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On February 04 2013 17:11 Jisall wrote: Australia has elections???
Lol. Yet another reason to love the land down under
In many ways, Australian politics is more fucked up than the US.
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Not necessarily. Taxing negative externalities is one way to reduce them, but implementing taxes can also have a variety of negative consequences itself. Not that a carbon tax is a bad idea, but taxes aren't the only solution to negative externalities.
Not sure about Australian politics, but if it's anything like American politics, the person who said on the first page that it's mostly value-based stuff is right on lol. Neocons and neolibs are extremely close ideologically nowadays and are moderate right etc
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Did Australia dodge the North Atlantic Financial Crisis because of: (a) fiscal stimulus? Yay Labor saved us! Vote 1 Gillard! (b) monetary stimulus? Yay Labor saved us! Although they did waste all that fiscal stimulus money for no reason. Vote 1 Gillard, but with reservations.
Bonus option (c) neither of the above, current Govt made no difference either way, it was all setup by the previous Govts - the mining industry / stable banks / some other reason. Vote 1 Abbott!
As soon as economists can resolve this question, I will be ready to cast my vote.
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On February 04 2013 17:03 ShadeR wrote: As of right now for me its a toss up between the sex party or donkey vote. Vote for the donkey sex party.
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As long as my area has the NBN or will get the NBN when I get back from Japan, I don't care who wins.
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Between Gillard and Abbot, I'd pick getting fucked in the ass with a chainsaw. I'm kind of worried about the future right now, as you might have guessed.
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Federal elections are generally held every three years. The Constitution specifies that the term of a Parliament is three years, and there is only a short period after the expiry of the parliamentary term before elections must be held. The exact timing of elections is usually up to the Prime Minister, who formally requests the dissolution of Parliament from the Governor-General. A Governor-General may refuse a request for an early dissolution of Parliament. Elections in Australia are always held on a Saturday. The lengths of parliamentary terms in the states vary.
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How is the carbon tax good? All it does is make taxpayers pay more. You've got to understand what the government is trying to imply. They are trying to imply that by putting a carbon tax, there will be more 'green' awareness in general, etc, good for environment. Even if it isn't, that is the impression they are trying to put onto the Australian public. In reality, we have good coal over here, its a fact. We sell that coal off to other countries, and we buy the cheapest, dirtiest coal and burn it here, creating the same, if not worse, amount of carbon. I'm not saying whether or not the carbon tax is good, but their representation of it is completely wrong and unjustified, but its alright because hardly anyone in the public would follow this news closely.
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Unfortunately the politicians on both major parties are horrible this time around. Labor managed to pull us out of a recession by burning through several surpluses put there via Keating's reforms (does that get removed because of "the recession we had to have?" lol) and then Costello's management (however arrogant it might be), and now we have a $400bn government debt. Really don't understand how throwing money away in one poorly thought spending spree/corrupt act after another can really be considered well done, were we under this current government 10 years ago we'd look similar to Greece atm. On the other side we have liberal going through some sort of internal competition to look ridiculous, and while I'd generally prefer any government than this one, atm I seriously can't decide who to choose between this election.
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On February 04 2013 17:18 Robo-boogey wrote: Did Australia dodge the North Atlantic Financial Crisis because of: (a) fiscal stimulus? Yay Labor saved us! Vote 1 Gillard! (b) monetary stimulus? Yay Labor saved us! Although they did waste all that fiscal stimulus money for no reason. Vote 1 Gillard, but with reservations.
Bonus option (c) neither of the above, current Govt made no difference either way, it was all setup by the previous Govts - the mining industry / stable banks / some other reason. Vote 1 Abbott!
As soon as economists can resolve this question, I will be ready to cast my vote.
how would monetary stimulus be effected at all by the government? wouldn't that be a result of your central bank? and in the long run, usually monetary stimulus generally causes inflation, and when your countries cpi is generally quite higher than most others, i highly doubt the stimulus generated by monetary stimulus would provide much increase in output rather as opposed to inflationary pressure.
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On February 04 2013 17:27 Phyrigian wrote:Show nested quote +On February 04 2013 17:18 Robo-boogey wrote: Did Australia dodge the North Atlantic Financial Crisis because of: (a) fiscal stimulus? Yay Labor saved us! Vote 1 Gillard! (b) monetary stimulus? Yay Labor saved us! Although they did waste all that fiscal stimulus money for no reason. Vote 1 Gillard, but with reservations.
Bonus option (c) neither of the above, current Govt made no difference either way, it was all setup by the previous Govts - the mining industry / stable banks / some other reason. Vote 1 Abbott!
As soon as economists can resolve this question, I will be ready to cast my vote. how would monetary stimulus be effected at all by the government? wouldn't that be a result of your central bank? and in the long run, usually monetary stimulus generally causes inflation, and when your countries cpi is generally quite higher than most others, i highly doubt the stimulus generated by monetary stimulus would provide much increase in output rather as opposed to inflationary pressure.
monetary stimulus in a country plagued by affluence doesn't generally lead to inflation because the money is put right back into the economy.
