in all its glory and foibles. The free market has existed under both the left and the right in all countries that practise it and both the left and the right invest in it. Some of ABC journalists that contribute to this blog would have had their greedy fingers burnt by grabbing at the big interest rates of the sub prime scam that not one political leader in the world questioned. We survived well in this country, not because of Kevin Rudds's brilliant economic genius, but because we had systems in place and an unprecedented reserve for an incoming government that he inherited. John Howard did not create the global financial crisis but he did prevent a mess in Australia as a result of it. It was his Government that established financial regulation and APRA under Peter Costello allowing Australian banks to represent one third of all the banks in the world to be double A rated. Neither did his government have the amazing windfall that Kevin Rudd was bequeathed. When they came to office they first had to acquit the $96 billion of Labor debt which took them until 2006 to accomplish. I must admit that the Beasley Black Hole was not quite as bad when Keating departed as what Whitlam dumped. If Beasley created a Black Hole Whitlam's was a galatical implosion. So you see ant, it is not only the extreme right that can create mess, so can the left. Thank you for the four out of