I find it amusing that anyone thought this second-tier bureaucrat would ever be anything else. He's made a career out of never sticking his neck out and making sure his bosses know he's doing as he's told, so that's all he knows. He's no doubt excellent at vetting minister's speeches for anything controversial and I'm sure he has great skill at running meetings, but it's become very clear that competence in managing or creating effective Government policies is not part of his skill set.

Squeers, the GFC is still with us. I am in a business which is a supplier to the building and landscaping industry and I know that activity in this sector around Brisbane at least is at a very low level indeed and has been falling steadily over the past 3-4 months. Some of my customers have not had a new project commencement in 6 months.

A further indicator is the number of would-be clients who cannot pay cash and the number of new account applicants. I don't have EFTPOS or credit card facilities and I have had people choose to leave and go to Bunnings, where they will pay at least 50% more, simply so they can put it on the credit card. That had neber happened until about 3-4 months ago, but it's become so common of late that my first comment to a new customer is "cash only" and I've had to put a sign up to that effect.

The "stimulus" simply gave Harvey Norman and JB HiFi and their like a windfall profit, a fact aclnowledged by Woolworths the other day when trying to justify their lower profit in the most recent quarter. As for the BER...

Instead of creating structural and regulatory change to ameliorate the impacts of global rorts, the Rudd government has chosen to try to buy popularity withour money.

Posted by Squeers,
[Quote]The instigator of this thread conveniently neglects to mention the small matter of the GFC and the apparent need for stimulous spending, not to mention that the surplus was born of the mining boom and had nothing to with economic management.[/Quote]

Not a cent was put into our banking system, just a funds guarantee from the gov, it was in good nick. Re the mining your correct. China did not feel the GFC so consequently we were protected.

[Quote]Nor is it mentioned that Howard pledged an even bigger spending binge than Labour's, before the election. Nor is it mentioned that essential (public) services were allowed to degenerate under the conservatives while the private sphere prospered and money piled up![/Quote]

Howards government just finished paying back $90 billion from the Hawke years and you expect me to contemplate that he would lift our debt to $180 billion in a single term, foolish statement. Re the public service, you want more? foolish statement.

[Quote]Get me a bucket![/Quote]

Can I suggest a labotomy to go with that bucket.

I don't like either of the major parties but you have to admit that Labor Govts have raised Govt incompetence to an artform.You could not get such a debacle even with the help of South Park writers.

I told Belly 2 yrs ago Labor would be a one term wonder.They are the "Bonobo Party".Bonobos are related to Chimps and resolve conflicts by by simulating sex with anything they can touch.It is quite hilarious to watch.

The difference being the Labor party are not simulating sex with our economy.Everything they touch,they f#*k. "Bonobo Party" has a good ring to it.

Well that's anecdotal, Antiseptic--though the fact that Australians and businesses live on credit is undeniable. But I think that's got more to do with manic consumerism than Labour's policies. No doubt too that the dual economy masks the hardship of many non-miners.
While I'm no fan of Rudd's, I don't hold him responsible either, or Honest John Howard, or any mainstream polies. Popular politics is devoted to illusion, the prestidigitation of the economy, euphemistically called 'fiscal management'.
No popular party or politician has the luxury to take policy beyond chicanery; contesting elections puts all contenders between the proverbial rock and hard place---all they have to do is deliver prosperity to all at no cost! Politics is thus the art of the 'plausible'; the winning party is the one that presents the most outrageous pledge in an attitude of deadly earnest. The electorate is thus perennially disillusioned in its delusional faith in such alchemy---the political black arts wherein the conjurer turns lower taxation into the cornucopia of elaborate social infrastructure and prosperity for all!
'Representative politics' is 'precisely' that! All the politicians' lies and political doublespeak are the verbalisation of popular sentiment, self-interest and speculation. The voters are the ventriloquists!

Rudd's mining tax is a stroke of genius btw, if you care to deconstruct its politics!

The Government had little option than to spend given the GFC. In th1930s, the US and other countries took a close the hatches and protectionist approach to a major economic trough, and we all know what happened then. The Rudd government had little choice in the matter and had to spend into sectors, where there is no lag time to achieve a benefit; e.g., Retailing. If the GFC had arrived under the old leadership, Howard and friends would have acted under the advice of Economists and also introduced some sort of stimulus.

Of course, from the stimulus package, there is an undesired legacy - debt. However, a smaller protracted pain can be spread over 5-6 years might prove a preferred evil over having allowed the economy go into a nose dive. When I receive a vaccination, I don’t complain to the doctor that, “Ouch! The needle hurt”, if the alternative is much worse.

Most of the problems which have arisen seem to have been “operational”, perhaps, arising from Ministers not kissing babies and giving speeches, when they should have been reading briefs and selected key correspondence. As for the “strategy” of keeping Oz out of recession, the stimulus package seemingly worked.
The Rudd government could have sold Telstra to create a multi-billion bucket, except that had already been done. Yet, selling key assets to pay debt is a desperate action, at any time.

The surplus from the previous Government would have been higher had Howard not had his own little bonus schemes, before elections.

As for Builders and Retailers being given unfair preference; this has always happened. Agribusiness has been treated as a “special case” by both sides of politics since Federation.

Above,

"Most of the problems which have arisen seem to have been “operational”, perhaps, arising from Ministers not kissing babies and giving speeches, when they should have been reading briefs and selected key correspondence. As for the “strategy” of keeping Oz out of recession, the stimulus package seemingly worked."

- Should read "kissing babies and giving speeches", of course.