Hello all,
Thanks for the encouraging comments on my last post. Admittedly, it wasn't just the talks that bothered me last night, I was looking through many websites that had info about traineeships etc and I got a bit worried.
And when we get to school, people are still talking about UAI estimates. I can't wait until this hype is over (though it won't be.. probably next year..)
Anyway, the most exciting thing that happened today was the govt budget on ABC. This past whole week, I've been watching the news and listening to the radio about tonight's budget details, and people always mentioned the word "horror". To be honest, I was anticipating the moment Wayne Swan would say something to make us all gasp during his long budget speech, but he didn't. I thought everything made sense, and it was to be expected anyway.
SO. Recap for those who didn't watch it (I recommend you all watch it next year, to see where the govt will spend money/take our money from). I took notes while watching. They are 3 pages long, and I was typing in a mad hurry. I hope I get my figures right.
Okay, so the 1 and only goal for this year's budget was "Nation building for Recovery [from the Global Financial Crisis]". For those who NEVER read the news, or watch television, or watch the radio, (you should) Australia is in one of the best positions compared to all the developed nations in the world when we're talking about our current economic state. Since the recession hit in September 08, the government has implemented strategies to combat the possibility of diminishing consumption in our economy. So what happened was in the December quarter, the govt sent out a batch of cash to people who they believed would spend asap, to get the economy running. However, in the March quarter they realised it wasn't enough, so there was another cash bonus. (am I wrong?) Yeah.
back to Nation building for Recovery, they put money into infrastructure (roads in particular- creating more jobs, ports), education- an increase in university spots + 50,000 starting from next year, more primary and secondary school funding, oh and can't forget about TAFES :)
Oh right, I really do not wish for any "LABOUR SUCKS" comments here because I reckon there wasn't much they could do. They had to borrow, because if they didn't, the economic contraction would be four times worse. And really, the Liberals are saying now "OH HO HOHO, THEY BORROWED SO MUCH, WE'RE IN SO MUCH DEBT". Do NOT be afraid of the word debt. Really. There seriously are not many countries who are not in debt. You either borrow or die. We, myfriends, survive. :)
So there's been money put into university research, cancer research, maintenance of cancer treatment centres etc, the usual stuff. Umm, money put into buying 35,000 building sites to create more jobs. The govt plans to extend the first home buyer's boost for a further 6 months which is a very good thing. There's a tax break for small businesses, so they don't have to fire their employees.
Oh I mentioned roads before... alot of money has been put into building really long roads (that stretch from Cairnes to Melb.. or something like that) for creation of jobs and sustainability. A pretty good idea, fairly acceptable.
43 billion dollars has been put into BROADBAND (now this large project is being undertaken by both the public and private sectors)
4.5bn into the new Clean energy Initiative
5.3bn for Quality of human capital- mainly education
Theres the private health insurance reform. People are starting to notice that rich rich people get so much more benefits xD
ALL IN ALL 58bn debt. ARYAN, you are forbidden from commenting here. Anything you say will be deleted. DO not compare how you think the liberals would react to this global financial crisis to what the labour govt has actually done. They've done a good job.
I cbb finishing this summary. The frams have gone spastically crazy. The budget thread.
Be there :)
Oh I'll comment on the commentator's comments. So there was a panel of three geniuses (no not really. I just superly like Alan Kohler). What they said, I agree with alot. I didn't find this budget too overwhelming. I expected it, and I'm surprised we're not in deeper debt.
Swan is the next to talk to Kerry and I noticed his reluctance to answer questions, he dodged them very carefully. Haha. I don't have much to say about what he said.
Joe Hockey is the next. Okay, he put up a very bad arguement. I think he doesn't have much to say, but he kept on ranting on about "debt". Get over it. We all know. Trying to brainwash everyone into panic because we are billions of dollars in debt. Look at the bigger picture, yo.
Oh there was also this woman, Claire Martin who said that the govt didn't allocate more money for the other pensions like Sole parent allowance, youth allowance and welfare.
Okay, let this be clear. PEOPLE LIVING ON THE DOLE SHOULD NOT HAVE A PAYRISE. I DO NOT WANT TO FEED THE MOUTHS OF LAZY PEOPLE WHO DO NOT WANT TO WORK.
Wth is with people who drop out of school and don't work... they have no aim in life? They disgust me, dragging down the rest of us. WORK! damnit.
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19 counterattacks:
I'm glad I didn't do eco.
Good work.
Liberals suck !
Yay !
Yeah I don't know much about the budget but I did notice Hockey's very superficial argument.
thanks belle, now i won't feel like a fool when people talk about the budget
@ Topher: WATCH THE BUDGET NEXT YEAR :) It's important that we all know what happens to our money after our taxes (or so we know about our future taxes :( )
@SL: I KNOW! The whole time I had a ^o) face on because it was just so gay even I could see through it.
@ bk201: You're welcome. But I did leave alot out of the budget. It's just the gist of it here :)
Hellooo Prince Aryan where were you at school to-day????
Anyway
Nice work, very enfusiastic (yes this is another on-purpose). Haha xD
I don't like it how the Liberals and others always pander on about debt and hwatnot when it may actually be better in the long run.
Belle, I know that you're all pro about the government borrowing money to pay for these things, but I think you should consider the following.
