Todays Herald Sun headline achieves a new low in journalistic integrity by proclaiming the Rudd Govt is responsible for inflation and is a classic case of not allowing the truth get in the way of a good story.

The truth is that the ideological activities of the former Howard Govt are the cause of inflation.

In the beginning the Howard Govt's first move was to change the way we calculate inflation to include imported goods thereby disguising the real inflation figure/cost of essential services etc. GST was an inflationary measure, and its effect was somewhat diffused by re-interpreting figures.

The selling of profitable assets such as Telstra and Power and Water utilities (by State Govts as well) Roads in Vic, and Banking in a privatisation madness, did not come before laws removing constraints upon business were instituted by the Howard Govt to sweeten the deal for the recipients.

If you want to know why the price your paying for: Phones, Electricity/Gas, Fuel, Banking, Water, Education and Health, even Employment, in fact all essential services is rising, ask your local corporate monopoly or cartel. The reason charges are rising beyond the inflation figure in Australia is because they can. And private interests now control most of our essential services.

What can Rudd do. Buy back Telstra ! , (they wouldn't be stupid enough to sell it back to us for a price we could afford ! ).

Could he re-institute restraint on profits and restore rights in the workplace, guaranteeing all working people wage rises equivalent to inflation yearly, to negate the effect of inflation on living standards. What can Rudd do?. To make them stop doing it.

As for the Herald Sun it obviously wants a change of Govt and Tony Abbott as Prime Minister. Could most Australians imagine that ! ?.

I couldn't imagine Tony running my local council ; even though the Rudd Govt hasn't ignited my fire; nor is it the cause of inflation.

Thinker 2 it would be worth your while Goggling the press from the years 1974 and 1975.
A heated campaign of miss information ran in those days only a little less than some who write today.
Inflation as we know is far lower than it has been for years.
This country for a lot of reasons, is doing best of the developed economy's.
We have a brick wall opposition in place.
Abbott, surely, is nothing but Australia's weeping wall, he blocks every thing.
And crys crocodile tears about every single government act.
We unfortunately, are a bit more like America each day, powerful people, such as Medea barons, try to slant views in the name of self interest.

Thinker2

Economics 101, When there is close to full employment, excessive government spending competes for labour and pushes up wages and thus inflation.

The coalition was spending less than its revenues and in spite of this the economy was still overheating. Labor is doing this by spending tens of billions more than revenue, and continuing to do so when the economy is clearly overheated.

Rudd needs to put on the brakes fast, but continues to ramp up spending with the new health policy etc.

Thinker...as I recall, the 'new economy' started with Whitlam slashing tariffs overnight.... and was carried on by Keating and Hawke following the lead of Reagan and Thatcher in the creation of our neo-liberal economy of today.

It was the ALP who sold off national assets, CBA, TAA, QANTAS, ANL QSL(was that them or Howard?), and state ALP governments who are doing the mopping up and delivering all to 'private' enterprise, the much fabled 'mums and dads' of the world.

Howard, of course, added his own toxins to the brew.

Maybe 'the workers friend', superannuation, with its overly high expectations of living a better life in retirement than during work is partly to blame as 'mum and dad' investors expect stratospheric returns, for doing nothing?

Hi ShadowMinister, I believe that it is economic myth #1 to label wages "the seed of inflation".

An example " it takes 37 labour hrs to manufacture a motor car".
If the manufacturer is paying $22 an hr for that labour, the cost of labour to the manufacturer would be $814. "If the labour was free" it would only make an $814 dollar difference to the price the end consumer is paying.This is more 101 to me SM.

And The Blue Cross correctly suggests that the field is murky as to who it was that actually sold the farm. But my point is " that the problem remains that we did ", and this now is the primary cause of inflation and laws that were changed during the Howard era removing checks, balances and constraints on business combined with selling the farm, has left us in a position over which we have no control.

What can Rudd do? I ask again

'resign' might be a good start for Rudd, but then what, and who, next?

What about all the other labor state governments at the time and their inflationary nonchalant begar thy neighbor spending hypocracy, knowing that the federal government would always have to bail them out, the labor inflationary states, oh holy of oracles?

Dallas, you should point to whom you are directing that comment.

But, yes, state governments are even more irresponsible than local governments, and that says a lot.

But surely you can see that as yet another expression of the capitalist system, and more so the neo-liberal capitalists system we are cursed with by choice?

States do not act in isolation from the world about them.

We should bin the states, along with daylight saving, at least until our cows and curtains get a vote.

Comrade The Blue Cross glad you bought that up, we have daylight saving in NSW and my curtains are hiding in the corner trembling in the breeze.
I pull them as far into those corners but the sun still finds them.
The cows are confused and over slept on the day it finished.
However you remind me, some cows do get to vote.
PS
I have no Comrades
just mates but could not resist

You are all just grinding around and around like a cake mixer.
All this steam when the big switch is about to be pulled.

Someone turned it off briefly in July 2008 and look what happened.
The next time it might only come back on at half voltage.
Wake up !

I do understand why you have no comrades belly.

I am glad to see that you too are aware of the very real problems, indeed 'dangers' of daylight saving.

The problem of fading curtains could send our imports into hyperdrive as millions of bolts of cloth are imported from China to replace our faded curtains.

