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Kevin Rudd

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Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?


Amazing, but it looks like publicity is more important than substance for our PM.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

No doubt about it, our PM is an attention wh0re
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

Prime Minister Kevin DUDD
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

Mr Rudd may look like a dorky boofhead, but I have been assured that he is very intelligent. Why then does he persist in the nonsense idea that we will ever be able to produce affordable and reliable energy from wind or solar power.

while touring a coal/solar power station in the Hunter Valley in NSW, the Prime Minister said the Government intended to build the biggest solar generation plant in the world
Click to expand...

I am not knocking solar energy. It can be very handy when it is free. I do my bit. I have a solar powered clothes dryer. It hasn't worked too well the last few days (we have had 500ml of rain) but I can wait.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

The following was sent to me by a friend. His words, not mine, although I pretty much agree with most of it.


My father used to harp to us kids the importance of common sense. He called it CS.

I have tried to use CS to clearly see what is happening to us under the present Rudd regime.



As I see it, the following are truisms:



* During the election campaign Rudd described himself as a “fiscal conservative”

He then inherited a surplus of $23 Billion from Howard & Coy.

In 18 months that surplus has become a $33Billion Deficit ! He makes Whitlam look an amateur.



* Besides his expensive initial election promises his spending plans now seem to be often made up on the run. To date few, if any, are properly costed and no cost/benefit analysis has been done. His second budget just presented is very controversial.



* ETS. Unlike many earth scientists he is convinced the planet is heading for catastrophe and has beefed up hysteria about human induced global warming. He is sure that CO2 emissions are the reason and intends to make Australia an example to the rest of the world in spite of it causing extreme financial damage to our economy. He ignores the miniscule impact Australia could produce even if his beliefs were partially correct. He has commissioned a close friend and co- believer Garnaut to produce a supporting report and recommendations. Most respected earth scientists call it rubbish. (incl Prof. Plimer)

The legislation now before the parliament lacks in factual detail.



* GFC Global Financial Crisis. Thanks to Greenspan the US markets have been allowed to work unregulated. Thanks to derivatives and marketing of dangerous debt packages designed by financial engineers and unwise lending to inadequate borrowers, the US has fallen into a financial crisis. It is so huge (multi trillions) that other countries are caught up also. UK, Europe, Russia and even mighty China is feeling the effects. Banks are withholding loans and global trade is effected.

Australia has been better managed but as an exporter of commodities we also suffer when our customers don’t buy.



The solution most countries have adopted is to throw enormous sums of money around.

The US has put their printing presses into overdrive to print US$ like has never happened before. This MUST devalue the US$ but that result is yet to emerge in a significant way.

Rudd & coy are following suit in a way that (in my opinion) is not so necessary and which also lacks quality selections. They call it a “stimulus package” but already they have demonstrated ineptness. An example was

$20 Billions of borrowed money sent to millions of Australians in $900 handouts in an effort to get people spending. More than half was saved in bank accounts for a rainy day and a large proportion was spent on goods imported from overseas. It did little for jobs creation.



* When Rudd was elected, the trade union votes demanded a quid pro quo. The quid was in the form of putting ex trade union officials into ministerial positions. We now have a government heavily stacked with union heavies.

The deputy Prime Minister madame Gillard has now thrown out the very successful and proven work contract system created by Howard and has replaced it with the one that the Unions want.

The present government is very light on for well educated professionals- lawyers, bankers, business managers etc



* Another recent surprise announcement has been the hugely expensive ($43 Billion & still counting) high speed broadband offering 100 Mbps through fibre optics right to the home. Great – if only it didn’t cost so much! It will make downloading movies so much faster but what productivity profits will it generate ?

Note that the $43 B cost is a figure out of the air so far – it hasn’t yet been costed and probably will cost multiples of that eventually if and when it comes to fruition. Rudd &coy apparently don’t want to consider an alternative system which is not quite so good but at a fraction of the cost.



