Economy: last 8 years

[Bomaz_Magic]

Very simple, its because interest rates are so low. Similar is happening in the USA and UK. Prior to deregulation by Hawke banks couldnt lend to the same extent even though interest rates were so low. BTW debt as a % of what? Household income or household assets? Have not households seen one of the largest increases in net wealth in Australias history under Howard?

If it was good enough for JC to answer a question with a question then its good enough for me.

You really are a moron, you can't respond to this stupidity and thats why I'm not bothering with these boards anymore.

 

[Bomaz_Magic]

Also, Alan Kohler is not really well respected and is a right wing conservative.

 

[medusala]

Which is why the ABC employs him because they love rabid right wingers.

 

[Bomaz_Magic]

If you didn't realise the ABC are run by the government, you did no that didn't you? Also just because a country has low interest rates it doesn't mean good economic management, the USA have I/R of 1.25% and there economy is in the ********, Japan has o% I/R and have high levels of inflation. And in response to your comment about Howard generating an increase in net wealth it is wrong as he has also recorded the highest level of household debt, due simply to the first home buyers grant causing the prices of houses to rise dramatically, consequently, resulting in record high levels of household debts. But if you think differently good for you because obviously that is not going to change so there is no point trying to convince you.

 

[medusala]

If you didn't realise the ABC are run by the government, you did no that didn't you? Also just because a country has low interest rates it doesn't mean good economic management, the USA have I/R of 1.25% and there economy is in the ********, Japan has o% I/R and have high levels of inflation. And in response to your comment about Howard generating an increase in net wealth it is wrong as he has also recorded the highest level of household debt, due simply to the first home buyers grant causing the prices of houses to rise dramatically, consequently, resulting in record high levels of household debts. But if you think differently good for you because obviously that is not going to change so there is no point trying to convince you.

So Howard has turned the ABC into a conservative bastion and is responsible for the hiring and firing of presenters now?

re increase in wealth, dont take my word for it.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/13/1097607303537.html?from=storylhs

The combined wealth of Australians has topped $5 trillion for the first time and doubled in the past seven years, thanks to a house price boom and surging sharemarket.

The new record in private wealth - $5000 billion - equates to about $250,000 for every man, woman and child in the country, compared with $126,000 in mid-1997.

A rise of almost 120 per cent over the past decade, dominated politically by the Howard Government, is the biggest increase in wealth over a 10-year period since comparable figures began to be collected more than 40 years ago. The economy's strength and voters' sense of prosperity were crucial to the Government's crushing election win on Saturday.

Yesterday's figures underscore the scale of the wealth surge which has underpinned that perception of prosperity since the Coalition came to office in 1996

 

[understudy]

For all you delusional ALP supporters and anti Howards crusaders, what is your theory as to the driver behind Howard and Costello's strong and stable economic management?

Reserve Bank of Australia.

Their management of the economy and interest rates and exhange rate settings have been impeccable since the early 1990's.

They have benefited from the advanced knowledge of the use of monetary policy amongst the economics profession and the benefits of focussing monetary policy on price stability.

 

[bunsen burner]

Reserve Bank of Australia.

YD.

And what influences the RB's decisions?

 

[understudy]

YD.

And what influences the RB's decisions?

No one, have a look at their charter, they are independent!

Their decisions are made on the basis of pursuing price stability, growth and employment.

Hope you are not trying to infer the government has an influence over monetary policy, becuase thankfully this is not the case, and that they no longer do is one of the best reforms in this country and around many in the world in the last 100 years.

The history of politicians interfearing in economic managment is a miserable one (predicated on re election rather than rationality).

 

[bunsen burner]

No one, have a look at their charter, they are independent!

Not what I was getting at. They don't pull their decisions out of thin air. Their decisions are influenced by, wait for it..., the economy and Govt policy.

Their decisions are made on the basis of pursuing price stability, growth and employment.

Yep, and the current situation of the economy and govt policy has to be taken into account.

Hope you are not trying to infer the government has an influence over monetary policy,

Sure am. They don't make the direct decisions and they don't coerce the RB on anything, but the simple fact of the matter is the RB has to take into account the state of the economy and other influences such as Govt policy.

 

[Former]

Fudging figures, weasel words and general dishonesty mean figures released by the government are worthless as anything more than a very general indicator.

How many times has a "surplus" suddenly become a deficit on closer scrutiny? How many times have the unemployment figures been disguised with special (and ineffective) work training schemes, extended education, part-time work and other creative statistical practices. For nothing more than their own personal empire-building these government officials, consultants and assorted hangers-on create wave after wave of wasteful obfuscation. It's pretty sickening when you get a peak at just some of the practices that do nothing but add a % or two on to the personal income tax rates so some **************** can have a cushy government job telling everyone what a good job they are doing.

It's a laugh that so many people, who are about as far away from the centre of power as you can get, spout the party line as if it were independent analysis. Then call everyone else stupid for not recognising the "common sense facts".

 

[Former]

The combined wealth of Australians has topped $5 trillion for the first time and doubled in the past seven years, thanks to a house price boom and surging sharemarket.

Think carefully... who is going to BUY those houses? Answer? No one.

Those figures are useless as no one is PRODUCING anything with that capital. It is sitting there as an inflated valuation. It is a house of cards that is already starting to fall. In any big change like that you are NEVER going to see the mid- to low-income group or "class" of people make real gains. They'll blow it, leaving a smaller group with a bigger slice of the pie unless they USE these gains for more than a bigger house, a newer car or a longer holiday.

Share market, yes, it has increased. Like most other share markets in the world. You'd have to severly mis-manage every financial aspect for that NOT to have occurred.

 

[Former]

c) Telstra doesnt have competition? What do Orange, Vodafone,AAPT etc do then? The US seems to survive without a state owned telecoms co.

Barely! Have you ever tried to do anything that requires use of the US telco system across more than one locality? It is a mess, lagging years behind the rest of the world in technology and interoperability. VoIP and similar might save it by sopping up the bandwidth glut and (FINALLY!) standardising some aspects of US telecommunications.