The Gillard Government

[Julia]

A further huge embarrassment to the Federal government is tonight's Four Corners program which shows people smugglers actually posing as refugees, given refugee status, including public housing, within nine months of arrival by boat, and then setting up a flourishing people smuggling operation from Australia, apparently even from Canberra!!!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-...ught-living-in-australia/4050506?WT.svl=news0

So much for the vetting process of these so called refugees.

Meanwhile, genuine refugees continue to rot in camps in Malaysia after applying to come here via the official channels.

And our own disadvantaged people sit on waiting lists of up to ten years for public housing, in the meantime often living out of cars or simply on the streets.

How utterly sickening.

 

[DB008]

And our own disadvantaged people sit on waiting lists of up to ten years for public housing, in the meantime often living out of cars or simply on the streets.

Just saw the show Julia.
WOW
Illegal refugees getting better treatment than people here who desperatly genuinely need it. Terrible.

 

[sptrawler]

This is par for course for this government, ill thought out policy that back fires, then the patch up fix, ends up worse than the original problem.
It must be getting to the point they really should stand down.
Bob Brown must be wetting himself with laughter, what a goon show.

 

[Julia]

Yes, it's farcical. But it's also very concerning that their vetting is so inadequate.
People smugglers are bad enough but the potential for much worse seems obvious.

 

[sptrawler]

Decided against posting, being too sceptical

 

[pilots]

The boat captains kids all had a Government house, here in Perth we have AUSTRALIANS LIVING IN CARS waiting for housing.

 

[Glen48]

According to 9 poll :
How many home owners would worrying.

VOTE
Do you think Australia's economy is safe?

31867

89001





​

 

[Calliope]

Yes, it's farcical. But it's also very concerning that their vetting is so inadequate.
People smugglers are bad enough but the potential for much worse seems obvious.

The people who do the vetting couldn't be that incompetent. I think it is part of a deliberate official process.

 

[drsmith]

Yes, we do need a new election, Drsmith.

This is a worry - Roxon said the government plans to shield MPs from scrutiny by moving Parliament outside the reach of FOI...:



Read more:
Slipper's expenses out of the bag but rest likely to stay secret

Something I suspect would have support from both the major parties.

There would likely be some shockers as per the British expoerience, from both sides.

Overall, it reflects very poorly on political culture.

 

[joea]

It is interesting the Federal Government making a big noise through the media on the Qld Alpha Coal Project, and Roxon in Townsville today.

I can only say the Labor campaign on Queensland has started.

And there is a fair chance that it all coincided with better economic figures released today.

joea

 

[joea]

When Austerity Fails

By Colin Twiggs
June 6th, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET (5:00 p:m AET)

These extracts from my trading diary are for educational purposes and should not be interpreted as investment or trading advice. Full terms and conditions can be found at Terms of Use.



Austerity decimated Asian economies during their 1997/98 financial crisis and similar measures have failed to rescue the PIIGS in Europe 2012. David Cameron's austerity measures have also not saved the UK from falling back into recession. So why is Wayne Swan in Australia so proud of his balanced budget? And why does Barack Obama threaten the wealthy with increased taxes while the GOP advocate spending cuts in order to reduce the US deficit? Are we condemned to follow Europe into a deflationary spiral?

How Did We Get Here?

First, let's examine the causes of the current financial crisis.

Government deficits have been around for centuries. States would borrow in order to finance wars but were then left with the problem of repayment. Countries frequently defaulted, but this created difficulties in accessing further finance; so governments resorted to debasing their currencies. Initially they substituted coins with a lower metal content for the original issue. Then introduction of fiat currencies — with no right of conversion to an underlying gold/silver standard — made debasement a lot easier. Issuing more paper currency simply reduced the value of each note in circulation. Advent of the digital age made debasement still easier, with transfer of balances between electronic accounts largely replacing paper money. Fiscal deficits, previously confined to wars, became regular government policy; employed as a stealth tax and redistributed in the form of welfare benefits to large voting blocks.

Along with fiscal deficits came easy monetary policy — also known as debt expansion. Lower interest rates fueled greater demand for debt, which bankers, with assistance from the central bank, were only too willing to accommodate. I will not go into a lengthy exposition of how banks create money, but banks expand their balance sheets by lending money they do not have, confident in the knowledge that recipients will deposit the proceeds back in the banking system — which is then used to fund the original loan. Expanding bank balance sheets inject new money into the system, debasing the currency as effectively as if they were running a printing press in the basement.