* Rudd is hoping his stimulus package will result in jobs creation. Opposition leader Turnbull is correct when he says it’s the small businesses that should be stimulated not the large organizations. Those organisations will largely have to wait until global trade picks up. Small businesses are the engine room of jobs. Think the success of Taiwan.



* Infrastructure. Rudd believes now is the time to borrow huge sums to be spent on large scale infrastructure. With a couple of exceptions he again is misguided. Now is NOT the time to cripple the economy with debt that will take decades to pay off.

It took 10 years to clear the last Labor debt of $96 Billion. How long to recover from the $190 Billion as it presently stands. ?



However, it is a shocking indictment to have hundreds of huge bulk carrier ships queued offshore at anchor waiting for a turn to load our export cargoes. Hence expenditure on port and loading facilities and rail can be justified. Noting that it will take a couple of years minimum to so construct these projects but they will then produce a return on capital invested. This is unlike other less wise expensive capital works viz building better access roads, tunnels etc. These will get you to work quicker but where is the bang for the buck? Now is not the time for such expenditure.



* Defence. Huge cost but little actual benefit. (??) We presently have half our submarine fleet out of action because of lack of crews !

We have to ask ourselves can we really afford to have capital vessels and the very best aircraft for defence of Australia ? I really don’t know the answer to this one and can only hope that the actual payments are so far in the future that we will have had a chance to first repay the enormous debts this government if forcing on us.









So what about these deficits and borrowings. ?



A loan is a loan whether it be a family house loan or a national loan. It must be paid back.

The question then is what can be afforded?

One of the main reasons for the present global crisis is that lending institutions supplied loans to people who had no hope of servicing the loan. The irony is that the defaults have resulted in a dearth of money supply as lenders became over cautious and restricted supply.



Can Australia afford the huge borrowed amounts being mooted ?

Rudd says Treasury says it can ! How? Because Treasury predicts that our growth will be positive in 2 years and after that we will be going gangbusters again for at least 6 years ( maybe 20 years) at what we were doing in the boom times. That is over 4.5%. per year



Do I buy this ? No bloody way !

As Terry McCrann says Treasury have not got it right once this century – so why should they suddenly be believed now ?

Even the Wall St. Journal has stated the Rudd/Swann/Treasury ideas are flawed.



Consider this.

The US is in DEEP trouble – not by Billions but multi TRILLIONS!

Already we are seeing very large corporations going bankrupt. Think General Motors and all the associated firms that depend on the big milk cow.

( It is not confined to the vehicle industry by the way.)

As already mentioned the flow on effects round the world will make recoveries drawn out and Australia cannot expect to sail on blissfully independent of our trading customers as Rudd, Swann, and Treasury’s Ken Henry would have us believe.



That is my assessment anyhow. – its plain CS.

If this is even more or less correct then the sooner we get a change of government the better for all of us.

Every time we have a Labor government we go into debt in a big way. Goodness knows whatever more brain waves are still to come from the man who speaks Chinese ! (I read somewhere that Rudd’s words appeal to the Chinese but they are not convinced of his sincerity and can be trusted.)



“Rudd’s chaotic and unpredictable leadership and his obsession with political spin” is how economic editor Alan Wood puts it, including Rudd’s determination to impose a flawed Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) on Australia.



Do you believe the Treasury forecasts in the light of the world economy being weaker for longer? Do you believe Rudd’s commitment to, keep their spending below 2% per year ?

Well I don’t. Is your CS the same as mine?.



God save the Queen AND Australia (while we’ve got this mob!)
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

Commsec Market Bulletin identifies a problem:

1.
Point of view:
Budget deficit spoils confidence
The sharp improvement in consumer sentiment noted last month
has fast been eroded. The continued talk of a horror budget,
record budget deficit and rather pessimistic views on the
Australian economy by officials in the lead up to the budget has
created a toxic cocktail of negative sentiment over the last few
weeks.

