well there goes the economy.............

I totally agree.....geez

Hogwarts here we come now that Harry Potter is in charge

hmmmm...time will tell I guess...4 years till the next election

Don't know whether to or

4 years to tighten our belt

but on the bright side, if the interest rate blows out, house prices might well tumble as the people with silly mortguages on houses they shoudln't really have bought - sell up under pressure. I might finally get out the the Druitt. I feel sorry for all those polys who got turfed, how will the survive on their payout and massive supers. Not sorry for Downer - time to wake up to himself ... but then hes old money, never had a real job and still won't need to. Hockeys gonna open a chain of gyms for fat ex-polys and at least Abbott and Costello can play leaders without the rest of the planet sayin 'your kidding - is that what they are called - for real'.

Any ideas for ex-poly jobs in the real world?

they could become teachers.

ye hah. To hell with the bloody war mongerer. If he hadnt have been so far up Bush's arse maybe we wouldnt have the Iraq problem that we have today and will have probably for at least a whole generation. I'm a swinging voter and for that reason alone, he would never have gotten my vote.

As far as the economy goes, it will control itself. Just like it has done in the past 11 years. Public servants run the country and will continue to do so. Drought, oil prices, and a weak US dollar are causing increased spending at the moment causing rates to go up. I dont think Howard is at fault for that and I dont think he was at fault for bringing them down.

Ordinary home buyers arent pushing up land and house values, investors are by pushing up demand. In times of low interest, mum and dad home buyers dont push up demand of entry level housing, they just go for a higher value home when they do move. If anything that would make the cheaper house next door even more cheap. Instead, allowing people to negative gear their investment is creating high demand for the cheaper end houses, pushing up values. Because the entry level housing prices go up, more renters are out there competing for the same lease. The rental goes up meaning they are less able to save for their deposit. NSW govt introduced tax to make investors want to sell all their rental property. Prices dipped. People got upset and the tax went away. Deny these people negative gearing, push them into the stockmarket and we'll see cheap housing as well as a bit of a boom for telstra shareholders.

12 years ago in the pre howard days I sold my car to get a deposit and mortgaged myself to the eyeballs to buy in. I'm doing the same now to upgrade. Its just gone up $35/month. I think thats the least of my worries and it certainly wasnt an issue when I voted.




I'm not an economist by any means, thats just a theory I have developed.

get them to work ??? hmmmmph you`d be lucky

I actually stuffed up my house of reps vote by not numbering each box. Not that it mattered anyway since Throsby has always been safe labor and they got a 10% swing on top of that. So much for climate change being an issue. The Greens LOST ground. Maybe its because I'm in a high polluting coal mining steel making heavy industrial area.

Cruddy defeated Coward for a reason,

but what i found more interesting is Pauline Pantsdown has created the Pauline party, shes still kickin hard, good on her.

What about the Shooters party, Fishermans and did anyone catch the "What Women Want" party in the far left of the white senate paper.

Haha.

Well the good news guys, is that its only 3 years to the next election (not 4).

Some of those pollies aren't that bad. I've got a mate in the senate (he's a petrol head too) and have met plenty of others (I spent some time in parliament house - on both sides). I was talking to one Senator recently who's hubby has just built a GT40 replica.

I went and watched Julia Gillard give her last speech to the last parliament in Sept. All I can say is heaven help us if ol' Krudd's heart gives out. She's a shocker. I've seen 15 year olds at school do a better job in the school debating team.

Others aren't that good either. Just to balance things up here - I wouldn't piss on Downer if he was on fire. He should have been hung drawn and quartered for his piss-poor performance after the Bali bombings for a start.

Hi

Oh well. Kevin in 07 = no job in 08.

I cant believe that we have a guy called Kevin as the leader of our country. Every time I see him on the telly I want to turn up the contrast, he looks like needs to spend some time outside.

I had large mortgage the last time Labor were in power, I pity the poor punters if we get some I interest rises that I saw, try 3 percent at once.

