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[Bill_Steamshovel]

Read the ABC article here. You have to actually part with cash for the AFR article. Transcripts would be nice from anyone with access.

Besides Latham providing the definitive label for this year's election, he also puts forward the idea that there is no private housing affordability crisis. Is there a housing crisis? Do you agree with Mark Latham when he says that any cash injection style housing assistance will simply put upward pressure on housing prices?

More to the point, is there any real tangible difference between the proposed Rudd and Howard governments?

[SG]

Besides Latham providing the definitive label for this year's election, he also puts forward the idea that there is no private housing affordability crisis. Is there a housing crisis? Do you agree with Mark Latham when he says that any cash injection style housing assistance will simply put upward pressure on housing prices?

If only Latham had been that coherent for the majority of hs campain he would now be the PM seeking his second term.

Anything that makes housing more affordable simply increases the demand and puts upward pressure on prices.

Unless of course it also makes many other items more affordable and thus siphons off funds in that direction so that those who wish to purchase a house do so in a less competitive environment.

One of the key ways to do this is to reduce taxes.  Everything becomes more affordable so people spend (yes I agree that is inflationary).  But at least the demand is spread across all sectors of the economy.  By pumping up housing alone and putting too much focus there the only people who win are  the builders. 

A further benefit to reeducing taxes is that negatively gearing a property actually becomes LESS attractive.

Why?

Because at the moment when I do my sums to determine if I should invest or not I have the wonderful ability to count the cost of interest against my taxable income in the highest tax bracket.  For the sake of argument let's take to top bracket as being 50% (near enough for the purposes of this debate.

That means that for every $1 of interest I pay out of my post tax income I get a 50c rebate from teh government.  Effectively the governmnet halves my interest bill.  If I don't minimise my tax I KNOW I have to pay 50c in every top end dollar in tax so there are plenty of accountants doing this on behalf of upper income earners on a daily basis.

All of which increases the upward pressure on housing prices.

If you drop the tax rate to say, 25% (for the sake of making the maths easy) then for every $1 of interst I pay on my loan the government only gives me 25c back.  So by cutting taxes they have effectively cut my easily generated return from teh governmnet in half.

And I am therefore more likely to look elsewhere for investments that make a better return thus reducing the pressure on house prices. Note this negative impact on investment return may lead to a reduction in newly developed housing stock for rent and drive rents up.  That's a story for another time.

More to the point, is there any real tangible difference between the proposed Rudd and Howard governments?

For me - not on the surface.

Underneath - you know what you get with JHo, KRudd will drop everything immediately post election and who knows what we will get.  Funny that GArrett got slugged for saying what everyone knows to be the truth.

SG

[Wolfe Tone]

I thought when Latham released his diaries he had done a very traditional thing in Australian politics and gone mad without power but what he said in the article seemed to have a lot of good points to make that I agree with.

SG- what do you think about Liberal and Labor (generally) in terms of Social policy?
Clearly the two parties to this election are marketed as the same (Howard- Social Conservatism, Rudd- Me Too!) but as a generalisation would you prefer the social (as opposed to economic) policies of a traditional Labor government or a traditional Liberal government?

[Thaluikhain]

Well, what are the traditional social policies, though?  Might be best to define them first, before asking whether or not they are a good thing.

[SG]

SG- what do you think about Liberal and Labor (generally) in terms of Social policy?
Clearly the two parties to this election are marketed as the same (Howard- Social Conservatism, Rudd- Me Too!) but as a generalisation would you prefer the social (as opposed to economic) policies of a traditional Labor government or a traditional Liberal government?

Ah, what would I like.

First and foremost I want sound economic management above all else.  Why?  Becuase that way our destiny is in our hands, if you have the bucks nobody can hurt you, if you don't have teh bucks and teh creditors are calling then you do as you're told as they tear your country apart piece by piece until they get their pound of flesh.

So a sound economic base makes sound social policy possible.

What to do with the cash?

1.  Ensure basic safety net is in place - nobody should have to live oin the streets, equally nobody should expect the dole or whatever for no effort (note that pensioners have contributed via taxation their whole life - that equals effort)

2.  Ensure that everyone has the chance to excel.  Ensure there are no barriers that cannot be overcome.  Let the poor immigrant kid with close to no English have the capability to become wealthy if they work hard enough

3.  Maintain a strong defence.  Like it or not the world is full of people who want what we have.  I'm happy to share provided they respect our way of life.

4.  Synchronise health.  Health is way too expensive to be left to the individual states any more.  Centres of excellence need establishing with ferry flights for patients to the nearest relevant CoE to maximise utilisation of very expensive assets.

5. Synchronise education.  As above but apply to education.  Have a genuine University system that is focussed on research and advancement of the body of human knowledge.  Have a CAE system that focusses on vocational degrees - commerce, law, accounting, nursing etc.  Have a trades system that allows kids to "drop out" of the academic system if they pick up somehting to do with their hands.


That's probably main main wish list.  Hopefully it covers where I'd like to see it go, for what it's worth both parties are useless power hungry organisations less keen on actually delivering anything instead of doing whatever they need to to hang on to their own jobs.

SG

[Lord Biscuit©]

Having Latham back in the picture would certainly liven up the campaign. I can see Howard's cheesy grin right now 

I love that Howard's last campaign against Latham was about how untrustworthy etc etc he would be, and now the old codger is quoting him! 

