“So these numbers are extraordinary,” Joe Hockey awkwardly said yesterday. “Imagine what our nation could do if we had a good government.”
Imagine, indeed. How much better could it possibly get?
As European economies fall like dominoes, as America lumbers painfully out of recession, as Asian markets cut growth forecasts, Australia marches on with a truly triumphant 4.3% annual jump in GDP. Mining is booming, the investment pipeline is clogged and productivity is up. The expected jump in the unemployment rate today belied the fact some 46,100 more full-time jobs were created in May.
But the Treasurer isn’t allowed to say that. That would be “gloating”, as Sydney’s tabloid terror wrote today.
People aren’t shopping (in traditional shops). Businesses are laying off workers (in declining sectors). Battlers are still battling. In an extraordinarily volatile global market, parts of the domestic economy are undoubtedly grinding wheels. Wayne’s Cheshire grin cruelly mocks them.
But these are structural changes in an economy undergoing not one but several major transitions — not just a made-in-China mining boom but the impact of the internet and the transformation of Australia into a safe haven for worried investors. The government would be foolish to try to stop any of them and has mostly refrained.
The genuine doom and gloom from some only makes the macro picture even more impressive. If this isn’t good economic management, it’s hard to know what would be.
Indeed, imagine what “Joe’s Team” could do …… to those battlers, under the premise of an excuse like the GFC?
Stan & Ollie (Abbott and Hockey) – “Bulls in a China Shop”?
JOE HOCKEY: As shadow treasurer he should learn a little style. Only a peasant could have come out with the graceless remark. “””Imagine what our nation could do if we had a good government.”” Utterly charming, not. And, churlish Joe Hockey looked like a man being forced to eat batshït. No perceptible class.
Government fiscal policies, some good some not so good – economy up and generally in good shape.
In contrast, the Abbott/Hockey/Robb team generally opposed most, if not all government policies. Plenty of slogans, remember cash spash, etc. If government policies created this positive economy – the coalition opposition because they automatically opposed everything the economy would be in recession. I’m starting to think Hockey is just a dolt.
It puts a shiver down my spine in thinking that gormless Joe Hockey might one day be in charge of the economy.
Venise – class and politicians rarely go together in the same sentence.
I also thought as usual the commentariat and media misreported yesterday. Most spent a lot of space saying that the Government and Swan couldn’t take the credit for this growth. Now from what I saw they didn’t try to take credit – Swan and Gillard both spoke only that Australians should feel good about themselves and positive about where this country is headed.