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Does Australia Suck? (pg. 147)
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| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by rdevito
Is this the most popular thread in TA's history? |
Nope, it's not even on Page 1.
By the way, I suspect there are three things that can turn the general population of a country into an army of bad asses: Harsh weather, long wars, and a ginger head of state.
Look what she can make that bloke do! |
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| EgosXII |
| quote: | Last June, Australia celebrated its 21st. No, not a birthday or coming of age, but the completion of its 21st consecutive year of economic growth. Yup, you heard right, 21 years. Of growth. 21.
While the rest of the world lurches from crisis to economic crisis, the land of Oz is powering ahead, enjoying an Aussie dollar at a record high, unemployment at near-record lows (5.4%) and basking in more sunshine than the rest of us can dream up.
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No other advanced economy can come close to Australia's 21 years of growth. That period, a full generation, saw governments of both political flavours at the helm in Canberra, and is even more impressive when you remember that it spanned the dotcom boom (and bust), the crisis of 1997-1998 (remember that one?) and the global catastrophe that was the Lehman Brothers crash in 2008. Every single time, opposition parties (again of both persuasions) channelled Chicken Little, warning the sky would fall down in Australia. It didn't. It still hasn't.
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The world over, economists talk about "the Australian model". I've sat through enough press conferences in Europe to know that there are many learned bean counters who see this continent as a great example of just how to exploit and thrive in a tumultuous global environment where economic might is turning its eyes toward Asia.
There's a chorus of voices that argue that Australia's success is a role model not only for resource-rich emerging markets like Chile and Brazil but also for many other already developed nations navigating low growth and burgeoning unemployment.
Nobody would quibble with the reality that Australia has also been lucky, riding the back of a massive boom in global commodity markets – thank you China and your seemingly insatiable appetite for iron ore. Without doubt, Australia's bubble could burst if the Chinese market and global commodity prices were to crash.
But the fact is, Australia has shown resilience in the past – and this is largely due to good economic policy. Aussie banks have been managed conservatively; none have failed, no taxpayer bail-outs have been needed. There has been no Euro-style printing of money, no pushing of interest rates down to the historic lows we have seen in the UK. The Australian government, despite public brouhaha, has held its nerve, continuing to invest and stimulating the economy to keep it aloft. At 5.40%, the unemployment rate – one of the lowest in the industrialised world – is half that of Europe, never mind the horrendous 20% seen in Greece, Spain or Italy. And all the while, Australia's government debt has been chipped at: surpluses have been delivered and real money squirrelled away to tide the nation through bad times. |
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The article is about how stupid Julia Gillard is (A fact I wish you would get your head around Lira hahaha), but it points out how dominating Aus is economically :gsmile:
Lets not forget this too; something close to the US' debt found in Aus' backyard :toothless
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...an-outback.html |
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| narcism |
| Is anyone else watching Legit? |
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| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by EgosXII
The article is about how stupid Julia Gillard is (A fact I wish you would get your head around Lira hahaha), but it points out how dominating Aus is economically :gsmile: |
Yeah, I heard some harsh criticism about her, and I had no idea she doesn't even have the majority in the government.
But she's feisty, funny, and she floods my Facebook with random pictures. Me gusta :gsmile: |
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| EgosXII |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lira
Yeah, I heard some harsh criticism about her, and I had no idea she doesn't even have the majority in the government.
But she's feisty, funny, and she floods my Facebook with random pictures. Me gusta :gsmile: |
haha yeah; Nobody ever really liked her, but she's a bloodthirsty monster, and she managed to pull off a pretty epic coup against the elected PM. She then got voted in at the next election, sort of, for two reasons: 1: her opposition is actually one of the stupidest politicians in history. Sarah Palin level. 2: She actually tied, but somehow she came out with the win. :stongue: |
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| Tweak |
I like her, more importantly I like her politics, and her parliamentary performance. One of the best speakers Australian federal parliament has seen since Keating.
She's getting good done in a minority government, up against an overwhelmingly negative opposition and an extremely hostile media.
And the alternatives government are deads. |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
i rate her political nous* but the performance of the ALP generally since 07 has just been abysmal and they will get slaughtered at the election because they lost people like me.
en howard took way too much credit while coasting on the achievements of hawke and especially keating, here was rudd and co's chance to coast on costello's and howard's successes.
there have been just too many high profile ups after they had been given the country on a platter.
the only reason im not voting coalition this time around is because i will never support a government led by tony abbott.
turnbull we need you.
*putting rudd to the sword and beating phony tony to form government took a bit of guts.
ALP to lose a bajillion seats. |
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| Tweak |
They've made some stupid choices, and done dumb things politically, but it seems it will be the same cycle happening again. ALP will do the hard stuff which may not be popular - Schools investment, ETS, NBN, NDIS, Gonski - the Libs will get back in and coast.
ups are going to happen when you actually try and accomplish things other than Howard style wedging, dogwhistling and porkbarrelling. It's the nature of major gov funded projects.
Wouldn't mind Turnbull, but he's just not conservative enough for the party he's in. |
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| EgosXII |
| quote: | Originally posted by Tweak
I like her, more importantly I like her politics, and her parliamentary performance. One of the best speakers Australian federal parliament has seen since Keating.
She's getting good done in a minority government, up against an overwhelmingly negative opposition and an extremely hostile media.
And the alternatives government are deads. |
What's she getting done? Rudd did so much more than she did. All she's done is backtrack, and talk. She's a politician in the negative sense of the word. Lots of talking to the press, lots of shady backroom , and very little anything. That's why I liked Rudd. Politicians didn't like him, but he did stuff. Apologised to Aboriginal people, seriously was trying to fix environmental issues, dominated the global recession... All Gillard's done is stop gay people getting married (which is not a good thing), and bend over to big business.
I seriously believe if anyone other than Abbot had been in charge of the libs they would have beaten Gillard easily. And it'll be the same at this election, except probably Abbot will still win easily because of her politiking. |
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| Lira |
All I know is that she's the most amusing politician on my Facebook. I mean, this is the sort of stuff Hal's hard-drive is made of:
Her doomsday speech and her anger against the misogynist bloke were both awesome, not to mention I'm not directly affected by her political decisions, so it's a win-win situation for me :D
She looks like an older Wiener, is tough like a younger Wicked Neo, and I assume she's a tender lover like Sushi. |
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