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May 29, 2012
It's strange times that we live in. Australia's economy is booming compared to Europe and the US and yet most Australians have been persuaded by the Liberal Opposition's doom and gloom narrative that we are all going to hell in a bucket. The world is going to end in the sense that Australia is becoming like Greece or Spain.
We live in an inverted world in Australia and few notice the inversion. Even though young Greek and Spanish professionals are coming to Australia to look for work and to brush up on their English, or the rest of the world sees Australia as a winner from globalisation because of mining, Australian's are miserable and unhappy. They are angry and full of sob stories, even though the interest rate, the unemployment rate and the inflation rate are all less than 5 per cent.
Bruce Petty
What is causing the ruination, decline or unhappiness? Why the mining tax. And the carbon "tax". Bad industrial relations. And a minority government. Too much red and green tape. Expensive housing. These are damaging our economy big time.
The arguments in support of the doom and gloom thesis are thin. One popular one is that Greece went downhill because of government debt, Australia has government debt, therefore Australia is going bad. The evidence? These are the worst economic conditions in decades, nay in living memory. How so? We are in debt. The credit cards are maxed; mortgaged repayments are high; house prices are flat; consumers aren't spending; too much money is being spent on the welfare state rather than reducing taxes.
The Coalition is asking for a mandate to undo all the Rudd/Gillard policies that have bought about Australia's "decline". They seek their mandate through a campaign of unremitting negativity designed to show the minority government is causing all the chaos through its reforms. Chaos means political uncertainty--a government lurching from crisis to crisis exemplified in backbench rebellion. The impression is that everything is a crisis.
Big Business says it lacks confidence and can't invest. It won't until there is a majority government from an early election.
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"Australia's economy is booming compared to Europe and the US..."
Well, parts of Australia's economy are booming. Other parts aren't:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-23/non-mining-states-27going-backwards27/3967622
That's what is called a two speed economy. While the mining boom makes National statistics look good, when you disaggregate State by State, it's not so simple. And most Australians don't live in the mining States.