The leader of that list - with a bullet - would be Dr. John Hewson, he of the losing end of the 'the sweetest victory of them all" election in 1993. That's now a long time ago and seems like a galaxy far, far away. If you had Paul Keating and John Hewson as the respective leaders running for office, then you have an embarrassment of riches compared to what we've had lately, which includes Abbott versus Gillard, Abbott versus Rudd, Turnbull versus Shorten. I guess it's Abbott who is single-handedly lowering the intellectual stakes with his much CTE damaged brain.
All the same, Gillard couldn't sell a big picture if it came with a price tag, Rudd's second go was like a facetious after-thought, and Turnbull who replaced the CTE-affected one, remains beholden to the interests of those who seek to prolong fossil fuel profits. When you think about that, the significance of the 1993 election looms large. The defeat of John Hewson brought about a turmoil in the Liberal party ranks that helped it shed its liberal framing of its policies and settled in with the Thatcherite conservative politics, which to this day hampers any sense of social progress. What the Liberals lost that day election in 1993 is not going back in a hurry.
As such, it might be worth checking in with what Dr. Hewson has to say about this intellectually stunted philosophical bankrupt government:
Just how is our economy to not only recover from the 0.5 per cent fall in growth in the September quarter, but actually produce a "growth spurt" as assumed through to the end of the decade – which industries, which jobs? None of this can simply be "assumed".
It is most sobering to realise that the accumulated budget deficits (relative to GDP) since the GFC already dwarf those that followed each of the previous two recessions, and we haven't had a recession, rather we are now in our 26th year of continuous growth.
Moreover, even on the optimistic forecasts/predictions of MYEFO, we will have at least four more budget deficits, totalling some $95 billion through the budget period. Using more realistic forecasts – and recognising the some $14 billion of measures still stuck in the Parliament (that still exceed the net savings achieved since the last budget) – the budget repair task is a very significant challenge that will require both more expenditure restraint and tax increases overall. It is most telling that the government won't "commit" to the small projected surplus in 2020/21.
While we may have dodged the ratings downgrade bullet for now, the possibility of a downgrade is still very real. We certainly can't be complacent, especially as our economy is now probably more vulnerable than it has been since the GFC, certainly recognising the limited policy capacity and flexibility to handle another "shock".It sounds like he's exasperated with this government. I imagine his own party is exasperated with their former leader, but then in that sense he might be to the Liberals what Mark Latham is to the ALP: Failed leader, thought bubble monster.
Yet, there's more:
Monetary policy has already reached the limit of its capacity to stimulate – except by jawboning our dollar down – and rising borrowing costs, and associated bond market corrections globally, could further work to restrain growth. Similarly, the magnitude of the budget repair task, and the threat of a ratings downgrade, leaves us with very little budgetary capacity to stimulate as well.
Our vulnerability is the result of at least 10-12 years of poor economic management, under governments of both persuasions. The benefits of the resources boom were squandered – failing to put some away for a rainy day – and then we failed to move early, and more decisively, in budget repair, even allowing for the GFC.
We now face the toughest and most unpredictable global economic environment in memory, where our fate is most heavily dependent on China, where their growth is slowing much faster than they will admit. Add to this the need to achieve "compromise" with a very short-term focused, opportunistic, Senate.All this is to say, it's enough to induce a bit of nostalgia for a time when our political leaders were actually very good to excellent, and the contest of ideas was real and rewarding. It's weird how politics hasn't really de-polemicised itself but lowered the intellectual power to a dim, dark glow of a dying bulb. All we get are empty polemics about things like gay marriage or fake news, while we ignore the biggest picture of them all, global warming.
I really didn't think we'd sink to this level where the last two Treasurers seem to be people with very little intellectual capacity to deal with ideas more intricate or nuanced than rhetoric. I never would have guessed if you had told me back in 1993, that what I was witnessing was the last great contest of ideas at the ballot box; that it would be shits and giggles ever onwards, ever after.
Oh No Carrie Fisher?
2016 is proving to be a real shit. This morning's breaking news was the Carrie Fisherhad a heart attack on board a plane from London to LAX. She's in a critical condition and hospitalised, as of this writing. Apparently she is in ICU but her condition is stable.
Fisher, 60, was rushed to UCLA Medical Center by Los Angeles Fire Departmentparamedics shortly after noon, after her 11-hour flight touched down at LAX.
A source who was not authorized to discuss the incident said the actress was “in a lot of distress on the flight.”
A statement released by United Airlines said that medical personnel met Flight 935 from London on arrival after the crew reported a passenger was unresponsive.60 is much too young in this day an age for this to be befalling her. Our thoughts are with our favourite princess. May the Force be with her.
No comments:
Post a Comment