Filed under: Politicians, State of the nation, The economy | Tags: John Howard, Kevin Rudd, stimulus
“Those not in the right income range, the severely stressed middle class (and this is as much a white collar as blue collar recession-depression), watch in fury as others enjoy another windfall. Why, because the Prime Minister is eyeing Howard’s workers. Yet another obscenity in this brazen act of economic criminality.”
David Hirst criticises the $42 billion stimulus plan. He is not impressed with the Opposition either:
“But the handouts have nothing to do with economics. Turnbull, while decrying Labor’s giveaway, is happy to see more money doled out in the way of tax cuts — as is the Government. This is akin to applying leeches to bleed a patient already weakened.
The nation is going to pot.”
Filed under: Politicians, The economy | Tags: Douglas Adams, John Maynard Keynes, Kevin Rudd, stimulus
“Could it be that Kevin Rudd’s ideological basis for the $42billion answer to life, the recession and everything is more Douglas Adams than John Maynard Keynes?”
Jeremy Shor, Dianella, WA, letter to The Australian.
Filed under: Politicians, The economy | Tags: Kevin Rudd, Liberal Party, stimulus
Readers of The Australian try their hand at comedy:
I can see Labor’s slogan for the next election now—“Kevin Rudd: pocket change you can believe in!”
Daniel Avey
Paddington, Qld
In November 2007, Kevin Rudd announced that he wanted to put a computer on every senior student’s desk at a cost of $1billion. With the second stimulus package of $42 billion, it looks as though every Australian household will have a plasma TV by 2010.
Ed Sianski
West Moonah, TasDoes anyone else get the feeling that all this stimulation is the forerunner to a premature election?
Geoff O’Brien
Eltham, VicI agree with the Liberal Party and all its supporters: let’s immediately do nothing.
Geoff Edmanson
Brassall, Qld
Filed under: Politicians, The economy | Tags: Kevin Rudd, shovel-ready, stimulus
“Ten minutes of this carry-on is enough to bring on distinct feelings of violent shovel readiness in the average observer, but we have to forgive these state and territory leaders. They are having a lovely, lovely, crisis.”
Annabel Crabb reports on the bonanza being enjoyed by the state premiers as Kevin Rudd handed out billions of dollars to various projects in an attempt to stave off recession. It appears that we have a new term to add to our dictionary of governmentspeak: shovel-ready.
Filed under: Politicians, The economy | Tags: Kevin Rudd, Liberal Party, Malcolm Turnbull, stimulus
“Only Mr Turnbull stands in the road. Therefore I would say to Mr Turnbull and the Liberal party, get out of the road of the government getting on with the job of nation-building and supporting jobs at a time of national economic emergency.”
Kevin Rudd, determined to get the $42 billion stimulus plan approved, does not mince his words.
The Art of the Australian Insult 