[iT's_GoOd_NeWs_WeEk!]

Ah, what would I like.

First and foremost I want sound economic management above all else.  Why?  Becuase that way our destiny is in our hands, if you have the bucks nobody can hurt you, if you don't have teh bucks and teh creditors are calling then you do as you're told as they tear your country apart piece by piece until they get their pound of flesh.

So a sound economic base makes sound social policy possible.

What to do with the cash?

1.  Ensure basic safety net is in place - nobody should have to live oin the streets, equally nobody should expect the dole or whatever for no effort (note that pensioners have contributed via taxation their whole life - that equals effort)

2.  Ensure that everyone has the chance to excel.  Ensure there are no barriers that cannot be overcome.  Let the poor immigrant kid with close to no English have the capability to become wealthy if they work hard enough

3.  Maintain a strong defence.  Like it or not the world is full of people who want what we have.  I'm happy to share provided they respect our way of life.

4.  Synchronise health.  Health is way too expensive to be left to the individual states any more.  Centres of excellence need establishing with ferry flights for patients to the nearest relevant CoE to maximise utilisation of very expensive assets.

5. Synchronise education.  As above but apply to education.  Have a genuine University system that is focussed on research and advancement of the body of human knowledge.  Have a CAE system that focusses on vocational degrees - commerce, law, accounting, nursing etc.  Have a trades system that allows kids to "drop out" of the academic system if they pick up somehting to do with their hands.


That's probably main main wish list.  Hopefully it covers where I'd like to see it go, for what it's worth both parties are useless power hungry organisations less keen on actually delivering anything instead of doing whatever they need to to hang on to their own jobs.

SG

wtf are you on about? 

[SG]

wtf are you on about? 

The reception improves when you take off the tinfoil hat.

SG

[Thaluikhain]

Seriously, what is it about people named Belinda?

Though, when you say "strong defence", what counts as strong.  Both sides have promised to increase defence spending, is this neccesary, in your opinion, or just the maintenance of what we have?  Though, not spending money on rubbish junk would help.

[Pertinax]

Clearly the two parties to this election are marketed as the same (Howard- Social Conservatism, Rudd- Me Too!) but as a generalisation would you prefer the social (as opposed to economic) policies of a traditional Labor government or a traditional Liberal government?

You'll get into trouble using the tag "traditional" in the context of this election.  Traditionally (ie historically) the Liberal Party was just that, socially liberal, but economically conservative.  The Labor Party were socailly and economically more prescriptive, insisting in regulatory control over all manner of things, the least of which was industrial relations.  The boot now seems to be on the other foot. Conservatives have hijacked both sides of politics to the point where each side attempts to outflank the other to the right, leaving no space on the political agenda for true social liberalism.

Should it be a matter for government to decide if gay people can get married or if lesbians have access to IVF, or if boat loads of people arrive from overseas unasked for, or if muslims (or anyone else for that matter) practice their religion peacefully? I'd say provided no harm (and I mean real harm) comes to anyone as a direct result of private citizens going about their own lives then government has no business being involved in it at all. 

Which side of politics has preached anything vaguely resembling tolerance in this election?

[Lord Biscuit©]

Very good analysis there Pert.

It's become an Australian Idol race, rather than a ideology based race.

In a general sense, I am against regulation.

[rant]
An example of regulation being removed, to apparently great effect, is of that in a town in Denmark where they have removed the traffic system - lights, signs, parking etc etc. They figured that people aren't regulated on the footpath, in their homes etc, and seem to come to very little trouble in these surroundings. Why do they need regulation on the road? The accident rate has since dropped dramatically, because people have to be more careful and considerate, but at the same time they get to work faster, because they don't have to wait at light when there is no traffic. Bendigo is trialling the same 'lack-of-system'. This may not work as well in a city where very busy roads merge and some other spots, but am I the only one who feels way over-regulated on the road?

It's been proven time and time again that speed limits do not improve safety, and in fact decrease safety. Yet the speed limits keep dropping and more cameras keep appearing. It's clear the councils/government are not interested in safety. Businesses complain that the 15-30 minute car park zone are damaging their businesses, because people are forced elsewhere. Yet, the councils keep putting in limited parking. What is their excu$e? It's got so bad in Nth Sydney that the council have finally been forced to remove parking restrictions in the weekends.
[/rant]

However a problem we face in Australia is that we have a small population, so it's hard to get a decent spread of competitors in some of the major verticals. This makes it too easy for collusion and bad business practices to creep in. A truly global marketplace may fix that, but may also cause other unwanted side-effects. Difficult one to sort out I think.

[iT's_GoOd_NeWs_WeEk!]

Seriously, what is it about people named Belinda?

Yeah I know! They're just so damn intelligent and good looking.... it's wierd isn't it 

[Lord Biscuit©]

Yeah I know! They're just so damn intelligent and good looking.... it's wierd isn't it 

Uh...blonde as well I see.

[iT's_GoOd_NeWs_WeEk!]

Uh...blonde as well I see.

Actually no but I'd like to be 

[grooviechickie]

*snip*

Okay, that offer of 1000 blowjobs is good to go. I don't think I have ever seriously agreed with you until now.