Steve

all the ad's about howard making the interest rate come back up have made me laugh. each time it was only .25 of a percent. and it dropped by what ? 10% when he got into power.


i missed being able to vote by four days, and am not really suprised rudd got into power, considering murdoch put $500 million into his campaign.


ah politics

Havent you guys relised the only reason the econ groth was soo good is because howard kept the wages so low? As for interest rates.... I wanna see em go through the roof. I dont begrudge anyone investing... but when buyin 1 house is out of reach of the middle class australian.... and investors are buying them in lots of 10 at a time.... its time for a change. I can see it now. Interest rates go up... investors sell... flood market... market crashes... those who decided to borrow beyond there means... sink... Bring on the next resession were meant to have!


Tazz

I cannot believe that people fall for all the propaganda and bull crap that is aired on TV before an election and then they are dumb enough to go and vote for Kevin Krudd. I only read an article recently about how the unions backed him financially to gain power of the labour party and then backed him and his campaign to run for PM. Figures were quoted in the vicinity of $50 million to do it so I"m guessing all the union thugs and heavy weights will have their hands out now wanting the favours returned for their financial outlay.

You can see it now... back to the good ol days of union strikes every other week whether it be electricity, nursing etc etc the cycle will be back now that the unions have a puppet like Krudd to manipulate to their gains.

Anybody else notice how Premier Peter Beattie all of a sudden up and left politics just before the election debate got serious??? They put Anna Bligh in and see how all the uproar of the Traveston dam issue suddenly disappeared??? Not a word has been mentioned recently about it cause if Beattie had still been in power then there would have been a lot of labour seats lost due to it being refreshed in the media every week. Did he actually leave of his own accord or was he pushed out by some heavy weight union members making sure Krudd had every chance of winning seats in Qld without the drama surrounding the Traveston dam and Beattie????

we'll never know....

As for interest rates and a mortgage I am lucky that I have allowed a pretty large margin on mine due to seeing that this might have happened 5 months ago and will have enough to cover it and still have some cash to invest in something that will always yield results of an ever increasing price no matter who is in government....... My VW!!!!

Interesting how John Howard was a war monger yet Krudd wasn't. I seem to recall labor being given the same briefings as the government and they were in support of it then. Their position changed when the mood in the electorate changed.

Those in the military join knowing they may one day have to serve in a dangerous situation. Those whiners who carry on about it have no right to demean these men and women for their patriotism and service.

The economy does not look after itself as labor would want you to believe. Sure buracrats do the work but it is the government that sets the agenda. Whilst external factors do play a large role in the economy, it still is lead by the government. I remember not long after the coalition came in to power that we weathered the Asian meltdown and came through not only unscathed but in a strong position whilst all around us were basket cases.

As for getting rid of negative gearing, where will all those people live that suddenly can't rent anywhere because there are no investors to rent from? Lack of supply will drive up the rentals even further making it even harder to save for a deposit. Perhaps if people didn't need to have everything now, they could start with a smaller house to live in without the multiple plasma tv's and everything that opens and shuts.

I lost my home under 19% interest rates that came about under the leadership of labor and will never vote for them again. I see nothing different with krudd to any other labor leader. Things will be OK for a couple of years but then it will all start going downhill. Krudd will start borrowing to fund all his expenditures and then interest rates will go up again, people will start losing jobs because employers will be too scared they can't get rid of them if they don't work out and then they will lose their houses.

We are the laughing stock of the world for throwing out a government that has given us such continuous prosperity.

My 2c worth anyway.

Yogie

Well said Yogie

Ditto here Yogi. Well put. the other concern about Labour is their rant of getting the troops out of Iraq. At the moment if we as Australians come under fire from and outside attack then the Us will step in and help or defend us because of our loyalty towards them and our willingness to help when asked. Howard wasn't dumb in doing this as we have pardon the term " big brother" watching our back if anything should or could go wrong for us as a nation.

if Krud pulls troops out of Iraq as he has indicated since he became leader of the Labour party then i do believe the US wont be so quick to react towards helping us in a time of need. I could be wrong but that is something that surely the majority of Australian citizens could see as being a very large benefit/relief considering the unrestfull times we live in today with terrorism being so rampant as it is.

