odd concession to economic folly, they go to the core of our economic prospects.

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So who do you call a "strong" politician?

Someone who is not going to blink when starting a nuclear holocaust?
It is not only "them" (Iran or the "axis of evil") that are leading us on such a path.

All of our dreadfully sane right-thinking leaders are doing so. Wherever they are geographically and culturally--no exceptions.

Ronald Reagan perhaps, the exemplar of populist pandering--at least in theory.

He who made the ordinary USA every-person feel "good" about themselves with his anodyne Saturday Evening Post,Normal Rockwell cliches.

While all of his corporate friends were plundering the collective common wealth of the USA---starting with the Savings & Loan scandals, ripoffs, plunderings, lootings.

A "tradition" of looting and plunder which, via Bush & Co inevitably created the current disaster.

http://www.psychohistory.com/reagan/rcontent.htm
Posted by Ho Hum, Friday, 3 April 2009 2:45:24 PM
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"Ultimately, all government spending must be paid for from taxes that have a high economic cost"

Henry - could you clearly spell out exactly why the sovereign (federal) government which has currency monopoly and is empowered to create or destroy money and can instantly create any sum in it's own currency it desires, "needs" to tax in order to pay for it's own domestic spending.

It is completely ridiculous to portray a federal budget as being the same thing as a household or business budget. Can you spell out why you believe the currency monopolist to be revenue constrained?
Posted by Fozz, Friday, 3 April 2009 6:38:08 PM
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'rudd on road to disaster'...nah...we the common people are...rudd and all world-politicians last to feel the crisis...yeah...we will be feeding them for a while while most of us start to 'starve'...

and 'Only rarely did governments display the intellectual rigour to adapt to the new circumstances'...probably...but these set of circumstances are uniquely different than at any other time in human.civilization...energy sources diminishing/or cannot use as before due to severe environmental imbalance...so leeway for 'mistakes' becoming smaller and smaller...

and I cant even call what 'governments' are doing as 'mistakes'...more like still toeing to corporation leaders demands...eg g20 and 1trillion(public debt) to 'stimulate' world economy...crap...wanna stimulate then reduce or stop taxes...as whole economic system is founded on premise 'people will spend money when they have it'...not removing corporation debt to public...

what this trillion debt is for is to remove the toxic debts from the fatcats and their greed that caused this mess in the first place...while dismantling all systems of accountability to their acts...so same people can shift the worst 'risk' to the public...and get back to business as usual...with a smile...while 'government' money hole on 'no-return expenditure( bulging bureaucracy, free hand outs to the lazy, manipulative, never ending contract work constructions etc) continues and increases...

let banks and companies that cant stand on their own fall...then public collect them...so we own real assets...not just burden of debts...

and reduce government size...lean and mean...cost effective governing...and immediate and full accountability to acts...start lining all these fatcats and publicly expose their acts and full consequence delivered and this standard always maintained and 'untamperable'...and we may...just may survive this...with some future stability and quality of life...(guys read on the origins of the french revolution...)

sam
Ps~9last time government debt crisis happened most of public assets sold by politician long gone and without accountability...now how will the public pay its debts?...sell ourselves into servitude to corporations for regular meals?...
Posted by Sam said, Friday, 3 April 2009 8:03:53 PM
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Very interesting article and comments.

Rudd is a clown, no doubt about it. Perhaps we should just throw all the politicians in prison, that'd probably be a better solution than anything any of them have come up with.

But can I ask you all something? If current government is 100%, what percent of current government should government be reduced to?
Posted by Jardine K. Jardine, Friday, 3 April 2009 9:14:33 PM
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jardine asked 'If current government is 100%, what percent of current government should government be reduced to?'...good question and answer is one that takes up least burden on society to perform its function effectively...but a practical answer is almost impossible in the current limited information made available for general public access....but...

root to this is general public understanding that 'government'(as separate from judiciary and parliament elected)is a burden on us all and sucks away at common wealth(yep as in 'commonwealth' of Australia)...and in our interest to ensure its an efficient effective body...ie cheaper and expeditive...but its also of interest to the parasites among us for easy work and secure money by corrupting government is possible and happened...with added bonus of power in position...

to what percentage of current 100%...probably 40% as a start, then effective laws as in unraveling current over legislation into simple effective one and criminal law directly linked to standards of expected conduct and practice in all statue and monitoring/activation clauses clearly spelt out(especially anyone using the judicial power of the commonwealth...yeah judges)...consequences and ability to achieve strengthened...but chance of achieving it is currently 0%...unless we become republic and pry the claws of the 'crown' off from managing our government for huge fee...and other vital areas like media...going by their conduct so far...

then with time and effective management...think even 80% and more might be possible...of course by then as a society we need to work smoothly in 'process needed of living' so need for government/judiciary/parliament becomes lessened...but this is now getting close to utopia...and some how dont think we are anywhere near there...

sam
just google 'annual government cost' in budget...and recommend sitting down...
Posted by Sam said, Friday, 3 April 2009 11:20:08 PM
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"Shortly after that Senate inquiry, the NBN panel announced it was excluding Telstra [whose present CEO is one of those loud American Republicans a la John McCain]. The big telco might even have been relieved by its exclusion, for earlier this month it dropped a [100/ 2 Mbps HFC upgrade] tiger into the NBN hen house.
Did the Government consider HFC when it drew up its tender? Or, as Telstra has suggested, were bidders restricted to fibre to the node (FTTN), for which access to (Telstra says confiscation of) Telstra's wires from telephone exchanges to nodes and then to premises was essential? Or fibre to the home or premise straight away to avoid a regulatory fight over copper wires. Why limit the use of terrestrial or satellite wireless?
But the tax payer contribution (AUD/$4.7B) over and above the killed Telstra share price to the NBN plan would only bring a minimum of 12 Mbps to 98% of the population, with a further contribution up to apparently $15B needed from the consortium, but that was calculated before the dollar exchange rate ...
Or, to put it more practically: should we not simply start all over, this time using a bit more common sense and recognition of technical, financial, commercial and political reality?"
(http://business.theage.com.au/business/make-a-connection-national-broadband-plan-doomed-to-fail-20090331-9idg.html?page=-1)

Of course, the Comms Minister is one of those Extreme Christian Right types who is all about censorship - fighting iiNet and Telstra so that means the #3 and #1 ISP, one could almost see another China charge coming with SingTel Optus being the #2 ISP - not bringing on the age of Cloud Computing, [from LANs to internet to] medianet and ubiquitous comms. As in, citizens must be spoon fed.
And everything is about faith, and I believe, not facts just like Tony Bliar, who is also from the UK!
The sooner Australia cuts its old ties with the colonial masters of the British Empire further, the better things will get!
Posted by MX, Saturday, 4 April 2009 3:35:09 AM
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