While some regard daylight saving as a non issue, it is in fact a vital national interest security issue, as you are clearly aware.

I didn't realise cows had the vote in NSW, that might explain how you get such poor government I suppose, particularly when the cows actually move in to parliament and union positions.

Still, its good to have an explanation for these mysteries at last.

Thinker2,

That sounds like the 101 from the socialist manual. It may take 37 hours to assemble, but the parts take time to manufacture, the assembly line to put up etc. In all you will find that nearly all of the costs find their roots in labour costs. In fact in a balanced economy GDP (gross domestic product) = gross income (macro economics 101).

I'm not claiming that 37 hrs is the complete labour cost of building a motor car in isolation Shadow Minister. If you consider that a profit making transaction has already occurred when the parts were sold to the car maker. It is not correct to include labour cost already incurred by the parts manufacturer in the question.

I was hoping to draw attention to the labour component as a percentage of cost and the disparity between the price a consumer pays business for goods and services etc, and the price he receives for his labour.

It's 101 to me, that in our society (particularly over the last 15 yrs) "the are rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, faster".
What I don't understand, is how or why this is necessary for the health of the economy.

I come from an industry that has never had collective representation and I cant remember the last time I had a pay rise, other than by changing employers, or getting a chance to re-negotiate my existing individual contract.

Prices are now forging ahead because they can, in the weakened regulatory environment and thusly profits are up and up. And the gap between rich and poor widens without any apparent function or useful purpose in the economy as a whole.

Privatisation and regulatory change have disempowered most Australians and is the primary cause of increasing prices/inflation in the essential services sector not wage increases.

Also SM, if we are going to continue to allow mostly conglomerate oversea's owned miners , dig holes all over the place and then leave us with the holes, it seems fair that the taxpayer should receive a greater slice of the cake than is currently the case. (Maybe we can re-sell them the holes for their waste later).

I applaud Kevin Rudd for his Tax initiative. It at least is a step in the right direction if the funds raised are used to build, buy back or replace essential services/infrastructure lost to private interests.

Thinker 2,

What controls are you specifically talking about? When was the economy out of control?

What hit Australis was not due to anything in Aus. Thus Rudd's over reaction was the cause of the instability. His tax grab on mining to try and fix it has probably contributed to his caning in the polls.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/03/2889312.htm?section=justin

The way we look at profit margins has changed. RRP's do not exist. It now okay to charge more than that. This is now considered accepted business practice, for example.

The way we came to wage agreements ( Howard era) has placed downward pressure on wages (in real terms) and those on individual contracts in blue colour jobs can expect little or no rises in pay to compensate for inflation in the near future either Shadow Minister.

And on Rudd, and his mining tax move ( if he sticks to it ) may ultimately prove once and for all, that he is in fact "a conviction politician". And not the boogy monster.

i think we are all mature enough to get simple truths
lets face the SS/pin
cut through the ccc-rap

inflation comes about when the fed reserve banks..issue too much credit..[inflate the money supply]..

and the truth about grease/up greece..is that goldmansax got derivitives..onsold them..thus the same mob..doing the same scam

..and this fraud now is compounded by the BAIL/out..[of the bankers/..phase two..60 billion de-fault will become 120 billion default..

but this time its the germains/tax payers...
and greecian tax payers..
on the hook..to bail out banker excess yet again

krudd..must know...he needs us on the hook too[we are giving the world bank the funds..funds we can never get back..so were on the hook as well..well done un/bankers/goldman sax/world bank...goldman sax...and the pub-lick ser-vice..lawyers and aCCOUNTANTS...WE UNDER WRITE THE UNDERWRITERS YET AGAIN

we lost most of our supper last time..employers didnt pay for it..[the reduced wage increase we forfeited did...just like this time...same same...same old criminals stealing from the same ol mugs]...us and them others of us..[the sheeple...who swallow..SSpin]

let them eat cccc-rap

the tax payers have become beasts of burdon..[unrepresented swill]..we saw overtnight the smokers burdend with a new 6 billion tax burden...

then the next day the reactions of the elites...avoiding a 9 billion tax...to give an egsample..smokers get abuse/insult..and the mining elete get..[in just one recent egsample...60 billion of resources..for 800 million in royalties..to the qld govt

a nice lurk if your suing the premier..thats the game...and the input?..the organiser organised a twenty billion loan..then sits back and reaps in the pennies/gold/silver coal[or in this/quoted case..the gas]

govt of course provides the ports/rail/infastructure..normally..though in this case it apears some money will be given to build a new railway...either way...the state bears the burden..

that is to say the mugs/../the mug smokers..earn as you go wage earners...who when they finally get ahhead...get inflation..that chews away their nest egg..

its a lovely game they play with the peoples assets..that builds their fiefdoms..then as usual..let the serfs pay...another topic asked what to do about it...

well state mines its own minerals...[get the 60 billion..FOR ITS PEOPLE/direct.....funnily THAT 60 BILLION..IS the same ammount as the current ODIOUS DEBT..[for qld]

instead of the public servants/and two party machine men..ie the elites mates..getting the lucre..the people do...

its as easy as that..nationalise the resources...[even the forrests gifted away under the colluded deal]..to the x party machine men..enough of their odious debt's..

and their generouse supper for treason most vile