Dear Chris,

Thanks for your clarification, positive response,
and for understanding the points I was trying to make
and realising that they weren't meant personally.
It's an occupational habit, that comes from working
in a profession whose job it is to add, enrich, stimulate,
and amplify the reading of both young and old and provide
facts and information to people. We leave personal
judgements to the people themselves.

Dear OTB,

You have excellent taste. The more you talk about
me, the better taste you display.

Foxy,
A raconteur I may not be,
But debonair to a tee,
You'll always find my spirit free,
A jolly bon vivant is me

Dear Chris,

Thank You.

I looked up "Le Bon Vivant."

And according to the web, in French it means,
"good living," or "one who lives well."
Which they tell me, "translates to the passionate
pursuit of sublime food and wine and everything
in between, hopefully dished up with both humour
and candour..."

As Chanel once said, "Some people believe that luxury
is the opposite of poverty. No, it is the opposite
of vulgarity."

I dream of luxury - of investing in the ultimate
accessory, a designer fragrance, a slip of silk,
small exquisite pieces that are the lynch pins of style
and can change your mood. One of the most atractive
things about luxury is that it comes in all shapes and
sizes. It can be fresh flowers delivered at work,
fine white bedlinen, a book you've been dying to read, and
perhaps the greatest luxury of all, the time to read it.

Thanks for your lovely poem and for sharing.

A big hug.

Lexi....."In 1996 Treasurer Peter Costello inherited an economy in
great shape.

...."The structural reforms of the Hawke-Keating years built
the foundation for Australia to beat the world and this eventually
happened in 2010 when Australia rocketed to the top of the
world's economies."

....By 2007 - Australia had slipped back in rankings to 10th place.

....The first was the selling off productive assets which included,
airports, the National Rail Corporation, Dasfleet, Telstra,
the remaining share of the Commonwealth Bank and many other
variable enterprises."

Austin points out that "had Australia retained some or all of these
cash-yielding assets current angst over debt may well have
been allayed."

Couldn't agree more, a stupid move by any standard, but unfortunately, it was only in an effort to pay back labors debt.

In fact,One can't help think where would we be now had the past labor government inherited the current debt they have left behind, in total ruin I might suggest.

As for the other points, how anyone considers leaving some $90 billion in debt behind as an achievement pretty much sums up labors, and their supporters way of thinking.

As for Australia being a world leader, your kidding, we are so small that we are simply a pawn on the global chess board, and we move up or down, not by our achievements, but in direct reaction of what happens globally.

The other major issue we face, is that we need the world a lot more than it needs us and, take away our resources, or simply find an alternative to us and we will be lucky to make the top 100 list. We are treading a fine line and if you disagree, or get sucked in by the spin then you had best pray we don't fall out of favor with those who buy our minerals.

rehctub,
You are so on the ball with this one.
It is a bit like us telling the world that we have the best coral reef in the world when every international diver knows quite well that we are really an also ran.
Or we have the greatest rain forests and then flying over the jungles of South America.
Recently in Cairns I spoke to a sailor of one of our Collins Class subs in for urgent repairs.
I asked him what the boat was like and he asked me if I wanted to buy it (joke).
When I questioned him he said it was a disaster waiting to happen. They couldn't submerge because the periscope leaked like a sieve.
We keep telling the world we have a first class defense system and now I find that the whole Collins fleet might have to be scrapped.
We are buying Joint Strike Fighters (2nd hand) that have to be modified so much that their combat performance is reduced to that of third world protagonists.
It seems we are buying Army front line gear from China.
On top of that we still have,t seen our turn at the global recession and the real estate/interest rate/ bank bubble gets bigger every day.

Dear rehctub,

Australia's economy had strengthened remarkably
through the Hawke-Keating period.
In 1996 Treasurer Peter Costello inherited
an economy in great shape. The tax system had been
overhauled, the public service had been trimmed to size and
the budget returned to structural surplus.

But by 2007 - Australia had slipped back in the rankings
globally and this occurred at a time of global growth and an
extraordinarily acquiescent media. There was no excuse
for this deterioration. The structual reforms of the
Hawke-Keating years built the foundation for Australia to beat
the world (and this eventually happened in 2010 -
when Australia rocketed to the top of the world's
economies).

Under Howard and Costello - the second failure was
failing to invest in infrastructure needed for future
development. The funds were certainly available especially
as the mining boom accelerated.

The third failure was to lift compulsory super - savings
to strengthen retiree security - which impacted on baby
boomers.

The 4th was selling 167 tonnes of Australia's gold reserves at
near rock bottom prices just before the price rose
spectacularly. According to assessments the fire-sale
returned just $2.4 billion. Had the gold been sold in 2011
when the nation needed cash during the Global Financial
Crisis - it would have fetched $7.4 billion.

The 5th decision was losing more than $4.5 billion gambling
in foreign exchange markets between 1997 and 2002.

And Finally the 6th disaster was squandering the proceeds of
asset sales and the vast rivers of revenues from booming
industries by handing it out to middle and high income
earners as election bribes.

According to a Treasury report in 2008 - between 2004 and
2007 the mining boom and a robust economy added $334 billion
in windfall gains to the budget surplus. Of this, the
Howard government spent or gave away in tax cuts - $314 billion
or 94 per cent. Sales of businesses yeilded another
$72 billion. Yet Australia's cash in the bank when Howard
left office was a pathetically low 7.3 percent of GDP.
Bulgaria and Kazakhstan had better books in 2007 than
Australia.