/ontopic
i'm going to vote for whoever has the best NBN policy. Shallow, but I don't care.
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On February 04 2013 17:32 Sedzz wrote:Show nested quote +On February 04 2013 17:27 Phyrigian wrote:On February 04 2013 17:18 Robo-boogey wrote: Did Australia dodge the North Atlantic Financial Crisis because of: (a) fiscal stimulus? Yay Labor saved us! Vote 1 Gillard! (b) monetary stimulus? Yay Labor saved us! Although they did waste all that fiscal stimulus money for no reason. Vote 1 Gillard, but with reservations.
Bonus option (c) neither of the above, current Govt made no difference either way, it was all setup by the previous Govts - the mining industry / stable banks / some other reason. Vote 1 Abbott!
As soon as economists can resolve this question, I will be ready to cast my vote. how would monetary stimulus be effected at all by the government? wouldn't that be a result of your central bank? and in the long run, usually monetary stimulus generally causes inflation, and when your countries cpi is generally quite higher than most others, i highly doubt the stimulus generated by monetary stimulus would provide much increase in output rather as opposed to inflationary pressure. monetary stimulus in a country plagued by affluence doesn't generally lead to inflation because the money is put right back into the economy. /ontopic i'm going to vote for whoever has the best NBN policy. Shallow, but I don't care. When the quality of politicians is this low I don't think you can be blamed.
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On February 04 2013 17:32 Sedzz wrote:Show nested quote +On February 04 2013 17:27 Phyrigian wrote:On February 04 2013 17:18 Robo-boogey wrote: Did Australia dodge the North Atlantic Financial Crisis because of: (a) fiscal stimulus? Yay Labor saved us! Vote 1 Gillard! (b) monetary stimulus? Yay Labor saved us! Although they did waste all that fiscal stimulus money for no reason. Vote 1 Gillard, but with reservations.
Bonus option (c) neither of the above, current Govt made no difference either way, it was all setup by the previous Govts - the mining industry / stable banks / some other reason. Vote 1 Abbott!
As soon as economists can resolve this question, I will be ready to cast my vote. how would monetary stimulus be effected at all by the government? wouldn't that be a result of your central bank? and in the long run, usually monetary stimulus generally causes inflation, and when your countries cpi is generally quite higher than most others, i highly doubt the stimulus generated by monetary stimulus would provide much increase in output rather as opposed to inflationary pressure. monetary stimulus in a country plagued by affluence doesn't generally lead to inflation because the money is put right back into the economy. /ontopic i'm going to vote for whoever has the best NBN policy. Shallow, but I don't care.
Ha, I voted against Labor last time because of their internet filter. It's all legit!
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On February 04 2013 17:27 Phyrigian wrote:Show nested quote +On February 04 2013 17:18 Robo-boogey wrote: Did Australia dodge the North Atlantic Financial Crisis because of: (a) fiscal stimulus? Yay Labor saved us! Vote 1 Gillard! (b) monetary stimulus? Yay Labor saved us! Although they did waste all that fiscal stimulus money for no reason. Vote 1 Gillard, but with reservations.
Bonus option (c) neither of the above, current Govt made no difference either way, it was all setup by the previous Govts - the mining industry / stable banks / some other reason. Vote 1 Abbott!
As soon as economists can resolve this question, I will be ready to cast my vote. how would monetary stimulus be effected at all by the government? wouldn't that be a result of your central bank? and in the long run, usually monetary stimulus generally causes inflation, and when your countries cpi is generally quite higher than most others, i highly doubt the stimulus generated by monetary stimulus would provide much increase in output rather as opposed to inflationary pressure. Fair point.
I think the idea is that by lowering interest rates, you increase the money supply - to counter-balance the decrease in the money supply caused by a loss of confidence. ie end goal is to hold the money supply relatively stable, with inflation being the most practical way to measure this.
I revise my option (b) accordingly, if monetary policy saved us then it's a point against Gillard since it means that her actions didn't help & the money was wasted.
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In short, are australia's political system and parties comparable to those of the UK?
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On February 04 2013 17:25 SEA KarMa wrote:How is the carbon tax good? All it does is make taxpayers pay more. You've got to understand what the government is trying to imply. They are trying to imply that by putting a carbon tax, there will be more 'green' awareness in general, etc, good for environment. Even if it isn't, that is the impression they are trying to put onto the Australian public. In reality, we have good coal over here, its a fact. We sell that coal off to other countries, and we buy the cheapest, dirtiest coal and burn it here, creating the same, if not worse, amount of carbon. I'm not saying whether or not the carbon tax is good, but their representation of it is completely wrong and unjustified, but its alright because hardly anyone in the public would follow this news closely. It doesn't make taxpayers pay more, because the revenues from the carbon tax is used to fund compensation for people. In case you didn't know, there was a tax cut last financial year because of the carbon tax.