2.
I know of at least one $9C cheque posted to Singapore to one of their temporary students visiting our Country. Mr Rudd is certainly globally "visioned", though many may have a better description of this act.


ps. I believe Bunyip's mate's comments below are well-worth the read.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

K Rudd inspires me to quit my job and join the dole.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

Oh goody... I am hoping it won't be a return to the bad old days. But the unions still smell the same as they always did. Hearing more and more stories lately and it was one of my fears of having a labor govt.
If they stuck with the big guys fair enough. But the power soon goes to their fat heads and the rest of the business community pays as well. Business confidence will get a shake if the govt doesn't get a handle on this fast

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,,25380009-2862,00.html

 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

Confidence in Rudd and Swan. I'm afraid not. They both make my skin crawl.

Annabel Crabbe in the SMH today


 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

Calliope said:
Confidence in Rudd and Swan. I'm afraid not. They both make my skin crawl.

Annabel Crabbe in the SMH today
Click to expand...
Annabel has a good turn of phrase and appropriately sums up the disgust generated by these two.

But sadly I expect the masses who would just be focused on their $900 cheques would be unlikely to read such criticism as Ms Crabbe so fluently pens.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

Julia said:
Annabel has a good turn of phrase and appropriately sums up the disgust generated by these two.

But sadly I expect the masses who would just be focused on their $900 cheques would be unlikely to read such criticism as Ms Crabbe so fluently pens.
Click to expand...

What ticks me off is the people who voted these clowns in - some of whom are now criticising them. This includes a relative of mine who reckoned Rudd was the best thing since canned beer. Now she admits she made a mistake in voting for him.

The Howard/Costello government had the economy on a sound footing after lifting it out of the mire created by years of Hawke/Keating incompetence. Then what happens - the masses stupidly turn against them and replace them with this current rabble of mostly union spivs and a gawky goofy rock singer. Bloody unbelievable.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?


LOL! Very funny.

I would never vote labor even if i could vote in Oz, but i still gotta wonder how the Libs would have handled this crisis. I suspect there would have been more of a business focus though, maybe more on infrastructure. To be honest I'm not sure the Labor party has the political balls to do anything innovative here.

Singapore is doing some really innovative things though, like encouraging business's not to layoff employees by giveing them a tax break to keep them on. Plus lots of infrastructure projects....which can never amount to too much, given the country is basically a big city. - love the place though....they reckon it could become the "Switzerland of Asia" one day.

Cheers,


CanOz
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

Mr Gottliebsen appears to me, at least, to be unequivocal in his stance with respect to the title of our thread at this point in time:

http://www.businessspectator.com.au...pineless-nation-pd20090525-SCRHQ?OpenDocument
Commentary
6:55 AM, 25 May 2009
Robert Gottliebsen
Creating a spineless nation
Over the weekend I was contacted by a medium-sized business operator who is worried. He voted for Labor because of the excitement Kevin Rudd delivered at the time and because of the divisions at the top of the Liberal Party.

Like everyone else he has been hit by the global financial crisis and the value of his business has been slashed. However, he still enjoys a good salary and has been saving via superannuation. What’s now really concerning him is the subtle attack, currently gaining momentum in Canberra, on entrepreneurship and those who have really worked to put money away for retirement.

Many of the attacks are being justified as an 'end of middle-class welfare' but to the man I spoke with they are a concerted attack on the backbone of our community – entrepreneurs and those that have worked very hard. Some of the measures come from the Ken Henry tax review, but they all attack the same group of people. Here is this particular businessman's list of concerns:

– The first concern he mentions is a surprise – the increase in the pension age. It's not that he plans to go onto the pension, but that move is signalling to him that he will need to keep older workers on longer. Longer serving workers can be very expensive given their long service leave and other accrued benefits. Even more significantly, it will trigger a volley of nasties for the self-funded retirees. He has been saving vigorously to be self-funded.

– The first spin-off is the Henry recommendation to lift the super vesting age from 60 to 67 in line with pension age. A great many people have poured money into superannuation on the basis of the Costello rules. A savage rise in the vesting age would be an enormous attack on the baby boomers.

