The carbon tax

[lisa jones]

Commonsense on the CT:

http://www.smh.com.au/business/carbon-t ... 1hasd.html

Interesting article. Did you like the last paragraph Mr Monk?

"The ultimate irony. Both sides of Australian politics are committed to reducing carbon emissions. But in an odd twist, Labor is pushing for a market-based solution while the Coalition advocates government intervention. It's a funny old world."

[Jovial Monk]

Yup, and I knew Tone’s idiotic scheme was rather Stalinist b4 I read that article.

[Jovial Monk]

Keating was on Lateline just now.

Full of praise for the CT and the associated tax reforms, reforms driven through the MPCC by Treasurer Swan, in terms of how the CT would start capital being allocated to the new clean services etc and in terms of the high quality of the tax reforms.

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/

[Pastafarian]

Keating was on Lateline just now.

Full of praise for the CT and the associated tax reforms, reforms driven through the MPCC by Treasurer Swan, in terms of how the CT would start capital being allocated to the new clean services etc and in terms of the high quality of the tax reforms.

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/

Oh crap, its got the Keating kiss of death now.

[Jovial Monk]

Why?

[Pastafarian]

Why?

Because it was Keating. He's a grumpy old ex PM that still hasn't grasped that no one gives a crap.

[Jovial Monk]

That’s alright. Only political junkies would have been watching Lateline.

Must say tho, he liked the CT for the same reasons I did.

Swanny is underappreciated—has driven some amazing reforms, esp the current Budget and $22Bn of middleclass welfare gone in one fell swoop but the changes to the TFT, that Swanny drove all through the MPCC process, means he has already done more reform than Costello did in 12 years!

[Rainbow Moonlight]

I think he's been supportive of this government. And i don't see anything wrong with that.

[Jovial Monk]

Keating was a reformer. Basically, Labor does, Libs coast.

Curtin/Chifley actions—postwar immigration and Snowy scheme to employ the migrants and returned soldiers. Menzies comes in and coasts for 17 years, successors run out of puff and Whitlam gets in and gets our capital cities etc sewered and leaves the budget in much better shape than Treas Howard did (or PM Howard come to that) and all Fraser Howard do is wind back MediBank and run up the trifecta of simultaneous double digit inflation, interest rates and unemployment and record Budget deficit.

Hawke-Keating come in and deregulate the economy, open it up and Howard/Costello coast on their reforms, except for flogging off govt enterprises at firesale prices, record realised foreign exchange losses, flog off our gold reserves at bargain basement prices. Only reform anyone can ever recall that they did was the GST—and that was a political thing, to give Howard an agenda. Huge tax cuts to the wealthy created a structural Budget deficit we are battling today. They did create Productivity Commission and APRA—but that just involved jamming in various smaller pre-existing agencies/regulators into the PC/APRA banner, not real reform.

Rudd/Gillard/Swan battle the GFC so successfully that most don’t realised we dodged a nasty bullet. Now they are realising that, realising they have huge credit card and mortgage etc debt from the borrow and spend boom under Howard and Costello (who just fuelled the boom with tax cuts, pork barreling etc.) Now they are worried the poor things and are keeping wallets firmly shut and screaming about cost of living—shut up idiots and get debts paid off, you are doing better than nearly all people in history and around the world.

Rudd/Gillard/Swan now getting the NBN rolled out, bringing our communications into the 21st century, the Carbon Tax (phew, on topic at last) continuing the process of real reforms.

An Abbott govt would continue coasting (if we are lucky) but with the total bunch of incompetent dickheads making up their front bench I reckon they will try unwinding the CT and make big tax cuts for the rich—watch the Budget deficit balloon then! No fucking idea the lot of them and I include Turnbull in that.

OK Turnbull seems to be indicating the NBN is part of the landscape now:
http://www.armidaleexpress.com.au/news/ ... 27663.aspx

But he is a Liberal and I don’t trust them one inch, I mean, just consider the childish idiots in the Play Pen!

[Jovial Monk]

Oh, in in the Sheep Pen (might call that the Play Pen in future) we get this from Neferti:

Oh, why should your son's primary school get a Library because it is in a Greens area (votes for the GALP) ALL children primary and high schools need funds and that is what the Liberals do ..... spread it around, equally. Not like the GALP who choose where they need votes. LOL

What a fucking ill-informed moron! And she lives in Canberra and worked in the PS till recently. Perhaps she is judging our Labor govt with the pork barreling-election buying Howard shambles.

EVERY fucking school got work done. Despite much ill informed whinging this stimulus program put in good school halls (schools rent these out and have already made hundreds of thousands of dollars) libraries and class rooms. Lots of whinging—esp where a Principal had a bil who was a builder and supposedly would have done it for less—but over 95% of schools are happy with what they got, several reports, Orgill, Auditor General etc document this. Yes, some waste—it was a stimulus program to keep construction industry going. Up to the States to furnish the buildings.