First, large amounts of money that has been borrowed is being spent into government payments to people. The problem here is that people in this type of financial crisis tend to save and not spend it, which would 'stimulate' the economy, and of course this defeats the whole purpose of trying to stimulate the economy.
Furthermore, this money that has been lost has to be somehow repaid. If the government are unable to repay the loans then guess what will happen? OUR taxes (yes OUR taxes, not the taxes for those who have received these payments, as they would've probably retired by then) will increase.
I don't know about you, but I really don't want my taxes to increase from the current maximum rate which is 48.5%.
Secondly, I think the money borrowed should be best spent by investing it into assets and infrastructure, for example this would be building a bridge as they can bring in money to pay off the debt.
Thirdly, the major reason that the Great Depression affected some many countries was due to DEBT. I'm not going to go into a huge depth here, but basically Australia was in a position that it was difficult to make repayments to the UK for borrowing a large sum of money (I've forgotten the actual amount) and thus had to take measures.
So yes, I feel that the government should've taken an alternative approach to this. But hey, everyone has their opinions.
Oh and the Board of Studies does not recommend that schools give UAI estimates, and I assume it's for a good reason. You'll do fine :)
cheryl:
ty ty ty for this summary =) haha.. i was reading abt it online.. coz BOTH my tvs were occupied by parents..and i wasn't allowed to watch it live online >.<
yehh..and evn if we're in a huge deficit... if we reduce the impact of a likely recession, we'll be much better off..and all the debt will be repaid earlier and faster, won't it??
Warned you Aryan :P My blog, my rules.
Anyway. I don't mind it being taxes... Stimulating the economy NOW is what we have to do before we come to a standstill and alot of companies start sacking people. When people get sacked, there is no income. When there is no income, hell breaks loose.
Some people might need help such as the sole parent allowance or carers allowance. The carers allowance allows a person to stay at home to look after a relative who is physically incapable of performing everyday tasks. A sole parent allowance helps those who really need it sometimes. I have a family friend who just lost their Dad to cancer.
One thing with the budget is that you can never make everybody happy. Debt isn't always a bad thing but can easily get out of hand. If that does happen, we'll be the ones paying off this debt with our taxes in the future.
Also Belle, I suppose you don't actually believe everything on the news, do you?
i like these informative posts and blogs :)
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and i dunno who the mini person is.
but i dunno what the heck he/shes talkin about. i wont bother to argue
but i guess government is currently aiming to get out of recession as quickly as possible first then doin the other stuff e.g. infrastructure which has a lagging effect
@ Jason Min: I don't suppose you study economics... No, I don't believe everything on the news or newspapers.
Digressing, the Telegraph was shocking today. I'm never going to buy it again.
No, I don't study Economics. But it's damn logical that debt isn't always good and that it has adverse effects.
And Michael, do you honestly think that you can make money out of nothing? Sure they can print more money, but that increases inflation (ie. the buying power of money decreases)... If you read, I was trying to illustrate why debt is bad and why I'm against it.
Debt is better than economic standstill.. we're already experiencing negative growth..
Yeah, but you're not looking at the long run here... Do you really want to be paying 60% taxes in the future? (Okay, 60% is a bit unrealistic, but the current maximum tax rate is 48.5%, any higher will be more or less more than half of what you earn!)
And as I said before, people tend to SAVE in such economic situations, rather than spend the money. If they don't spend the money then the economy is as still as it was before, and Australia's is in alot of debt that it has to somehow pay off.
we spent most of our stimulating thingymajig x)
TT, I don't really get the debt thing. ho is the Government in debt to? Like who do they borrow money off?? Other countires? But since Australia's supposedly in a 'good' position compared to the rest, we obviously don't borrow from them, right? Or is there some Mr Moneybags sitting around lending billions of $$$ to countries?
@ Quentin: Australia borrows from overseas. When the govt gave out cash they borrowed money say from a country like Japan or China. and the process is like a normal loan. You borrow money at a certain interest rate etc.
Debt is not always a good thing. I agree. However, debt is also not necessarily a bad thing. You're worried about your tax of the future. The main reason we have to STIMULATE THE ECONOMY NOW, is so that we actually HAVE jobs in the FUTURE so that we can pay tax.
This is what people don't get... Our growth rate was slowing so drastically before the cash bonuses because everyone got freaked out by what's happening in the UK and US. What happened there was MANY PEOPLE lost their jobs. Even big motoring companies are going broke. All these unemployed people have no money. There are alot of these people now. That's why we don't want this in Australia. We want to make sure we can keep as much of the workforce as we can.
but no one was spending. Everyone's too concerned about themselves, just saving- it's a natural reaction. So the government had to encourage spending, so that firms don't lose business, and so that individuals still have their jobs- and are not made redundant because there is a decreased number in demand.
I'm fearing tax, but at the moment I think we needed a SUPER SHORT TERM solution, just to interrupt the downwards growth in our total output.
I guess it sort of counts as a preventative measure
Oh 60% is totally unrealistic. It should be under 50%.
And yes, people may save the money, however they will spend it one day. It would be preferable if they spent it asap, but people will definately spend it in the years to come, it doesn't matter, it goes back into the cycle anyway. It's just improving consumer confidence.
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