The Adventures of QueerPenguin

Common sense cuts

Does anybody else find it really difficult to take Kevin Rudd seriously as he bangs on incessantly about battling the inflation boogieman through public service razor gangs and capping MP salaries? Yeah - that'll make a huge difference, I'm sure.

Room: Overspending in the economy. Elephant: $31b in tax cuts that feeds overspending like, well, an elephant at Taronga.

It was one of Rudd's more foolish pre-election me-toos, in which he allowed himself to be painted into a corner to (almost) match Howard's irresponsible spending orgy and not lose votes accordingly. As the always-on-the-ball Ross Gittins argues, it's a pre-election promise Labor should scrap if they're serious about curbing inflation - but of course, they won't.

Maybe it's time for some tough love, to tell the Effluents of Kellyville what Howard never would - that no, it is not in fact your inalienable right to live far beyond your means inside an energy/environmental/good taste-guzzling McMansion with your Ford Territory Child Killer Ghia in the driveway and cinema-size plasma in the living room. And before I'm accused of being cubist (discriminatory against Cashed-Up Bogans), it is not anybody's inalienable right to live beyond their means - or at least, not to complain about it if they choose to do so and suffer accordingly.

But I have absolutely no sympathy for mortgagees who consistently voted for Howard, duped by his bullshit claim that he could singlehandedly keep interest rates low, who now whinge about rate rise after rate rise and/or are having their homes foreclosed on. Reap what you sow.

Still, Rudd has once again demonstrated that an alternative is practically non-existent. Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better, and PS razor gangs will be about as effective solving the problem as using an artist's liner brush to paint the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Labels: economy, inflation, Kevin Rudd, tax cuts

posted by Sam @ Wednesday, February 06, 2008