The Budget’s critics threaten our future

[nero_bolt]

Labor, the Greens and Clive Palmer are threatening our future:

Australia’s AAA credit rating at risk: S&P

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is warning Australia’s prized AAA credit rating could be reviewed unless substantial cuts are made to the budget in coming years.

In an unusually forthright warning, a lead sovereign analyst for S&P, Craig Michaels, said he was counting on the Abbott government to win Senate approval for at least “some” of its $37 billion in planned savings against opposition from Labor, which has pledged to veto about $18 billion in cuts and tax rises…

If it looked as though “sizeable budget deficits were considered acceptable at the political and the community level then we might reassess, certainly, government commitment and also potentially the trajectory for public sector debt,” he said…

S&P’s comments may serve as a wake-up call for opponents of the budget, including Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer, who argues there is no need for big cuts to the $48 billion deficit because of the AAA rating…

“We’re looking for action,” Mr Michaels said…

“Australia is fairly unique among AAA-rated sovereigns in that its external position is very weak,” he said.

“What that means is that to retain the AAA rating, everything else needs to remain very strong, including public finances...”

Budget block ‘unhelpful’

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Australia chief economist Saul Eslake said it would be “unhelpful” if the government’s budget measures were blocked.

A lack of “political will” and failure to rein in spending were key reasons cited by S&P in September when it cut West Australia’s rating. 

http://www.afr.com/p/national/australia_aaa_credit_rating_at_risk_5qqhkQyjknWnUmQ6RXwPLK

[i-need-a-martini]

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@silverfaun wrote:

Hyperbole and labor hate is not helping this country, shorten is a disgrace, he offers no solution to THEIR mess.

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But the opening post confirmed there is NO mess.

Make up your mind lol!

[fourandsixpants]

The Face of power and politics in Australia may be changing forever.....

The budget proves once and for all that Australians can’t trust politicians......

When truth prevails over injustice, all Australians are winners – but on budget night the truth was nowhere to be seen.......

Liberal party strategy was to soften up the electorate by telling them things were bad, Australians are hopeless and the only way forward is the way set out in the budget. It doesn’t matter anyway, they thought. The voters will fall for it, they always have. This is how the game of politics works.....

The Liberals have made statements to parliament over the six months leading up to budget night about Australia's debt crisis. If something was not done (what the Liberal donors wanted), the economy would implode and everyone would suffer. This view was supported by the commission of audit.....

The truth is Australia has one of the lowest debt levels in the world. Australia’s general government net debt as a percentage of GDP was 13.5% in 2013, whereas the OECD average for advanced economies was 73.5%. Australia is one of only 13 countries to have a AAA credit rating.

These facts aren't helpful to the Liberal party, so their strategy is to get the treasurer and the prime minister to repeatedly lie to parliament and the electorate. The party's spin doctors could convince the journalists, so no one would be the wiser. Even though Australia didn’t have a debt problem, Abbott would introduce a debt tax that would help convince people we had a crisis on our hands – which was clearly not true.......

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/19/abbott-has-delivered-a-budget-for-the-lobbyists...

[i-need-a-martini]

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@silverfaun wrote:

its a big job but I trust the government to fix it, just like they always fix the messes Labor leave behind them. labor is  like the cockroach, everything they touch they spread disease.

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Good metaphor.

Cockroaches - one of the cleanest animals around and will survive just about anything. 

[izabsmiling]

The budget threatens the lives of Australians.

Support that if it gives you pleasure.......

[freakiness]

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@freakiness wrote:

Remind us again who got the AAA rating in the first place.

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No answer? 

Ah well, no surprises there.

[ajarnjenny]

Lol! I will bet that you are still lining up for your Medicare rebate and watching your super go up and up.

If Labor is so useless, you should opt out of both, to protest at Labor's ineptitude.

[fourandsixpants]

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@silverfaun wrote:

its a big job but I trust the government to fix it, just like they always fix the messes Labor leave behind them. labor is  like the cockroach, everything they touch they spread disease.

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Good metaphor.

Cockroaches - one of the cleanest animals around and will survive just about anything.

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funny because the the rest of the majority of ordinary Australians don't agree with you sf.

[freakiness]

Turns out this is a load of codswallop too.

Standard & Poor's ratings agency has contradicted the prime minister and treasurer’s claims that the opposition will put the country’s AAA credit rating at risk by blocking budget measures in the Senate.

Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey both issued warnings on Tuesday that Bill Shorten could cost Australia its AAA credit rating if Labor joined with minority parties to block budget measures in the Senate.

The pair had seized on a report in the Australian Financial Review, headlinedAustralia’s AAA Credit Rating at risk: S&P, which said the agency could review the country’s credit rating if there were not substantial cuts made to the budget in coming years.

But an S&P spokesman said its long-term view was that Australia had a “stable outlook”, meaning there is less than 33% chance that the country’s coveted AAA-rating will be downgraded in the next two years.

“The rating is not at risk,” he told Guardian Australia.

When asked if the rating, which enables Australia to borrow more cheaply than lower-rated nations, could be at risk if spending cuts in the 2013-14 budget were blocked in the Senate, the spokesman replied: “No”.

He added: “Our position has been the same for years, it has not changed”.

[boris1gary]

nerowulf, Another comedy of errors