A Hole Comments

It’s Not the Economy Stupid

The Victorian State Election was further confirmation that any government showing unsettling signs of fiscal responsibility is going to get voted out of office.
When it comes to a choice for voters between increased government debt and loss of entitlements it’s an absolute no-brainer.
In today’s tough economic environment there is no more sure-fire vote winner than promises of reckless spending.
Victorian voters who fondly recall the halcyon days of debt and deficit under Joan Kirner became frustrated with the Napthine Government’s out-dated preoccupation with a budget surplus. They saw in Daniel Andrews someone whose urge to spend big would not falter in the face of scurrilous accusations of fiscal irresponsibility.
Pig-headed spending persistence in the face of overwhelming debt and deficit is exactly what is needed to drive our economy down the same path as Greece.
Politicians with an irresistible urge to hang on to their seats are prone to promise anything provided some other poor sod’s got to pay for it.
The strategy of many governments seems to be racking up a debt of such dimension that the opposition’s promises to fix it are laughable. Even if the Republicans robbed every bank in the US they still wouldn’t have enough to pay off Obama’s $18 trillion debt.
Sadly Tony Abbott is an old fashioned politician who refuses to accept the inevitability that one day the Australian economy will become a Greek tragedy. Incredibly he still believes that fixing the budget should be a higher priority than free health, free education and allowing the unions to set pay rates.
The worry is that after the new Labor government creates another huge debt in Victoria and the next federal Labor Government boldly goes where no fiscally irresponsible administration has ever gone before Wayne Swan could be recalled to save the economy.
Meanwhile former associates of Peter Costello are rumoured to be campaigning for a Budget Surplus Remembrance Day.