Watching The Coalition Squirm Is Quite Funny

John Howard was treasurer between 1977 and 1983. Interest rates peeked at 13.5 % in December 1982.

"Under John Howard's watch as treasurer, interest rates were 21% and inflation was skyrocketing". Not sure where you got this info from.

At our highest interest rate peek in October 1989, it reached 17%. I remember vividly. This was the Hawke government and Keating was the treasurer.

 

I remember Keating, the self proclaimed "world`s greatest treasurer", If he`d been any more up himself, he`d have turned inside out.

 

I have to be fair Aussie. Although Keating was a little self obsessed he wasn't that bad a treasurer. Much better than the imposter we are currently suffering. If self obsession was a crime then we would not have one politician to rant about as they would all be in jail.

He was a least able to see in the advent of medicare. Back then it was great foresight.

 

I can see where you are comming from SF, it`s just that I`ve always been repulsed by Keating`s megalomania.

 

He wasn't self-proclaimed. He won an award a couple of years in to the Hawke government's term due to his freeing up the Australian economy. Previously it was protected but Keating engineered a liberalisation (in economic terms) of the economy. It is generally accepted that while it was politically risky at the time it did save us from the problems that beset a similar protected economy in Argentina some years later.

 

Not being picky but Bill Hayden, Treasurer under Whitlam, brought in Medibank as it then was - it was later changed to Medicare and is a monument to the Whitlam government.

 

He wasn't a megalomaniac, he was just determined. When he was PM he pissed off the Maritime Union big time. I recall being at the ACTU Conference in Melbourne in 1996 (as a Delegate) when Keating was PM and walked into the hall and everyone except John Coombes and his offsider (who were sitting right in front of me) stood up to welcome him. You can't bring that sort of reform into a country if you're a bit weak-willed. Keating had the courage of his convictions and it turns out for us that it was just as well he did.

 

I remember, I think they remarked something along the lines of him being a Liberal plant in the Labor government. This also was a precursor to Howards push on the AMU and busting the stranglehold they had on the warves. As arrogant a man as he was, he had some economic foresight, particularly where we sat among Asian economies. I didn't mind him to be honest.

You are right Whitlams government did create the basis of Medicare with their Medibank set up, however like much of whitlams policy it was bright and forward in thought but poorly strategised in regards to the economic costs involved. Medibanks privatisation, now I could be wrong (most times am, as memory is starting to wilt), was used to set up the Medicare System.

 

I can remember when Keating`s "recession that we had to have", sent hundreds of thousands of Australians to the wall, people were losing their houses, families were falling apart. It`s true that the economy had to be slowed slightly, but as is so often the case, the devil is in the detail. HOW things are done can be as, or more crucial than WHAT is being done. For example, we have a lovely old lady living close to us. If I was to help her across the road, I would never bash her in the head with an axe, and drag her across the road by the feet. This is an apt analogy of Keating`s "stytle", in an interview, Graham Richardson stated that Keating was so insular, that he wasn`t even aware of the pain that people were going through. I didn`t think much of Josef Stalin either.

 

The recession we had to have is interesting. I don't know if anyone has actually disproved that it was necessary. Capitalism is about boom and bust, recessions are seen as corrections, perhaps that's what it was?

 

Keating apparently persuaded the RBA to lift interest rates. It was apparently our saving grace even today. Inflation had been rising too rapidly through wage explosions. He had great foresight!

 

Ah, that's a nicely succinct summary - thank you.

 

No worries. I think it was a case of the media roaring louder than the truth once again!

 

Not often you and I agree Vigilante. The media still has a lot to answer. Gillard and Swan must be pulling their hair out currently as we have a robust economy and the media are howling it down. As someone at the forefront I can say it is severely damaging consumer confidence atm.

I remember Keating in an interview with Laurie Oaks many years after he left public office say that he never expected the rates to sky rocket the way they did. It was like a bushfire he said.

In the end it saved the nation from huge inflation, but a lot of people hit the wall. My parents included. It was tough times for low to middle income who were paying homes off. Dad being a Labor tragic harbours no resentment, as he believes it could of been worse. Losing your house is pretty bad if you ask me, then again he would vote Labor even if Dennis Ferguson was their leader. LOL.

 

Lol....he'd be on his own there! I'm a labor tragic, but it's not that noticeable as you can see! We gotta keep each other on our toes though. I was working in the construction industry during the boom of the eighties, it was absolutely exploding! Something had to happen, but always disappointing though. It's always hard to make sense of something when you are in the midst of it but intriguing to find out the technicalities of it when all is said and done.

 

About the media. I thought Gillard was a bit cheeky to lecture the Europeans, but some reports I read suggested that there were no international media at her press conference anyway. But there we see, particularly in the nutty Murdoch press, all this business about the Europeans getting upset because of Gillard. I had to check the ABC (denizen of the Left of course - sarcasm) to work out that it was the US that the Europeans were getting pissed off with. As if anyone would listen to little old Australia eh? Still it suited the shock jocks and the nutty right wing Murdoch press to play it up.

 

............

 

Her comments there reminded me of Rudd's, and now even worse Carr's, inappropriate turns of phrase in the international arena. It keeps making Australia look stupid and arrogant.... especially when its the leader of the nation. Not all countries are being intravenously fed wealth by the Chinese for various types of dirt and started their terms with such financial strength (thanks to the Libs).

 

Just the natural "progression" of human history, you see:

Ages ago, we had Kingdoms, ruled by Kings.
Then we "progressed" to Empires, ruled by Emporers.
Now, we have Countries,...................

 

We were, we can now see how bad it would be under the current situation if they were still here. Imagine life under the "Negative" Abbott, we would be in reverse gear, full throttle.

Nearly everyone I have spoken to will be much better off now then they would have been under a coalition government. But then most of the people I know are working class, not the few percent of rich capitalists that would benefit under a coalition government.

 

And unlike Kingdoms and Empires, the leaders of countries are elected by people just like us, they represent us, they are what we select to be our representatives.

Our governments are in my opinion a little like the crazy mirror maze, what we get is a distorted reflection of our society, of ourselves.

 

Except our Leader wasn't elected, it wasn't even a majority of the votes. It was a backroom deal with independents and even the completely blind can see the result; ineffective/detrimental carbon tax to suit the Greens, unable to move on boat people because of the Greens.

Being negative is only inappropriate when it is inappropriate. Most people understand being in Opposition to this ALP government it is appropriate, no vital, for Abbott to be negative because it is realistic!!!!! What most people are sick of is the unfounded negativity from the ALP - since they are the ones claiming to be in power.

 

Well what can I say I haven't said, our government is a distorted version of our society. Years of complacency, greed and often laziness has allowed such situations to occur. We continually blunder ahead, scared of anything new or different. We have gone from a society that believed in "A Fair Go" to one that believes in "I'm alright Jack".

We are happy enough to sit back and let others run the show, but we don't want to be bothered about the mechanisms and rely on shock jocks or media sensationalists to keep us informed when we're not watching the football or cricket.

I over the years have been actively involved at various stages with P&C's, Junior Agricultural Societies, local councils, political parties etc and one thing that was constant throughout all these was our eagerness to attack, criticize and vilify, matched only by our unwillingness to be involved, bothered or to contribute.

So instead of sitting around whinging about the mistakes we made, we should be looking for visionaries, new people. We should become involved, put up or shut up, maybe we can save ourselves yet, but I don't think so.

 

You've absolutely nailed it mate......are you listening Culldav, dumb and whats his name magoo??

 

Good post DV.