– Then there's the Henry recommendation to tax super earnings for those who have taken a transition to the pension (ie, over 55) . Again it’s those who have saved for their retirement on one set of rules only to find them changed – and those who are still saving will be further in the gun.

– There's also the possible changes to dividend imputation. It’s not likely to happen, but it’s on the list. That would savage the stock market.

– The new tax on employee share schemes is really bad for SMEs. It may be amended, but the fact that it was tried showed that there is no sympathy or understanding in Canberra for the small enterprise movement.

– The next complaint concerns the new Gillard IR laws on small business led by the so-called 'award modernisation'. That’s a total nightmare. Much shift work, which is so important to productivity, will be the subject of high penalty rates.

– Next is the tax office crack-down on trusts. Trusts are a widely used structure for smaller and medium businesses.

These concerns, then, make up the core of my businessman's list of worries, but there are also a few more obtuse items which are concerning him.

– Uncertainty over the government battle with Telstra (most DIY super funds hold Telstra stock).

– Big pressure on the RBA to further cut rates (thereby reducing DIY superannuation interest income) to try and deliver Swan’s high economic growth forecasts. In theory this would help his business, but rate reductions are rarely passed on to business. All the government pressure is on mortgage rates, not business lending rates.

If the government actually follows through and implements all those recommendations, and Malcolm Turnbull is good enough, then the list has the potential to put Turnbull in office.

It would certainly put Peter Costello in office.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

Thanks for posting Robert Gottliebson's piece, Rhen. His usual succinct style gets to the point.

But isn't the businessman in question perhaps a bit unusual in having voted Labor? Wouldn't his natural fit be to vote Liberal?

Obviously, what I'm getting at is that the government are essentially trying to shore up their natural voting base, and probably acknowledge that in so doing they will further alienate those who on the whole wouldn't have voted for them anyway.

The Libs need to be much more vocal than they are being at present to drive home the very points made by the businessman in the article.
As Mr Gottleibson has suggested, Costello would certainly be doing this.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

I don't think Rudd was being racist when his parting shot at Trujillo was one word... "adios". It was just his way of saying good riddance under the guise of being funny. Some people can disguise nastiness with humour, but Rudd is so completely devoid of humour that it always falls flat.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

An email received today...


Walking Eagle

On a recent trip to the U.S.A. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was invited to address a major gathering of the American Indian Nations in Kitimat, B.C. due to his experiences in handling the Indigineous situation in Australia.
He spoke for almost an hour on his ideas for increasing every First Nation's present standard of living.
At the conclusion of his speech, the tribes presented the Prime Minister with a plaque inscribed with his new Indian name - Walking Eagle.
The proud Rudd then departed with his entourage, waving to the crowd as he left.

A news reporter later asked the chiefs how they came to select the new name given to Rudd.
They explained that Walking Eagle is the name given to a bird so full of ****, it can no longer fly.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

What I am worried about is do the Libs want to get back in, how in heavens name can they get us out of the mess Krudd has us in. This will be the LAST time you will ever see Labor in power in Australia for a VERY long time.
Just think what it would be like in question time, Sir the last two times Labor was in power the country was in so much debt it took the Libs xxx years to pay it off, you want to do that all over again
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

pilots said:
What I am worried about is do the Libs want to get back in
Click to expand...

If they give Rudd the grounds for a double dissolution they will not only lose the election they will lose the senate which will give Rudd unfettered power to destroy the country in his own way.

The same fan club that holds Rudd in such high esteem in the popularity polls is the same majority that will vote for the Rudd/Wong ETS, without having a clue what it is all about.

But, to achieve this he has to go to the polls early before the full economic rot sets in, and fight the election on the ETS.
 
Re: Does Rudd inspire confidence?

Exactly. I suppose the Libs know this and will negotiate on the ETS?
The latest poll shows the government and Rudd in particular still way up there in the minds of the electorate at large. Turnbull was perceived as "arrogant".
 
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