From: lawriew@runx.oz.au (Lawrie Waller)
Subject: Re: Will Victorians vote stupid yet again...?
Organization: RUNX Un*x Timeshare.  Sydney, Australia.
Distribution: aus
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 92 03:15:51 GMT

In article <6511@otc.otca.oz> brendan@otc.otca.oz (Brendan Jones) writes:
>in article <3252@ariel.its.unimelb.EDU.AU>, jcollier@ariel.its.unimelb.EDU.AU (John Donald Collier) says:
>> A lot of the economic problems in Victoria are a result of incautious
>> deregulation, just as they are in the US and Britain. I have also seen 
>> it happen in British Columbia and Alberta where I used to live.
>
>I must agree.  I've just returned from a business trip to the UK, whose
>economy appears even more stuffed than ours from my experience there.
>
>Their unemployment is still going up (they don't give it as a percentage, and
>they 'seasonally adjust' it, but as near as I could work out it was over 11%),
>their interest rates are about 3 to 4% higher than ours, their inflation is 4
>to 5%, and they run a trade deficit on goods and services (we run a surplus).
>Their social safety nets don't appear to be as nearly as good as ours.
>
>Britain doesn't have tax breaks for R&D like we do.  There is no Government
>science policy.  They don't have accelerated plant and equipment depreciation.
>I saw little evidence of an agressive export psyche, as we are building here.
>
>Australia isn't a utopia, but it was eye opening to see that a lot of what we
>do appears to be so much better than what other countries do (despite our
>almost universal cultural cringe that every other country in the world is
>doing better than ours).
>
>Britain is still sliding deeper into recession - Australia is slowly coming
>out.  Britain has to now cope with a markedly devalued pound at the depth of
>a recession.  Australia adjusted to the realities of a floating exchange rate
>years ago.
>
>All this goes to prove that adoption of rationalist economic policies, a GST
>(or VAT as its called in England) and a Conservative Government don't prevent
>recessions, bankruptcies and unemployment.  England's had a Conservative
>Government, rationalist policies and a VAT for the past 11 years, and they're
>in a worse state than we are.
>
>So blaming Labor for all of our economic ills is stupidity.  Other countries
>have fared worse with politicians of exactly the opposite colour.
>
>The most amusing thing about my stay over in the UK was that the opposition
>(Labour) is saying exactly the same things about the Government over there
>that the Liberals are saying about the Government here!!!
>
>Indeed we can learn a lot from the reality and experiences of other countries.
>The fact is, regardless of who was in power in Australia over the past 10
>years, there is little that anyone could have done to have averted what is a
>global phenomenon.  We can only hope to minimise the impact.
                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ and
isnt this just what Pope Don Pauli kept on telling us what he was
about! You know how he had his ahnds on the levers etc. And how about
all the budget statements from Keating about "bringing home the
bacon"-perhaps he was referring to Keating Enterprises:-).
Both at the federal and state(victorian) level it it patently obvious
that Labour just didnt know what to do to "minimise the impact". In
fact the 4-Corners "THE GUILTY PATRY" programme showed unequivocally
the Victorian Labour didnt even know the extent of the problem,let
alone having any idea of what to do about it!
And even now they have no policies for Australia. You might not like
what Hewson is offering but at least he has some ideas and he has
given the electorate sufficient time to make up their minds about his
vision and he is sticking to his vision. By comparison Killer
bovver-boy Keating is running about like a headless chook cahnging his
views to fit his perception of the current mood of the electorate. AND
finally remember this is the guy who couldnt extol the virtues of a
GST too highly in 1985-and who will have no option but to introduce
such atax should he get back next year-which I am betting he will!
 -Post script: My apologies dear reader for raving on about labour in
general rather than addressing the Victorian Election but I believe
Brendans posting was more about Labour than Victoria-that my excuse
anyhow-
-Cheers,


-- 
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lawriew@runx.oz.au              |Friend is sometimes a word devoid of
Lawrie Waller-SYDNEY AUS        |meaning;enemy,never.(Victor Hugo)
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