We all know that economically that things are very bleak,but do we need a leader constantly re-inforcing notions of pessimism which only make people tighten their spending?

Every time interests rates fall,Kevin and other economic commentators should be encouraging people to use half of the windfall to buy Australian products if possible.The message should be hammered home that if you want to keep your job,spend a bit more.

The RBA could also use a bit of bribery by indicating that rates won't fall since the desired effect is not being achieved.

Neither the Govt or the RBA is really engaging the people and getting their message through.Spending more will not solve the mess,but it will lessen the serverity of the downturn and give people time to find alternatives and perhaps solutions to their economic woes.

It is time to get creative and innovative.Bring on the infrastructure projects now!

Are you asking that he lie?
Are you truly asking the reserve bank to get involved in politics?
Infrastructure is on its way.
Parliament has not sat yet he has laws to obey.
The blokes personal rating is so good I wonder how many agree with you?

Arjay... Krudd is pecking around like a mother hen, incapable of dealing with the challenges he is there to resolve.

The problem is Howard would have seen this coming and would have had a series of real strategies to address the problems, Krudd and Swann-song have just created additional problems, like the run on the non-guaranteed super-funds to guaranteed bank deposits and squandering the resiliance in the budget surplus on a pre-Xmas binge for the labor voters.

Cheap tricks and Circus sand will not fix these problems, we need a real government back and a real Prime-Minister, instead of a poster-boy for constipation.

As usual Belly leaps to the defence of another lost cause.. I suppose the unions have got to do what they can to preserve their investment but those telecom engineers don't look like pulling the party line, more showing the 'spoiler' attitude which lurks within the heart of each of them.

Arjay

For any given person, the connection between spending more and significantly lessening the chances of losing their job is very small indeed. It makes no sense for Rudd to expect people to spend more if their jobs are at risk. Any sensible person would do just the opposite.

As for bringing on infrastructure projects; they need to be the right projects that will take us away from the stupid pursuit of never-ending growth and directly towards … yep …. sustainability.

It is just downright stupid to bring on projects that prop up the same old paradigm that has contributed greatly to the current economic downturn.

And it is outrageous in the extreme to maintain record high immigration during this time of economic hardship.

KRudd should be finding ways to turn the end of boom times into an all-out effort to wean this nation off of the growth spiral and onto a foundation of a stable population and steady-state economy.

Ludwig ,you cannot turn on the sustainability switch instantly.Too many people's livelyhoods are now in peril.

We should be all looking at important issues like mortgage agreements.Many have clauses that allows the Banks to call in a loan at a moments notice even though you are servicing the loan.In a severe downturn,house prices plummet.People can loose their houses and still be in debt to the Bank.During the Great Depression of 1930 the Govt brought in legislation to stop this practise.

Belly,if you had a child suffering from cancer,would you constantly tell him/her how bad things will get or would you give him/her hope and seek solutions?

“Ludwig, you cannot turn on the sustainability switch instantly…””

Of course we can’t Arjay. We’ve got to approach it reasonably gently…but with urgency.

"We should be all looking at important issues like mortgage agreements..."

There are a lot of financial measures that can be taken to ease the pain, by way of redistributing some incoming wealth from those who are doing very well to those who are battling. I think that Rudd needs to be quite socialistic about this.

Getting banks to not foreclose on mortgages by introducing a moratorium on payments if you lose your job could be one measure.

Now back to the sustainability bit (:>)….

Isn’t it absurd to fast-track projects that just feed the growth spiral? I mean, things like new roads, desal plants, hospitals, etc….all of which is in effect building infrastructure and services in order to provide the same level of service for a rapidly increasing immigration rate and boosted birthrate, without really providing any gain for the current populace…..other than to undo some of the losses imposed on us by increasing population pressure.

Isn’t it just a tad crazy for KRudd (and Bligh, Brumby, and all the other bozos) to be crying ‘jobs jobs jobs’ while we have an enormous influx of new residents requiring jobs? Why on earth isn’t this influx curtailed quick-smart, given that jobs are so damn important?

Why can’t a good portion of fast-tracked projects be things that are geared towards renewable energy, greater energy efficiency and other real sustainability measures?

Arjay, I appreciate that your concerns are concentrated in the short term, while mine are concentrated in a somewhat longer timeframe. You see them as requiring conflicting approaches. I don’t.