16-05-2014 11:58 AM - edited 16-05-2014 11:59 AM
I decided I should read up on the budget so I could comment. Found this article explained it well:
Budget 2014: the six graphs that matter for Australia
This is a horror budget for many – but the cuts overall are not as bad as in the past and, surprisingly, leave Wayne Swan with the record for wielding the budget axe
"On the broader economic front the budget suggests 2014-15 will be worse than this year. While the economy in 2013-14 is expected to grow by 2.75% (a slightly conservative estimate given annualised growth in the last half of 2013, which was 2.9%), in 2014-15 it’s expected to just trudge along by a mere 2.5%. Only in 2015-16 is the economy expected get back to close to trend growth of 3%.
Why are they so gloomy? Well it’s not households. Household consumption has been revised up since the Myefo – from growth of 2.75% next year to now 3% and 3.25% in 2015-16.
So we’re expected to keep shopping.
The problem is the end of the mining boom. This budget really throws off any hope that mining might sustain us. In the pre-election economic and fiscal outlook (Pefo) done just prior to the 2013 election, business investment was expected to grow in 2013-14 by 2%. The Myefo revised that down to a fall of 1.5% and the budget has dumped it even further –estimating a fall of 4%."
"This was going to be a horror budget. And it is. If you are intending to go to university, if you are under 30 and unemployed, if you are a family with a child over 6, if you go to GPs, you’ll going to be hit hard.
Family tax benefits are frozen to save $2.5bn over four years, the threshold for Family Tax Benefit cut from $150,000 to $1000,000 will save $1.2bn, cutting it for families with kids over six saves $1.9bn and the $7 co-payment for GP visits gathers in $3,5bn. The increase in costs to uni students through the deregulation of fees, the cutting of funding to unis and the changes the HECS/HELP repayments $3.2bn
But the biggest individual “saving” is through not increasing foreign aid as promised. This saves $7.6bn and is easily the laziest save any government can do."
"Hockey is not rushing back to surplus. Yes he’s putting on the fiscal breaks, but not like Costello did in 1996 to 1999, nor even like Keating did after the “banana republic” crisis in the late 1980s.
The budget deficit will shrink by on average 0.7% of GDP over the next four years. Costello trimmed it by 1% of GDP when he came in –but he was able to rely on much more revenue growth than Hockey.
Spending is expected to be cut each year by on average 0.3% over the next four years. Costello’s cuts to expenditure were double that."
Those baying for Hockey's blood should do a bit of back-reading.
on 17-05-2014 04:47 PM
@silverfaun wrote:
@boris1gary wrote:While those families in the bottom quintile (or 20 per cent) of income earners see an average 5 per cent reduction in disposable incomes, those in the top quintile barely register a decline, down just 0.3 per cent.
and my favourite headline of the day....
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/tony-abbotts-name-is-mud-20140515-zrd9w.html
Tony Abbott's name is mud
The Prime Minister is a liar. There is no point mincing words. We have never seen anything like it.
With this budget he has shown himself to be cynically dishonest on a scale unprecedented in modern politics. Although Abbott is not the first political leader to break an election promise and will not be the last, no prime minister in memory, Liberal or Labor, has come even close to his contemptuous deception of the electorate he sucker-punched on Tuesday.
Calling our PM a liar on here is unacceptable and against the cs values. Name calling of any kind is not in line with the cs rules and regs.
TONY ABBOTT called Julia Gillard a Liar
You posted calling Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd Liars and criminals OFTEN ...why are you still a registered user if things are as you claim ?
on 17-05-2014 04:53 PM
and since when does Boris write for the SMH ?
on 17-05-2014 05:01 PM
my 2nd favourite budget headline of the day
“But Our Over-riding Promise Was To Rupert Murdoch… And it was about turning Australia into the US so he feels at home!”
on 17-05-2014 06:47 PM
This thread has some of the funniest content of the week :D:D
on 17-05-2014 06:54 PM
If my memory serves me correctly you called Rudd and Gillard murderers only this week. Along with calling Julia a liar many times. A bit rich to now come on here and cry over Tones being called names.
on 17-05-2014 06:55 PM
@silverfaun wrote:Thanks for posting that but the confected outrage has nothing to do with the budget or the wellbeing of our country and the future of our country and if we can sustain the health and education of the people, it's all about the disappointed.
Greg Jericho is a good writer who does his research and presents a balanced informative report.
It's not confected outrage and nothing to do with "the disappointed", whatever that means.
on 17-05-2014 06:57 PM
@alexander*beetle wrote:If my memory serves me correctly you called Rudd and Gillard murderers only this week. Along with calling Julia a liar many times. A bit rich to now come on here and cry over Tones being called names.
liar1. a person who has lied or lies repeatedly. li•ar (ˈlaɪ ər) n. a person who tells lies. [before 950; Middle English lier, Old English lēogere. See lie1, -ar1].I'm sorry, but no amount of obfuscation can hide the fact that his promises before the election have been well and truly broken and he is therefore, a liar.
He didn't even just promise. He solemnly pledged.
17-05-2014 07:28 PM - edited 17-05-2014 07:33 PM
yep and he said...So Help Me God
on 17-05-2014 07:31 PM
on 17-05-2014 07:37 PM
@2013marfield wrote:The Prime Minister IS a liar.