Wow, What An Economy, Josh Delivers A Much Better Budget Than Scomo Ever Did…

March 31, 2022 Rossleigh Rossleigh 11

Economics is the study of scarcity… Or something like that. I remember this from some textbooks I was forced to read as part of my first experience of the subject…

Anyway, a few months later, I topped the class at an elite private school in Year 11… By the next year, I was so confused by the whole thing that I almost failed my end of year exam.

This, as I have pointed out on numerous occasions, is because I actually understood how little sense it made. Since then, cleverer people than me have managed to do two things.

  1. Explain things so that I understand what was wrong with the orthodoxy at the time
  2. Confuse the rest of you so that you have no fucking idea how silly it all is once you fail to understand the first sentence that I wrote, which I may refresh your memory by repeating: “Economics is the study of scarcity…”

I’d like to emphasise the word “study” here because sometimes a word or two can get lost in the brouhaha of politics. Rather than “study” things, economists now often do something more akin to examine the entrails of a chicken and then making predictions…

I’m sure there are several economists out there who’d dispute that view of them and I guess that’s why they get invitations to be on committees to justify what the government is doing and I only get invitations to have coffee and discuss the football.

But back to Josh’s Budget…

I find it interesting that he was making a big thing about the fact that the predictions of just a few months ago were too pessimistic and that the economy is in much better shape than we thought and thanks to that we can all have something. You know, if you’re a welfare recipient, you can have $250 but if you are a low income earner with a job you can have $450 and if you earn lots of money, you can have the government, why you had them at hello…

Yeah, I find it interesting because the same mob who promised us pre-2019 election that they had a surplus next year are now telling us that their recent predictions were wrong but their future predictions will be accurate because well, they just will be, ok, and isn’t it great that, like the Budget surplus that never happened, wages will start to rise… but not until after the election…

Ok, I’m a wee bit cynical. But when even Pravda (aka “The Australian” because it’s owned by an American) has a front page headline saying “THE COST OF WINNING”, I suspect that anything less than cynicism is what used to be known as “gullibility” before the word was banned under cancel culture.

I just can’t quite grasp what the Coalition thinks it’s doing to win the election. Sure, the Budget is a bribe but it’s rather like offering the parking inspector your used chewing gum if he/she tears up the ticket. Yes, they’ve already reduced the excise on petrol so that they can say, “See, Labor does raise taxes!” when the sunset clause expires in September. But how does it help them when Morrison suggests that people experiencing rent stress should just buy a house? I was waiting for someone to ask him if he’s worried that the $250 he’s giving to welfare recipients won’t cause housing prices to rise when they all use it as a deposit. Or just hours after being called a bully by a member of his own side, Hanson and Lambie, the PM tells us that he understands why Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, because nothing suggests that you’re not a bully better than condoning violence because you feel someone has overstepped the mark. And apart from anything else, nobody has locked Barnaby in a cupboard till the election’s called and he can just be sent to do a tour of country pubs in some sort of climate change doubt envoy role.

Let’s be quite clear here: If Scott Morrison was a jockey, the stewards would be questioning him after the election about whether he was running dead. If he was a football coach, he’d be accused of tanking. If he was a Prime Minister, he might actual do something to help the country.

 

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Post Views: 772
About Rossleigh 1447 Articles
Rossleigh is a writer, director and teacher. As a writer, his plays include “The Charles Manson Variety Hour”, “Pastiche”, “Snap!”, “That’s Me In The Distance”, “48 Hours (without Eddie Murphy)”, and “A King of Infinite Space”. His acting credits include “Pinor Noir Noir” for “Short and Sweet” and carrying the coffin in “The Slap”. His ten minutes play, “Y” won the 2013 Crash Test Drama Final.

11 Comments

  1. Call me when the election is done,then I will consider my options.The horseshit that will crowd the next two months is as predictable as it is insulting..same with sport,same with the garbage called television or fucking media.The ‘Lucky Country’ wallows in mediocrity.The thing we have pretending to be our leading politician is a psychopathic liar that portrays Australia as a basket case of imbeciles.

