mozzaok wrote on Sep 16
th, 2010 at 1:28pm:
Andrei.Hicks wrote on Sep 16
th, 2010 at 1:18pm:
Sorry but a Government that loses its majority in one term.
The first Government do do this in over 75 years - well that's a poor Government in anyone's book.
The two governments in question also share another commonality, happening to be in power during a global financial crisis.
That really impacted on labor's ability to provide the sort of government it wanted to, in it's first term, and the people here who carry on about the deficit as if the financial bottom line is all that matters for a government, when it is in fact the human costs that we want a government to manage.
It is funny Andrei that you praise the US as a great place, but what about their debt?
It is absurd, and the human cost from 8 years of right wing fundamentalism was very high on top of leaving the world with a huge financial mess to clean up.
So neither the right, or the left is going to guarantee us good government, we need to elect good people to do that.
Ok well there are any number of things wrong in this one post so its difficult to know where to begin.
1) The United States has not experienced 'Right wing fundamentalism' at any time in the recent past.
2) The global crisis was brought about by a lack of regulation within the sub-prime lending market and the regulation of multi-facet investment vehicles around the world. The weakening of these controls occurred under the reign of William Jefferson Clinton.
3) A Government's focus is not totally on the bottom line but it has to be considered. The economy is above all the most important aspect of a country. If something doesn't have good economic grounds to proceed then in my mind it should not proceed. A Government should not incur debt and spend it like a barroom drunk.
This occurred with their stimulus payments to people earning under $100k. They spent MY tax money on other people and I got nothing. Wrong.
In any man's book, a Government that loses a majority in one term, axes its PM in less than one term and struggles to govern with a cobbled together back bench of independents - that is and will always be classed a poor Government.
1) The United States has not experienced 'Right wing fundamentalism' at any time in the recent past.
Maybe it is just a matter of different perceptions, but I assure you that many people did characterise the Bush administration as right wing fundamentalists.
Now I was not actually attributing a primary cause to the GFC, just noting that the other government in Australia to lose a clear majority after one term was at the time of the Great Depression, so that was where I was drawing the comparison, and hoping people would realise that it is a tough gig to manage a country at such a time.
I am not saying bad calls were not made, just that bad calls would have been made whoever was in power, and on balance I think they got us through pretty well, and harping on what could have been done better, whilst ignoring what was achieved, is unfair.
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