Except that your post begins with a false premise Rehctub.

"As for Howard, just remember, the country was flat when he arrived, boomed when he changed IR, so much so that when he left, we had HAD money in the bank".

Howard inherited a booming and golden economy from Keating whom some 13 yrs earlier had received a basket case economy with rampant unemployment and galloping inflation from the years when Howard was Treasurer.

As for the money in the bank to which you refer, this was from the sale of important, profitable, valuable and strategic public assets like Telstra. Selling farm so we could rent it back off the people we sold it too. It is the most absurd piece of wise arse economics you will ever see, and has since cost Australians billions of corporate profits all flowing overseas. And they don't even maintain the Network, they expect us to do it , just as they will expect to be able to buy the NBN once the difficult and expensive rural bit is completed. They'll be expecting first option to buy the ground breaking fibre network from an incoming Abbott Liberal Govt, so they can maintain their market monopoly, lauding power over the price we pay for communications for evermore.

Smart operator that Howard (sic) Rehctub.

There has only been one deficit larger than the one Keating lef behind, and that's the Rud/Gillard one. Sadly, they havnt finished yet.

Country was booming you say.

Yes, I remember those days, many businesses went broke, interest rates early 90's around 18%.

Yep, they were great times.

As for selling Tesltra, I was filthy about that, but just remember, if your smart man hadn't lelf such a mess, perhaps this would not have occurred.

God knows how we will get out of this mess, cause there's nothing left to sell, no money left and a credit card that we will be lucky to service the interest on.

Finally, you think it's tough for casuals, try running a retail business, if you wish to find out what tough going is.

There is a fair chance full time work will make a come back under the coalition, but not in the first term, maybe the second or third.

First we need to restore the fair days work for a fair days pay, then we need to win back the confidence of employers that they won't be shafted again.