Dear Belly,

It's hard for Col R., to get the big picture. He has such a small screen.

Financial experts tell us, Abbott's claim that "since the middle of 2009, interest rate rises have added $500 a month to mortgage repayments," is a lot of economic twaddle. Housing interest rates have risen by about 2 percent since mid-2009, but mid 2009 was the middle of the global financial crisis. It's a credit to the Government that it handled the GFC so well that we didn't have to push official interest rates down to US levels (near zero), which would have caused severe problems as interest rates recover to normal levels."

Housing interest rates are now lower than they were when the Howard government left office. His claim that interest rates will fall if he brings in a large budget surplus, as the Howard government did (while leaving us with a severe deficit in our infrastructure and in our institutional, environmental and social capital - depleting our assets), shows how little he understands the working of financial markets."

"Abbott refers to that cash surplus of the Howard government as "70 billion in net assets," displaying a difficulty in understanding just what an asset is. One would expect a government in office during a cyclical boom to accumulate a budget surplus, as the Howard government did, but it did so by leaving us as stated previously, with a severe deficit in our infrastructure and in our instituional, environmental and social capital. The Howard government depleted our assets."

The financial experts summ things up in the following way: "To put the basic arithmetic as simply as possible, we cannot go on letting middle-class welfare squeeze our public expenditire, at the cost of our government services and public investment. If we are to prosper we need a mix of public and private services and of public and private investment. A "left" leaning government would be inclined to sustain welfare outlays, using taxes to pay for public services. A "right" leaning government would be inclined to finance public services out of cuts to welfare."

"It's hard for Col R., to get the big picture. He has such a small screen."

(Actually all the PCs on our wireless network are now equipped with an additional monitor to make them "dual screened", to improve the efficiency/useability)

but better my "small screens" than your small mind, lexi

Regarding "Financial Experts" you quote,

I ponder who they might be ?

Probably those members of the Fabian Society (thats like an "expert" for the trailer-park lefties) who know how to use a $2.oo calculator with a memory function.

I know the real "financial experts" I dine with and know on a first name basis hold different views.... but then, they are not driven by the blind socialist envy of those people who know how to make their own way in life.

Lexi it was not spelt that way my first information about Colin.
Fabian, nearly as old as reds under the bed and twice as silly.
Note however our Colin has tickets on himself.
I rather fantasy he may own a printer to make them, top draw of course the best.
The paper however appears rather like that soft stuff in the little room out the back
My Regards Colin.
PS Julia was not very good today but Tony was not too.

Dear Col R.,

You really do have delusions of adequacy. Glad that you felt
it necessary to explain about your big screen - it's still no
indication of a keen mind though - it may simply mean your eyesight's
failing, and things are clearer on a "big" screen. Or you're
over-compensating.

As for financial experts...

Actually the financial experts that I associate with are CEOs - and
they work in the world of finance - unlike accountants who
merely do simple arithmetic and adjust the books so as to make profits look like losess for tax purposes and make losses look like profits to fool shareholders. They have their uses - especially
for the rank and file.

As for socialists? - you really need to get out of the time warp that
you're in. It's a bit embarrassing having you continually prattle on with the same old mantra in each of your posts. Come on - be a bit more inventive and learn to walk forward - hard as it may be for you.

I dont know who this Colin bloke is Belly... but you do seem to be fixated on him - next you will be stalking him I guess

Lexi "Glad that you felt it necessary to explain about your big screen"

Obviously, there is something small about your cognitive ability because if you re-read my post, you would see I claimed no big screen on my PC... merely dual screens - those of us who use PC for more than posting trite comment on OLO, playing solitaire or writing letter to the Gruaniad (thats the UK Guardian - the rename was a Private Eye invention of about 40 years ago, when someone noticed all the Grauniad spelling errors) - actually lexi, if you want a good UK Paper to read - try the Telegraph, I used to read it daily when working in Mayfair and then bought the international edition here for a few years, these days I get around the Telegraph Blogs... try James Delingpoles blog there... you will see he and I and alot of other people share my view -

and the Guardian is generally rated as being like the Mrs Beaton without the cake recipes, ie designed for post-menopausal women of either gender.

actually, if you do want to talk about a big screen, we do have a back projector TV which is 1.5 metres ... fortunately it is in our ballroom, which, at 14 squares, is big enough for us to see everything in comfort.

"Actually the financial experts that I associate with are CEOs"

Ah, I understand, they each own their own 7-11 and answer to the name Mohammad

But trust me, I know how to walk forward... and dance tango for that matter...

so we have established I can walk and dance... now if you really concentrate maybe hire a physiotherapist, you might be able to lift your knuckles and stop dragging them behind you and through the drool trail.

Keep 'em coming Lexi, it is amusing to watch you fail to turn tricks

Dear Col R.,

No. why bother. There's no enjoyment any more.
There's nothing new. It's all too predictable
and I'm bored. See you on another thread.