The combination of rising prices and low interest rates is a heady mix investors cannot resist, leading to speculative bubbles in real estate or stocks. So why do governments encourage debt expansion? Because (A) it creates a temporary high — a false sense of well-being before inflation takes hold; and (B) it debases the currency, inflating tax revenues while reducing the real value of government debt.

Continuous government deficits and debt expansion via the financial sector have brought us to the edge of the precipice. The problem is: finding a way back — none of the solutions seem to work.

Austerity

Slashing government spending, cutting back on investment programs, and raising taxes in order to reduce the fiscal deficit may appear a logical response to the crisis. Reversing policies that caused the problem will reduce their eventual impact, but you have to do that before the financial crisis — not after. With bank credit contracting and aggregate demand shrinking, it is too late to throw the engine into reverse — you are already going backwards. The economy is already slowing. Rather than reducing harmful side-effects, austerity applied at the wrong time will simply amplify them.

The 1997 Asian Crisis

We are repeating the mistakes of the 1997/98 Asian crisis. Joseph Stiglitz, at the time chief economist at the World Bank, warned the IMF of the perils of austerity measures imposed on recipients of IMF support. He was politely ignored. By July 1998, 13 months after the start of the crisis, GNP had fallen by 83 percent in Indonesia and between 30 and 40 percent in other recipients of IMF "assistance". Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and the Phillipines reduced government deficits, allowed insolvent banks to fail, and raised interest rates in response to IMF demands. Currency devaluations, waves of bankruptcies, real estate busts, collapse of entire industries and soaring unemployment followed — leading to social unrest. Contracting bank lending without compensatory fiscal deficits led to a deflationary spiral, while raising interest rates failed to protect currencies from devaluation.

The same failed policies are being pursued today, simply because continuing fiscal deficits and ballooning public debt are a frightening alternative.

The Lesser of Two Evils

At some point political leaders are going to realize the futility of further austerity measures and resort to the hair of the dog that bit them. Bond markets are likely to resist further increases in public debt and deficits would have to be funded directly or indirectly by the central bank/Federal Reserve. Inflation would rise. Effectively the government is printing fresh new dollar bills with nothing to back them.

The short-term payoff would be fourfold. Rising inflation increases tax revenues while at the same time decreasing the value of public debt in real terms. Real estate values rise, restoring many underwater mortgages to solvency, and rescuing banks threatened by falling house prices. Finally, inflation would discourage currency manipulation. Asian exporters who keep their currencies at artificially low values, by purchasing $trillions of US treasuries to offset the current account imbalance, will suffer a capital loss on their investments.

The long-term costs — inflation, speculative bubbles and financial crises — are likely to be out-weighed by the short-term benefits when it comes to counting votes. Even rising national debt would to some extent be offset by rising nominal GDP, stabilizing the debt-to-GDP ratio. And if deficits are used to fund productive infrastructure, rather than squandered on public fountains and bridges-to-nowhere, that will further enhance GDP growth while ensuring that the state has real assets to show for the debt incurred.

Not "If" but "When"

Faced with the failure of austerity measures, governments are likely to abandon them and resort to the printing press — fiscal deficits and quantitative easing. It is more a case of "when" rather than "if". Successful traders/investors will need to allow for this in their strategies, timing their purchases to take advantage of the shift.

passed on from IC joea your humble servant).

 

[So_Cynical]

What a surprise...its 9.30PM and no one has commented on today's stunning GDP numbers.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...n-on-bullish-gdp/story-e6frg916-1226386561291

4.3% annual growth, from a Labor government in office for almost 5 years....not a positive word on this forum, are you guys all brain washed or something? programmed to focus on the negatives with 1 vote Tony leading by example?

 

[MrBurns]

What a surprise...its 9.30PM and no one has commented on today's stunning GDP numbers.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...n-on-bullish-gdp/story-e6frg916-1226386561291

4.3% annual growth, from a Labor government in office for almost 5 years....not a positive word on this forum, are you guys all brain washed or something? programmed to focus on the negatives with 1 vote Tony leading by example?

That was historic datá to end of March, things arent any better retail is down, tourism is down , Europe is on the brink, the UK is in recession, we have lost our surplus , our housing bubble is bursting, we have a Carbon Tax almost here and Swan is still an idiot.