If the money from the tax is just given back, then what's the point? The point is that it makes the cost of carbon relatively more expensive compared to noncarbon products. Thus, giving an incentive to move away from carbon intensive products.
I suggest you read those links I gave to learn about the economics of a carbon tax.
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On February 04 2013 17:48 paralleluniverse wrote:Show nested quote +On February 04 2013 17:25 SEA KarMa wrote:How is the carbon tax good? All it does is make taxpayers pay more. You've got to understand what the government is trying to imply. They are trying to imply that by putting a carbon tax, there will be more 'green' awareness in general, etc, good for environment. Even if it isn't, that is the impression they are trying to put onto the Australian public. In reality, we have good coal over here, its a fact. We sell that coal off to other countries, and we buy the cheapest, dirtiest coal and burn it here, creating the same, if not worse, amount of carbon. I'm not saying whether or not the carbon tax is good, but their representation of it is completely wrong and unjustified, but its alright because hardly anyone in the public would follow this news closely. It doesn't make taxpayers pay more, because the revenues from the carbon tax is used to fund compensation for people. In case you didn't know, there was a tax cut last financial year because of the carbon tax. If the money from the tax is just given back, then what's the point? The point is that it makes the cost of carbon relatively more expensive compared to noncarbon products. Thus, giving an incentive to move away from carbon intensive products. I suggest you read those links I gave to learn about the economics of a carbon tax. There are problems with the carbon tax outside of a slightly increased cost to products. The primary would have to be the fucking grant given out with it.
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On February 04 2013 17:18 Robo-boogey wrote: Did Australia dodge the North Atlantic Financial Crisis because of: (a) fiscal stimulus? Yay Labor saved us! Vote 1 Gillard! (b) monetary stimulus? Yay Labor saved us! Although they did waste all that fiscal stimulus money for no reason. Vote 1 Gillard, but with reservations.
Bonus option (c) neither of the above, current Govt made no difference either way, it was all setup by the previous Govts - the mining industry / stable banks / some other reason. Vote 1 Abbott!
As soon as economists can resolve this question, I will be ready to cast my vote. Mostly (a) and (b), and a little of (c). If you look at the difference between Australia and other countries, the main difference is that we had fiscal stimulus, whereas the UK went austerity, and the US went with a modest stimulus compared to the size of the economy.
It certainly helped that financial regulators in Australia believed in regulation so banks didn't collapse, unlike in the US. After all, the collapse of HIH was a mini financial crisis, which led to far more effective regulation from APRA.
I don't buy that the mining sector had much of an effect. Probably a small effect. The mining sector is only 10% of Australia's GDP, so it wouldn't have saved the country from recession.
Lastly, I also believe that the surplus left by Howard was mostly irrelevant. How does a surplus stop a financial crisis? It doesn't. Spain had a surplus before the crisis, yet it still went bust.
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I have historically donkey voted due to disillusionment with the political system but this year I am thinking of voting Labor, as my district had an anomolously large Green vote three years ago and I want to minimize Green presence in parliament.
I will have to study everyone's policies more, however. I find myself far more familiar with American politics than Australian, and it might be time to educate myself a bit more.
Edit: Agreeing with the general sentiment that the NBN is a top priority for me. Though even if Liberal has a better policy (i doubt this since they were against it in the first place), they will never take my district so I may still vote Labor as Greens are the larger threat.
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On February 04 2013 17:27 Phyrigian wrote:Show nested quote +On February 04 2013 17:18 Robo-boogey wrote: Did Australia dodge the North Atlantic Financial Crisis because of: (a) fiscal stimulus? Yay Labor saved us! Vote 1 Gillard! (b) monetary stimulus? Yay Labor saved us! Although they did waste all that fiscal stimulus money for no reason. Vote 1 Gillard, but with reservations.
Bonus option (c) neither of the above, current Govt made no difference either way, it was all setup by the previous Govts - the mining industry / stable banks / some other reason. Vote 1 Abbott!
As soon as economists can resolve this question, I will be ready to cast my vote. how would monetary stimulus be effected at all by the government? wouldn't that be a result of your central bank? and in the long run, usually monetary stimulus generally causes inflation, and when your countries cpi is generally quite higher than most others, i highly doubt the stimulus generated by monetary stimulus would provide much increase in output rather as opposed to inflationary pressure. Monetary stimulus doesn't cause inflation in a recession. Just look at the US: interest rates at the zero lower bound, massive asset purchases by QE1, 2 and 3, more than tripling the size of the Fed's balance sheet, yet inflation is 2% and falling: http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2013/01/there-is-an-inflation-problem-its-falling-below-target.html
Plus, inflation is good in a recession, it encourages spending rather than saving. So it's good that the RBA has a 2% to 3% inflation target, as opposed to the Fed's 2% target, and the Bank of Japan's 1% target (lol).
It was mainly monetary and fiscal stimulus working together than saved Australia from that financial crisis.
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