You guys can defend Howard and his crew as much as you want, but the nation (people) has spoken. Change is always scary for some, and you guys can make all the predictions you want, but time will tell. Howard has accepted the result maybe you guys should too and get on with your lifes and enjoy your VW's and leave the bullshitting,lies,
spin doctoring,agenda pushing,pocket lining and back stabbing to the professionals = politicans.

i hope my job keeps, i work for a job network member as an employment advisor.. hope they don't change unemployment policies.. practically all very long term unemployed people voted for rudd hoping they got out of Full time work for the dole or the likes.. I don't know what labors stance is on unemployment (cause they didn't really touch on that subject) but liberals did a fantastic job of that at least. BTW i don't even vote.. both major parties shit me (plus the smaller ones).. so they won't ever get my vote.

I'm on the lookout for a "don't blame me - I voted Liberal" sticker for my car

On the issue of easy to afford housing prices when it all crashes, housing prices will never come down, platuea maybe, but down, never....I'm just gald I fixed in a low rate for the next period of Labor's term!

I think it will be a 'time will tell' situation, but I hope for all the labor supporters sake that Krudd doesn't screw everyone over.....

so far people don't like the Krudd, and think in 2 years the wheels will fall off. Given the campaign, Krudd just leeched the Blair stance and became Liberal for duration needed to spout on about families and workers ... they are all 2 faced and now hes got the keys to the big house ... lets see how long it takes to get 'a computer on the desk of every student' ... lol ... ratify Kioto and of tell Bush to get fucked and bring the troops home from that total waste of time.

I'll put money on him not living up to those .... he's a pussy, he will do as Union money tells him. Batten down the hatches, buy a Prius ... life is gonna get expensive real soon.

Yep, Downer is a cunt and Howard just needed to listen, most people dont want Krudd, they just dont want to be talked down to and told whats best for us. Good economic manager - shit at relating to people ... shame he got stuck in th 50s.

I think that they will all become teachers too ... most of them are stuck in the fkin 50s.

I predict Gillard will push Rudd out inside a year.....
This will be the Unions compensation for floating the Campaign
Oh and I think I'll put some rents up! Ha hahahahahahahahahahahhhehehehehehehehehehehmuaaaahhhhhhh

Poor old Labor, they don't have a chance.

The people in the Reserve Bank who set the interest rate are Liberal appointments and supporters.

Therefore whenever they can they will, as they have in the past, put the interest rates up until it goes to the high teens as it did in the the 1980s.

I was paying 23 1/2 % on my investmant loan then.

Even if Labor is a good manager of the economy those buggers will stitch them up to make it impossible for then to do a good job.

Then when their mates the Liberals get back in they will drop the interest rates by about 10% again and keep them down.

PS I didn't vote for either of the major parties. I put them both last.

interest rates are a function of the local economy, admittedly in a market as small as Australia we are also at the mercy of larger global markets. While I agree that labor traditionally are shit hopeless we are in the middle of a global economic boom and I don't think labor could screw that up. However all that said there in no link between the reserve bank and government that I am aware of, happy to be proved wrong though.

Think you'd be right there Stephen...the reserve bank is independant from the Govt. and I understand that this was something that Johnny introduced under his rule...

Yep, the reserve bank is completely independant. Was reading an interesting article about how non-transparent the Aus reserve bank is in comparison to an equivelant like the fed reserve in the U.S. I think if the AU reserve was as transparent as most of their international counterparts then alot of the politician blaming and/or praising for things like interest rates (to use the most apparent example) would be significantly reduced.

Our official interest rate has always been within a couple % of what it is around the world.(for the last 20 years at least)

Yes things were tough in the eighties,
but BEFORE Liberal got back in my home loan rate was already down to 7.25% .(1994)
I think looking at the past, anything below 15 percent is normal.

One thing that has changed for the worst(whose fault? I don't know),
is that
available credit in proportion to income
has got to a point that is unsafe when the rate rises.

Years ago the banks would only allow borrowings based on repayments
of one third of your after-tax income .
These days 'interest only', and morgages base on your 'life insurance pay-out' are the norm.

Sounds like a ticking time bomb to me.

I would hate to be the one in power now that is trying to put out the fuse.

People should be tightening their belts no matter who got in.