The Australian politics thread

[Burgey]

Originally Posted by social

Low rates arent bad per se but it's the RBA's reasons for dropping the rates which are the worry - basically, the economy is at high risk of tanking

It's not a surprise because the ALP's only strategy is to mortgage your future against stuff we dig up and sell to a couple of countries

If those countries catch a cold, Australia is screwed because virtually every other industry is struggling massively

In the meantime, the ALP continues pointing to the revenue generated by this one industry and telling the world that things are great for everyone in Oz - it's a total heap of ****

How would you know? You're in Dubai.

[Son Of Coco]

Originally Posted by social

Low rates arent bad per se but it's the RBA's reasons for dropping the rates which are the worry - basically, the economy is at high risk of tanking

It's not a surprise because the ALP's only strategy is to mortgage your future against stuff we dig up and sell to a couple of countries

If those countries catch a cold, Australia is screwed because virtually every other industry is struggling massively

In the meantime, the ALP continues pointing to the revenue generated by this one industry and telling the world that things are great for everyone in Oz - it's a total heap of ****

An interesting post, possibly due to the fact you could replace 'ALP' with 'Libs' and change it to the past tense.

[Spark]

Old-timers, can you name the last AG who was as high-profile publicly as Roxon is? She seems everywhere these days.

[social]

Originally Posted by Burgey

How would you know? You're in Dubai.

That's all you got?

At the very least I would've expected a variant of one of the great fraud's quotes - something along the lines of "this is the downturn we had to have" would fit nicely

[Burgey]

Originally Posted by social

That's all you got?

At the very least I would've expected a variant of one of the great fraud's quotes - something along the lines of "this is the downturn we had to have" would fit nicely

Nah I got lots more, but all you do is sprout the same **** once a month or so, and it's as dull as it is erroneous and, of course, out of touch. Understandable when your access to Australia is the Daily Tele web site.

My knowledge on these to this is like yours re golf, cricket, AFL mate... I once went to a lunch where Bernie Fraser gave a speech. Makes me an expert using your rationale.

Anyway, as for AGs, Lionel Murphy led a raid on ASIO HQ in the 70s. Gareth Evans was high profile during the Franklin Dam case.

[social]

Originally Posted by Burgey

Nah I got lots more, but all you do is sprout the same **** once a month or so, and it's as dull as it is erroneous and, of course, out of touch. Understandable when your access to Australia is the Daily Tele web site.

My knowledge on these to this is like yours re golf, cricket, AFL mate... I once went to a lunch where Bernie Fraser gave a speech. Makes me an expert using your rationale.

Anyway, as for AGs, Lionel Murphy led a raid on ASIO HQ in the 70s. Gareth Evans was high profile during the Franklin Dam case.

So why dont you enlighten us as to why the RBA lowered rates?

Simple ****ing question

[Burgey]

Here you go

RBA: Media Release-Statement by Glenn Stevens, Governor: Monetary Policy Decision

[Prince EWS]

Originally Posted by Burgey

My knowledge on these to this is like yours re golf, cricket, AFL mate... I once went to a lunch where Bernie Fraser gave a speech. Makes me an expert using your rationale.

I'm with social on this topic but, credit where it's due, that was an absolutely hilarious call.

[Dan]

Originally Posted by social

Low rates arent bad per se but it's the RBA's reasons for dropping the rates which are the worry - basically, the economy is at high risk of tanking

It's not a surprise because the ALP's only strategy is to mortgage your future against stuff we dig up and sell to a couple of countries

If those countries catch a cold, Australia is screwed because virtually every other industry is struggling massively

In the meantime, the ALP continues pointing to the revenue generated by this one industry and telling the world that things are great for everyone in Oz - it's a total heap of ****

Economy at high risk of tanking? In the current global environment no matter what governments do, there are some serious economic pressures. We're still riding the mining boom which is keeping us afloat.

I think either side of politics would want to use the strongest industry to benefit the country - oh wait, the Libs don't want to tax the companies in that industry who ship all the funds offshore. We're good at mining and it is strong as a sector. We'd be stupid to not take advantage of it, and even dumber to simply let the multinational corporations take the resources and give very little back to the country.

Often I hear manufacturing brought up as being highly uncompetitive, but there's absolutely nothing either the Liberal or Labor party can do about that. We have a base standard of living that is higher than anywhere else in our region, and let's face it, no worker will take the wage cuts necessary to let us compete with China on a manufacturing level (not that it would let us compete, anyway. It's a waiting game until China unionised). Our services sector is still good, as far as I am aware, steelworks is apparently alright as well (I mean, Whyalla still exists) and there's no stopping the decline of retail.

Now I'm not going to say things are great in Australia, but we're well ahead of the US in our economic situation, and lightyears better than Europe. The fact that the big US banks put the world economy in deep **** for a couple of years doesn't help; we haven't fared half bad in the fallout. We're running a budget surplus (albeit a very small one that we really shouldn't be running, but at least it's one promise kept in politics), have low unemployment and aren't inflating by huge amounts. Consumer spending is up, we've, generally speaking, got money in our pockets and we're making an effort to be environmentally sustainable.

Ignoring the Carbon Tax (which I support, but understand the opposing POV), the ALP's economic management hasn't been too bad, as far as I can tell. Obviously I'm not a trained economist (or not yet, at least), but we're faring better than the rest of the world, even if it is on the back of mining. It's idiotic to say 'the economy is **** if you take out mining' - yeah, just like China's is **** when you take out manufacturing, or Singapore's is **** when you remove services and/or retail.

There are factors far beyond any government's control that are influencing the economy, and thus interest rates, as far as I'm concerned.

[Spark]

We might be running a budget surplus. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, especially with commodity prices looking decidedly wobbly.

[vic_orthdox]

It'll be the South African Rebel Tour of budget surpluses.

[Dan]

Originally Posted by Spark

We might be running a budget surplus. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, especially with commodity prices looking decidedly wobbly.

I thought we were running a very slim one this year (or at least that's what the released budget report said IIRC). I may be mistaken, however.

[Spark]

Assassination, defection could topple Assad: Carr - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

W

T

F

[Samuel_Vimes]

Diplomatic expertise there?

[Dan]

Ackerman laughing off rape, Pyne defending Jones. Absolute ****s.

Pyne once again proving why he's the most hated man in Australia.