  2. That’s the thing that really gets me too – they are bragging about how wrong their predictions were three months ago whilst asking us to trust their predictions for ten years hence.

  3. Remember how the government floated the idea of halving the excise (tax) on draught beer to get us all back into the pubs and clubs : the government didn’t suggest that we all go out and get pissed, they suggested that the move would create more employment behind the bar.

    Don’t you remember that ? I certainly do and I remember various groups coming out and saying it was very sexist as it is mainly men who drink beer at the bar in pubs and clubs (there was no suggestion that the cut in excise would apply to take away grog.)

    Josh can’t remember it either and Morrison denies it was ever a thing – but he would, wouldn’t he ?

    Apparently they were just road testing the idea and it didn’t go down too well with the ladies so they dropped it – they are desperate for the female vote and are even suggesting that Josh be photographed in his swimmers, it worked for that SA bloke !

    It appears that, as with most leaks, the drop on cheaper beer was made to Newscorp and Sky and they are both pissed off as they gave it a run as an exclusive but then the government walked away from it.

    https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/government-to-cut-draught-beer-tax/video/7d4a4f38d6a49f8801b446f31efc1f92

  4. ”If he was a Prime Minister, he might actual do something to help the country.”

    And there is the rub. Scummo is only Prim Monster because there are even LESS credible, more self-serving persons in the Liarbral Party then himself. None of them are fit to be in any type of public position, especially Parliament.

    So who are the unelected political hacks in the Liarbral Party who personally benefit from this congenital incompetence? Think foreign owned multinational corporations ripping out our natural resources without paying any Australian taxation thanks to our crazy taxation laws.

    it is long past time for 24/7 public disclosure of ”political donations” aka ”political bribes” and limits on ”political donations” aka ”political bribes” to about $1,000 per natural person who is an Australian citizen, with disclosure of any corporate linkages.

  6. It has finally, reluctantly been revealed the cost of getting out of the French submarine deal.

    At senate estimates today Penny Wong was like a dentist extracting teeth as she burrowed down to find the true cost to taxpayers of these French submarines. The cost has been revealed at up to $5.5 billion, despite the contract being torn up well before construction was even to begin.

    We all knew that Peter Dutton was an expensive luxury that Australia could not afford. The enormous waste of the offshore detention program taught us that.

    But now Spud, as he departs the political limelight to go into opposition and probably depart from politics, has left us with a bill of $5.5 Billion for submarines that don’t exist. We have precisely nothing to show for Dutton’s incompetence.

    This has to be the final nail in the coalition’s chances of being re-elected but at what cost has our dalliance with these clowns been. What other bloopers have they left hidden for an unsuspecting Labor government to discover.

    If it was not so sad it would make an excellent Monty Python sketch !

    Here, give me $5.5 billion dollars.

    What for ?

    I’ll get you these new phantom submarines that cannot be seen or detected.

    How can that be ?

    They don’t actually exist, now give us the money.

    OK !

  7. How many wonderful new schemes are listed in the budget? Could it be 21? Doesn’t matter ten or 21, all are ways the liars and Nats will be able to use to pork barrel as per colour-coded charts and in the process funnel squilliond to mates and donors. A plan for the future? Porcine Gluteus maximus.

  10. Fryenburger and Scummo are economists.
    As defined:
    Someone who will know tomorrow why the thing he predicted yesterday didn’t happen today.
    Making short term lying not only acceptable but usually a necessity.
    ps
    First home buyers, in Aust, are as young as 6.

  11. I think people need to understand.Scott Morrison and his cronies exist because their is no accountability,the corruption threw out the whole system is like a plague,not just this government but also previous governments,i think the difference today as from the past,is that people are more switched on to what is occurring today.We need a strong totally independent accountability and corruption body that has real power,that is able to prosecute criminality within governments they need to be accountable for everything they do,they work for us,we are their boss,so we should have a big say in this.The only time they show any interest in us is when their up for election,im believe as before they can throw us a few crumbs to keep us happy,only this time i don’t think it will work for you Mr Morrison

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