Neoliberalism rides again. . .in Qld?

[Jovial Monk]

Amazed Sheepy didn't mention this. . .doesn't he claim to live in Brisbane?

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/stor ... 52,00.html

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/stor ... 02,00.html

Queenslanders have lost their 8c a litre excise differential. The govt is also flogging off any number of govt assets--coal ports, forestry etc. Will give the budget a few billion dollars to ride out the recession. Smart too politically: have the election early then introduce the pain quickly, very early in the first term.

[Leftofcentresalterego]

They will be flogging everything that earns revenue (state governments of course, are revenue constrained, they do not issue the currency) and keeping that which does not ie public schools, hospitals.

[Jovial Monk]

Well, schools & hospitals bring in revenue--commonwealth grants etc.

Could be time to charge a small fee, and any privately insured patient going to a PH by choice must be billed.

And of course the Peanut Party is criticising them for these measures to regain AAA rating just like they critizing them for losing it--poor retards have been comprehensively outplayed. Still cannot believe Springborg just stopped campaigning on the Thursday, just sat on his arse while Anna went out and visited 30 electorates in 3 days.

[Leftofcentresalterego]

I'm not sure we should call commonwealth grants revenue though JM. They don't actually make money that can be used at the state's discretion, they're just there to provide a vital service.

Fuckin' opposition don't know where they stand - I bet they would have sold public hospital dialysis machines if they thought they could get two bob for them.

But if anyone suggests that the private sector will automatically run all these things better than government because..........well because they are the private sector and everyone knows that the private sector always runs everything better than government (just look at Telstra, Energex, the privately run local water retail board in my area who tried to abuse their monopoly power to increase water prices by up to one thousand, two hundred percent while the dam was on the verge of overflowing - the fluffy bunnies )

I don't advocate governments own everything - but I strongly oppose heading towards a situation where they don't own anything.

[Ethnic]

Not a big fan of Bligh but I think this is long overdue. And the idiotic Queenslanders (not you lefty!) whingeing left, right and centre about having to pay a few cents more per litre for petrol. So let me get this straight. Queenslanders are alright with spending ridiculous amounts of money on overpriced homes and contents but cry 'the end is nigh' because the small petrol subsidy will go? Bloody idiots. Is the fact that the QLD govt own so many assets the reason for their debt?

[Leftofcentresalterego]

I think the main reason for the QLD government's fiancial woes is the wind down of the resource boom, QLD being so heavily dependent on mining royalties as revenue.

The bits that they are flogging both pay for themselves (over the long term for the forestry) and earn income for the government. This is why it is these parts that are being sold - nobody would want to buy the bits that cost money to run but do not make money. These are pure public services.

But it seems a bit like selling the cow in order to buy milk. But it will (for now) satisfy the worthless, parasitic slimebags known as ratings agencies, who are so outstandingly brilliant at rating a given organisation's capacity to repay borrowings that some of them were still giving AAA ratings to US sub-prime mortgage debt just before the shit hit the fan and before that had given AAA rating to Enron up until the moment it collapsed under it's own debt burden, becoming the biggest corporate failure in US history until the recent debacle.

As for the fuel subsidy, well it's been almost two years since I've been interstate and I don't remember there being much of a difference (unless you were in the middle of nowhere). So it seems like the fuel companies simply made it a part of their margin. I think the original argument was that QLD has by far the most decenteralised population of any of the states, being more evenly dispersed along a two-thousand kilometre stretch, so cheaper fuel would be helpfull. But as I said, I think the fuel companies just gobbled it up. Maybe the QLD government government could have owned outback QLD's oilfields, a refinery and distributers. More than enough petroleum out there for QLD's needs (for now). Then it could be argued that there was no justification for us paying the global price, now approaching $70 US a barrel again, despite global recession (the very long term average in inflation adjusted terms is around $25 or $30 US a barrel).