Bull in the china shop

Fred Argy

In Parliament, Kevin Rudd accused Malcolm Turnbull of undermining public confidence in vital Budget bills, in key financial institutions and in the Government's senior advisers. He thus failed "the first test of a responsible political leader" and shown "excessive arrogance, recklessness and lack of control" at a time of global crisis.

On the other hand, Mr. Turnbull accused the Rudd Government of "consistently putting its short term political strategy ahead of responsible economic management" by:

(a) Talking up inflation and talking down the economy;

(b) Refusing to release its latest economic forecasts - the "evidence" on which its fiscal policy was based;

(c) Engaging in a "slippery performance" about the RBA's degree of support for a cap in the bank deposit guarantee; and

(d) The government's failure to satisfactorily deal with the issue of an "unlimited guarantee" on bank cash deposits - and thus causing cash management moneys to flow out to those guaranteed institutions.

I now want to consider each of the four cases above and then reassess the chances of bipartisanship.

In essence, Rudd chose to adopt the Reserve Bank's line of attack on inflationary pressures. As the events developed, the RBA may have exaggerated the inflationary problem, so Turnbull's attack on the Budget Bill proved to be of little consequence. But it was a legitimate area of concern, at least in the early months of Rudd's term of office.

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see toon at top... Like the Daleks, the Liberal party seems to know only one simplistic thing: exterminate.

In a statement to Parliament today, Mr Rudd said the Government would be irresponsible not to spend on infrastructure to prop up growth if global economic conditions continued to deteriorate.

"If Australian economic growth slows further because of a further deepening of the global crisis then it follows that Australian Government revenues will reduce further," he said.

"Under those circumstances it would be responsible to draw further from the surplus and if necessary to use a temporary deficit to begin investing in our future infrastructure needs, including hospitals, schools, tafes, universities, ports, roads, urban rail and high speed broadband," he said.

"Such action would support growth would support families and jobs and would be undertaken in the national interest."

But Mr Turnbull seized on the statement as a sign of economic weakness.

"The key to managing difficult times is discipline and the willingness, the guts, to take tough decisions," he said.

"All through this year the Prime Minister has made no hard decisions.

"The Prime Minister has mismanaged our response to the global financial crisis. The Prime Minister wants a leave pass for economic laziness."

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Gus: it appears that Mr Turnbull has not heard that the US boffins have now spent 5 trillion dollars in total trying to rescue their US economy, this on top of their already huge deficit... And under Gus prediction there could be another 5 trillion to go...

So far Kev Rudd has done the best that can be done for Australia's economy and this firm statement comes from multimillionaire geezers who, unlike Malcolm, have not become amateur politicians — especially one trying to politically profit from a very delicate situation brought out by his former boss, John Howard and his merry friend, Bushit the Minus.

Of all things before the last federal elections, I was already warning my neo-conservative friends (yes I have some), in a very gentle way, that the way the economy had been managed by their mates was going to blow up like never before. And I argued Australia would be slightly less affected not because of a better management but because there were still some prudential and social laws that our Johnnee had not had time to put his hands on  — but was slowly working towards dismantling when "the time would have been right" should he'd been elected some more. The Yankeenisation of Aussieland was on its way like never ever...

At least Work Choices is now moribund. let's hope the opposition led by Malcolm does not try to keep it alive secretly. A Dalek in a fragile universe? We don't need that, Malcolm.

One of the cry on BigBux Street — long ago shouted on this site — is that Greenspan was somewhat criminal letting the interest rates in the US so low for so long, allowing for an overinflated value of the market to the tune of up to 200 per cent. Greenspan only did this caper to allow the survival of George W Bush and his neo-conservatives who also ruled in Australia... Under the neo-conservative management of Howard and Bush, many financial sins were committed, including the rape of the social system that blew up huge differences between the rich and the middle and poorer classes — classes that were treated like dirt but given the illusion of care — now in debt up-to the ears.

Malcolm should say nothing with brilliance... and be less of an obstructionist... see toon at top.