"I didn't promise to keep interest rates low" says Howard

Dentention centres ehh, sepi. Yeah, let Australia be an international doormat. Lets let in all the scum, unskilled, and looking to take advantage of us.

There are legitimate means for entering this country. Skilled workers have no problems doing so. Skilled migration is at its highest levels, ever.

These opportunists, which you speak of, chose to gamble with their childrens’ lives by tring to enter Australia illegitimately.

Your utopian EU countries are cracking down on refugee migrants. Why is that so?

He has changed us, for the worse.

Care to spell out how that may be, ant?

Gee, with unemployment at 33 year lows, participation rates at record levels, more Australians have jobs. How is that leaving people off for the worse? Continued economic expansion, and higher incomes. Australians are better off, and have their highest incomes ever.

Can’t argue with that, unless you want to start talking about intangible, fuzzies.

One of Howard’s nastiest moves.

Detention centres.

I think Johhny H has changed us as a society.
People now think it is normal to lock up small kids until they become suicidal etc.

What? Speak for yourself.

To quote the Late Show – What’s that all about?

ant: what abuse? I did not write anything abusive, only statements with a few naughty words.. perhaps I could have said it as “talking rubbish” 🙂

Is this not a forum for debate rather than argument?

Anyway, you’re the one who has been brandishing the name calling, I was more asking you to actually back what you’re saying rather than just typing outlandish claims that don’t seem to have a basis.

Howard may well lose, as I have said before give me the decent alternative and I’ll vote for them. I’m yet to see the decency of Rudd, anyone can sort through the newspaper to see what’s making news that day then develop a policy over their corn flakes.. which is all i’ve seen from him so far. But the polls say people are believing it, which they can if they want to, looks like it will be their loss lol

Anyway, i’m off to lock my small kids in the cupboard until they become suicidal.. wtf?

bd84, as soon as you started the abuse, you lost the argument. It is a typical response from right-wingers though. Howard’s going down and all your frothing won’t do a thing to prevent it.

I think Johhny H has changed us as a society.
People now think it is normal to lock up small kids until they become suicidal etc.

And he likes to try to frighten people to keep himself in power. People are over it though I think. Finally.

I recall that at the time a couple of fairly respectable local and international economic commentators pointed out that the Governments claim to be able to manage the economy in a way that kept downwards pressure on interest rates was akin to them promising, that if elected, they would manage the weather to ensure plenty of rain (but only late at night) and the days would always be warm and sunny. Howard poo pooed the commentary saying that everyone knew it was the Governments excellent management of the economy that kept interest rates lower than under Keating (of course not mentioning that effective rates under Howard’s own stint as treasurer were around 22%).
Did it influence my vote? Nup. Did a promise to introduce a 30% rebate on childcare costs giving me around $8000 a year cash back in my pocket? You betcha!

ant. no, just sick of you drivelling bullsh_t.

He hasn’t changed “us”, I am still the same person as I was in 1996 besides being 11 years older.. He may have changed people’s perceptions of this country? But I won’t make the broad unrealistic generalisations you are, as I cannot speak on behalf of everyone.

Not everyone agrees what he says, and nobody ever will. I can’t say I agree with everything he says, but then again the alternative isn’t any better, when I get a better alternative I shall vote for them! Anyway, they are politicians after all.. there for the money and for self preservation, using it against John Howard alone doesn’t stack up.

dreamtime of the 50s? No idea where you think of this crap, but as MRB said it’s not restricted to Australia.. and to counteract the George Bush follow up line you would have used.. it was happening before he took power in the US too.

As much fun as writing words such as “disgusting, foul, weasel and toad” is.. try writing something thought out and somewhat intelligent in between them.

I think you’ll find most of the western world has become a plastic, souless, narrow money-driven place. Not restricted to Oz at all.

bd84, you misunderstood me. Australia is poorer for being “led” by Howard, in the most basic sense. Not in dollars, not in economics, in what makes a society worth living in.

He has changed us, for the worse.

and oddly, he was fixated on his dreamtime of the 50’s, and yet he’s dragged us towards a plastic, souless, narrow money-driven country. A disgusting, foul little man.

JWH is a pragmatic worm with NO conscience, who would do anything, and say anything, to stay in power. I think the general public are (finally) a wake-up to this. I shall put the Fed Libs last, with satisfaction. (Different story withe the local mob though . . .)

well interest rates are still low in comparison to what they were under the labor government for a start.

No John Howard doesn’t control interest rates.. plus I don’t remember him saying that interest rates would not rise at all under his government.

