Reforming the tax scales

[mantra.]

What garbage! That article I referred to said Asian countries will not have a bar of the IMF incompetents. Let's cut spending, let us hit our pensioners already doing it tough so even less will be spent! Weeeee!

The sooner the IMF is reformed and the neocons/neofiberals sacked the better the world will be: Keating is right, the G20 is who should control the IMF.

Well it's not going to happen. Rudd might be pretending to fight them and do his own thing - but he's already acquiescing. A few weeks ago the World Bank said those countries who were a little better off needed to give more money for overseas aid. Five minutes later Rudd digs his hand into treasury and drags out millions for the rebuilding of Palestine. Not that this is a bad thing - but why do we need to clean up Israel's mess?

Rudd will listen to the IMF because he has to - the same as Howard, Keating, Hawke and Fraser did before him. The World Order (Trilateral Commission) was formed in 1973 by Rockefeller and they keep the leaders of the western world on a very short leash.

There is no doubt whatsoever that Rudd will follow the IMF's instructions. It will be introduced gradually, in exactly the same way multiculturalism and free trade were. We have to protect the interests of the elite.

[Jovial Monk]

No mantra it won't.

Rudd will listen to Treasury.

[mantra.]

No mantra it won't.

Rudd will listen to Treasury.

It won't happen overnight - but Rudd has been ordered to make reforms and he will. Let's just see how the next 1-2 years evolve and my bet is that Rudd will do what he's told. Ken Henry is a public servant and also does what he's told.

Rudd can't fight the big boys, even though he might pretend to have aspirations to create a new world order. That's the difference between him and Howard. Howard loved the big boys and was as compliant as melted plastic.

Why do you think Rudd spent so much time overseas in his first year?

[Jovial Monk]

We don't need to borrow from the world bank so we can tell the IMF to go jump.

[mantra.]

We don't need to borrow from the world bank so we can tell the IMF to go jump.

We don't need to borrow from the World Bank, but we are minor shareholders in it (2%). In exchange for this share, we are allowed certain "favours" regarding major coporations and trade which apparently benefit our economy and this also means following their directives.

As far as borrowing - no we mightn't have to borrow from the World Bank - but they are certainly indicating that we will have to borrow from somewhere in the near future and then who will we be indebted to?

The IMF indicates that Australia still has plenty of room for government borrowing, noting that if debt blew out to 10 per cent of GDP (about five times the Government's forecast), it would require the budget balance to improve by only 0.1 per cent of GDP (about $1 billion) to stabilise the debt ratio.

[freediver]

Do you know what debt ratio means in that context mantra?

[Jovial Monk]

That doesn't say we have to borrow soon, it just indicates a possible contingency.

[mantra.]

Do you know what debt ratio means in that context mantra?

Not as well as you I assume FD, but to me it looks as though the IMF is saying - don't worry about getting into more debt, because Australia can afford to pay it back. In other words it doesn't matter if the budget bottom line is diminished because looking at the very worst scenario we only need a 0.1% revenue increase to service such a massive debt if we're forced to borrow.

It's still the wrong information and it means that they're giving Rudd a lot of room to play in - yet in the next breath telling him where to cut costs.

Do you know that all those experts - including Alan Greenspan - are only guessing at how to get out of this recession?

But logic - and some "conservative" economists will say that you don't get out of debt by creating more. All this speculation and borrowing still comes under the banner of gambling - leaders and the wannabe's and the elite are addicted to it.

[Jovial Monk]

No, some is gambling and some is investment.