Sarnian, I agree.
I have never been a fan of Thatcher, or her Guru, Hayek. That isn't to say the Austrian school has nothing to contribute.
The true causes of the massive inflation we have endured to cause the current crisis are not unionism or high wages, but simply too much money in the system; largely due to borrowed monies through the fractional reserve banking system, and...
All the proponents of 'small government' are right, but I think they miss the core point.
The other major cause of inflation is too many people for the goods produced.
Where once the accepted wisdom was 'for one in the office, 7 producing on the workshop floor', now every genuine producer in this country has to carry 7 in the office. Successive governments have done nothing to reduce the bureaucracy; they have merely outsourced the bureaucrats and in so doing, cost the Australian people some valuable cash cows.
We still have virtually no manufacturing industry, our primary producers are still hammered by drought, and our minerals exports are too reliant on fickle markets.
Time to dump this globalisation nonsense, and concentrate on being self reliant. A healthy economy uses the international market as a dumping ground, for surpluses.
www.avasay.com

This clamour for a 'strong leader' to sort out the 'mess' is a barely disguised call for a dictatorship.

As in 1996, when were lead like sheep by Paul Keating into the arms of the vicious and unconscionable Howard Government, Australia's elites would like to see us delivered into the arms of an equally nasty coalition Government to make us pay the cost of the mess they have created.

Let's not fall for it again, this time. If people feel disillusioned with the Rudd Government, as many have good reason to be, let's, instead, vote for the Greens or any other minor party or independent candidate who stands for policies better than those of either Labor or Liberal.

Let's put Labor second last and the Liberals last on the ballot form.

Why stop at Margaret Thatcher?
What this country needs is another war. Or better still another depression.
Then when we've all taken our medicine we'll feel better.