Poorer under him? It would have happened either way no matter who was in government, the way labor has run the economy in the past, we would probably be paying higher interest than we are now.. plus Swan will be a shi-t treasurer.. I remember something about him already running one state economy into the ground when he was a state treasurer.

People losing their houses is due to banks lending too much money and people not managing their money. If you cannot afford $50 a month extra on your loan then you’ve caused yourself the problem (and your bank has mostly likely helped!). If you manage your money correctly and don’t borrow above your heads, you’re unlikely to have any problems.

Howard told a big, fat, steamy lie. But he carefully cloaked it in weasel words. he gave an impression, but used words that could be wormed out-of later. Howard stands for nothing but staying in power. It’s all he wants. his “Howard Battlers” are people he feels deep contempt for, because they are easily tricked by cunning little rats like himself.

Australia is the poorer for having had him run it for too long. I fervently hope that this election, he will be kicked into the mud where he belongs. How the hell did a toad like this become our leader?

I dont care which way you cut the mustard, this bloke got up and insinsuated to the unwashed brain dead masses that HE controlled interest rates.He may not have directly siad that, but the suggestion was there. Idont care about schamantics, this bloke knew exactly what he was doing.

He’s been caught out and he’s argueing with the ref. Not a good look when you desperatly flip floping around.

Mate you were elected to be a leader, at least have the gutsd (for once) and take the long drive to the GG’s residance and admit you’ve done your dash.

We don’t learn about the RBA, inflation, interest rates, super etc because we’re to busy learning about aborigines or some poet… Thus, because of the poor standard of education (even if ‘relatively’ good) that statement’s like ‘Keep Interest Rates at Record Lows’ have an effect. After all, the people who don’t buy it are usually the ones who know who they’ll be voting for anyway.

I went to a really interesting talk by a con-artist a few years back boomacat (at the Melbourne comedy festival) who said that scams only work on dishonest people – you can’t cheat an honest man.

They’re generally set up to offer the promise of easy money for doing something either legally or morally dodgy.

All the financial literacy in the world won’t help you then. (A knowledge of scams would, of course)

So what was with all that hulabaloo about “interest rates never go up in an election year” that was all over the news the last time the Reserve board met? I wondered at the time how much influence the Government had over the rate, but now that statement seems well and truly de-bunked. Is the reverse true though? If rates aren’t usually raised in an election year, does this indicate that most recent rise indicates the RBA has little faith in the current government’s ability to manage the economy?

tortfeaser – hence my reluctance to let it run in the first place, and the spin i put on the article as an editorial comment.

Do canberra voters really pay any attention to this sort of propoganda from the major players or is it all just a bit of chaff?

I agree that financial/economic literacy generally is important, I can’t believe that most people don’t understand super, and that people still fall for those Nigerian email scams and similar bullshiit.

Ralph’s right – silly thing for Howard to say, but I lament that we have a public silly enough to believe it. A simple “Really? How are you going to do that, then?” would’ve sufficed. Perhaps the Labor governments haven’t felt qualified to analyse the answer ;).

To make this Canberra-related – do they cover this stuff in ACT schools? I know I had to wait til Year 11 Economics in Queensland to find out there was such a thing as the Reserve Bank, and until Yr 12 to find out the relationship between inflation and interest rates. Job ready is good, but voter ready is just as important.

isn’t it because of the level of inflation driven by levels of spending that interest rates are consequently put up by the RBA – to try and reduce/put a dampener on inflation?

i’m not an economist so i could be wrong about that, but if that is the case then it’s one out of three.

The song was called “two out of three aint bad”.

I agree that general party notices are not appropriate for RiotAct but this is relevant, given a couple of recent posts on the affordability of housing in Canberra (or total lack thereof).

I also agree with you Ralph, the RBA sets interest rates and this was never a promise that Howard could keep. But that’s the point – it was dishonest at the time it was made, and it’s insulting that he now tries to tell us that he never even made it.

What is that Meatloaf song VY? All I can think of is “I’d do anything for love, but I won’t do that!”.

Agreed, I will be backing off on the ideologically driven rants.

I’d be bummed if this blog fell into some useless noticeboard for the parties. I don’t reckon this stuff is welcome. Its got bupkis to do with Canberra.

….And I can’t believe that the greater community fell for it.

Inflation is under control and there are more jobs than ever. What was that Meatloaf song again…?

The Reserve Bank sets interest rates, not the government. John Howard was stupid to make such statements in the previous election campaign.