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April 5, 2012
Will the Gillard government stick to its guns, make some tough decisions, deliver cuts, defy reduced tax revenues and accede to the neo-liberal budget surplus mode of governance? A budget surplus is deemed to be good fiscal policy and is akin to austere (and rather fundamentalist) household budgeting even though , federal tax revenue since the global financial crisis has fallen by the equivalent of 4 percentage points of gross domestic product [about $60 billion a year].
Apparently a budget surplus is a political imperative not a economic one. Debt must be paid off and budgets balanced. If not, then the Gillard Government can be accused of government of profligacy. Look what happened to Greece and Ireland. So argue the fiscal conservatives with respect to the ALP's economic management.
Since the prevailing view in the electorate that the ALP"s Coalition opponents are superior economic managers, the notion of economic management is a fundamental political issue confronting the ALP.
Labor has allowed itself to be locked into the current economic orthodoxy on a permanent basis thereby consigning itself to a very narrow range of economic and social policy choices. In the context of falling government revenue budget surplus means cost cutting. Since the $32 billion military budget remains as sacrosanct as the budget surplus, neo-liberal idea of budget surplus means cuts to schools, universities and hospitals.
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Society self-brainwashing itself.
Pointing out the idiocy of one size fits all and cut your nose off to spite your face, was what got Quiggin sacked from the Fin Review.
But what's left?
Management of decline, "governance" and "performance" of government, dislocated from reality and reinforced through the conditions within secret trade treaties and the allied tyranny of corrupt or skewed ratings agencies.
In other words, lie there, get shafted and pretend it could be worse.
Don't run a modest deficit on the basis of the need to acquire some logically-assessed game changing new infrastructure, or even adequately maintain older education and public broadcasting etc, that provide a long term dividend.
Just beggar your self for rent seekers, ignore the warnings of your own brains and common-sense, and substantially blind yourself for the benefit of your enemies.