There hows that ?

 

[sptrawler]

What a surprise...its 9.30PM and no one has commented on today's stunning GDP numbers.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...n-on-bullish-gdp/story-e6frg916-1226386561291

4.3% annual growth, from a Labor government in office for almost 5 years....not a positive word on this forum, are you guys all brain washed or something? programmed to focus on the negatives with 1 vote Tony leading by example?

Yes tonight there was a street bbq everyone dancing and singing praise to the goon show. Well maybe in your street.LOL,LOL

I hope you invited the guys who work for Hastie, they would love to hear the great news.
Maybe you could tell them about all the jobs that are screaming out for them to fill.LOL

Also don't forget to mention if they miss out on the mining job, to imported labour.
There is allways the new green jobs comming up replacing our power stations with solar panels.LOL,LOL,LOL

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

What a surprise...its 9.30PM and no one has commented on today's stunning GDP numbers.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...n-on-bullish-gdp/story-e6frg916-1226386561291

4.3% annual growth, from a Labor government in office for almost 5 years....not a positive word on this forum, are you guys all brain washed or something? programmed to focus on the negatives with 1 vote Tony leading by example?

As I said in another thread, start a new thread on this. Go to General Forum and click " New thread ". And go from there and you will get comments on it.

gg

 

[So_Cynical]

That was historic datá to end of March, things arent any better retail is down, tourism is down , Europe is on the brink, the UK is in recession, we have lost our surplus , our housing bubble is bursting, we have a Carbon Tax almost here and Swan is still an idiot.

There hows that ?

Your leader would be so proud....so many negatives.

And yet 4.3% growth, low unemployment, low interest rates, AAA rating from all credit rating agency's...shall i continue?

Perhaps a worthwhile exercise would be a "5 years in" Coalition / Labor Government comparison?

Anyone know what our credit rating was in 2001? Unemployment % Interest rates?

As I said in another thread, start a new thread on this. Go to General Forum and click " New thread ". And go from there and you will get comments on it.

gg

Unfortunately the weight of the ASF right would ensure it turned into a 5 post thread or just another Labor bashing thread.

 

[MrBurns]

Your leader would be so proud....so many negatives.
Unfortunately the weight of the ASF right would ensure it turned into a 5 post thread or just another Labor bashing thread.

It's easy for Swan to gloat, he isnt running a business, the reality out there is not positive at all.

 

[sptrawler]

I couldn't be bothered chasing up more info, but this link gives you mortgage rates, So Cynical. If you want more graphical info on labor stuff ups, just google graphs covering labor years.

http://www.loansense.com.au/historical-rates.html
There you go I'm bored here's an unemployment graph

http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=as&v=74

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

Your leader would be so proud....so many negatives.




Unfortunately the weight of the ASF right would ensure it turned into a 5 post thread or just another Labor bashing thread.

S_C,

I do not understand you. Posters on ASF which is a Stock forum, which any fair minded person with an ounce of intelligence would imagine would be replete with people who are conservative in thought and voting intentions, have given you much slack.

You persist in your attacks on the motives of posters. You have failed to connect with posters when some agreement could have been reached in that which all agree upon.

And lastly I wished you a Happy New Year on a PM, to which you failed to reply.

I feel you are daily dining upon a sh*t sandwich, which is giving you indigestion, and which you take out upon innocent liberal and conservative thinkers.

And for what it's worth, I think Swan should be congratulated for the numbers today, but you failed to start a thread on which I could express this, and congratulate him.

gg

 

[wayneL]

What a surprise...its 9.30PM and no one has commented on today's stunning GDP numbers.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...n-on-bullish-gdp/story-e6frg916-1226386561291

4.3% annual growth, from a Labor government in office for almost 5 years....not a positive word on this forum, are you guys all brain washed or something? programmed to focus on the negatives with 1 vote Tony leading by example?

Where did the growth come from and how was it achieved (I don't know so I am asking)?

For instance in one of the last few quarters in NZ where I heard the breakdown, 2 export industries were in strong growth (logging, dairy), keeping the GDP figure positive despite the rest of the economy being in recession.

My contacts in Oz say things are pretty tight... and why has the RBA cut, why is the housing market in the pits and why is unemployment growing in the face of such strong growth?

The devil is in the detail.