It’s an absolute pleasure to have the current political conversation flatulating around the edges of the government’s revenue sources – and the get-rich-quick schemes that could be used to extract more money out of us. Meanwhile, $40 billion annual deficits are still being cranked out (see also above graph) and our $400 billion debt will be added to for years to come.
Continue reading “Editorial – More Taxes Won’t Fix the Budget”
Malcolm Turnbull’s justification for replacing Tony Abbott was that he could provide better economic leadership. Six months on, how much longer should we have to wait for the evidence?
Continue reading “Editorial – Turnbull’s Twisting in the Wind”
I don’t come here often
I usually refrain from critiquing things that Bill Shorten says or does – because it involves either something completely unintelligible or a hackneyed sound bite designed to crudely grab at the lowest denominator. I would have to open up a separate blog just to deal with it all. It would also be a waste of our collective intelligence to devote too much real thinking time to Bill’s tripe.
Continue reading “Editorial – Mr Ideas Still Running on Empty”
As part of Turnbull’s $1.1 billion ‘everyone put your thinking hats on’ plan, the bankruptcy period will be reduced from three years to one year.
The bankruptcy system is already a government created fantasy which allows people to recklessly stink at business (or swindle other people’s money), hide the loot, take a bankruptcy breather for three years while the ‘official’ assets are handed out at cents in the dollar – and then get straight back on the horse again like nothing ever happened (or simply retire to Mallorca, take your pick).
Continue reading “Editorial – Turnbull Encourages Business Fraud”
The moment Turnbull took over as Prime Minister, I wrote that his biggest challenge was getting the budget back in order, particularly in respect of the serious spending problem that we have.
So far, the talk has been about increasing the GST and increasing taxes on super for anyone earning more than $36,000. Hmm.
In 2006, the federal government had $45 billion in net assets (4% of GDP). Today, it has a cataclysmic $400 billion debt on the books, which is budgeted to grow to $480 billion within the next four years.
Continue reading “What Did We Get for Our $400 Billion Loan? (Part 1)”
While Turnbull and Bishop try to chophold hands with the Saudis on human rights, let’s go back to what Turnbull’s biggest focus should be – the budget. You know, that thing which currently has a $400 billion dollar debt sitting on the books, with annual deficits adding around $35 billion to the pile each year – and to which our future prosperity is tied.
Continue reading “Editorial – Malcolm, We Have a Spending Problem”
Adam Goodes is a champion footballer and one of the very best of his generation. By all accounts, he’s also an absolute gentlemen who gives a lot back to the community.
Continue reading “Editorial – Goodes Retires: Boogate Hopefully Now Over”
A lot of people are still feeding over the carcass of the coup: how it happened, when it started, who did what and when. The inevitable ‘Turnbull’s biggest challenge is to unite the party’ talk has also started. While these issues deserve some investigation and analysis, we really should be focusing on something far more important for Turnbull.
Never accepted and never going to be
Rightly or wrongly, the public never warmed to Tony Abbott and were never going to. His unpopularity was simply terminal. Even his own party never really accepted him as leader. There is even the famous rumour that senior Liberals told an ambitious Abbott during the Howard years, ‘sorry Tony, we just don’t see you as Prime Minister material’. With that, politics was never going to end up being kind to Abbott as Prime Minister – and it wasn’t.
Continue reading “Editorial – Tony Abbott’s Prime Ministerial Obituary”
The Marcus Review 