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Aussies: Even an American Can Start a Thread About Them


MercenaryChef

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Joe "Bushells" Hockey foreshadows a tea-party style government shutdown right here in Australia:


Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey has raised the prospect of a US-style government shutdown, warning there will have to be "massive" spending cuts if the Opposition does not back down on increasing the debt ceiling.

:bang:

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Joe "Bushells" Hockey foreshadows a tea-party style government shutdown right here in Australia:

:bang:

Yeah.

All sides trying to import some really stupid US politics into this.

This begins with Labor, who decided in 2008 to introduce a limit on the issuing of government securities, because creating an arbitrary restriction between the spending authorised by parliament and the borrowing required to fund it is such a great idea. It gets raised three times because hey, government commanded a working majority in both houses of parliament, and that never changes in Australian politics, does it?

Now, the Coalition decide to pick a fight by asking for a 500bn debt ceiling increase instead of a regular boring 400ish bn one in order to grandstand, Labor and Greens decide to oppose it and now we have a debt ceiling battle in a political culture previously immune to it.

Top stuff.

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Yeah.



All sides trying to import some really stupid US politics into this.



This begins with Labor, who decided in 2008 to introduce a limit on the issuing of government securities, because creating an arbitrary restriction between the spending authorised by parliament and the borrowing required to fund it is such a great idea. It gets raised three times because hey, government commanded a working majority in both houses of parliament, and that never changes in Australian politics, does it?



Now, the Coalition decide to pick a fight by asking for a 500bn debt ceiling increase instead of a regular boring 400ish bn one in order to grandstand, Labor and Greens decide to oppose it and now we have a debt ceiling battle in a political culture previously immune to it.



Top stuff.





I think the most ridiculous part of the whole thing is the breathless hyperbole. The only way this turns into a US style stand off is if everyone absolutely insists that it has to be. Both sides agree to raising the debt ceiling; both sides agree to raising it to more than the projected peak debt; the debt is not going to peak until 2016 for God's sake. This is an emergency like a kangaroo on the road a kilometre ahead, and the car's going 20, and everyone agrees that the breaks need to be applied, but they can't agree if they should stop in 700 or 900 metres, meanwhile for some reason the driver's screaming about a collision and shutting his eyes and threatening to swerve into the bush if everyone doesn't agree with him!



Hockey's also claiming that he's going to slash spending if the ceiling isn't raised to 500bn. Because having more than adequate funds for current projections for the next two years means that deep, deep cuts need to be made now. And why must it be 500bn Joe? Apparently because he absolutely refuses to ever ask parliament to raise it ever again. The whole thing is just pointlessly manufactured crisis.



Can we even have a US style shut down? Wouldn't a double dissolution kicking in before that happened?


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I think the most ridiculous part of the whole thing is the breathless hyperbole. The only way this turns into a US style stand off is if everyone absolutely insists that it has to be. Both sides agree to raising the debt ceiling; both sides agree to raising it to more than the projected peak debt; the debt is not going to peak until 2016 for God's sake. This is an emergency like a kangaroo on the road a kilometre ahead, and the car's going 20, and everyone agrees that the breaks need to be applied, but they can't agree if they should stop in 700 or 900 metres, meanwhile for some reason the driver's screaming about a collision and shutting his eyes and threatening to swerve into the bush if everyone doesn't agree with him!

Hockey's also claiming that he's going to slash spending if the ceiling isn't raised to 500bn. Because having more than adequate funds for current projections for the next two years means that deep, deep cuts need to be made now. And why must it be 500bn Joe? Apparently because he absolutely refuses to ever ask parliament to raise it ever again. The whole thing is just pointlessly manufactured crisis.

The fact that all sides have so readily agreed to have a stoush over the debt limit with this paltry justification suggests that this is going to become a regular part of Australian political theatre from now on. The debt and deficit scare campaign is here to say, in part because Labor has adopted it wholesale at nearly every opportunity in the vain hope that they would be able to beat the Coalition over the head with it in future the way Howard and Costello used to do to them.

Can we even have a US style shut down? Wouldn't a double dissolution kicking in before that happened?

It would, in an instance of the mechanisms of Australian politics saving us from our representatives.

But do we want it to get to that point? Where the next government that wants to fight off recession with stimulus has to go through three plus months of this toxic political brinkmanship and take the nation to an election? That we've got this constitutional net underneath could even encourage these clowns to take to the high wire.

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I need an Australian dish for a multicultural potluck. The complication is that I don't have access to an oven. I'm also vegetarian, and as a general rule better with desserts than savouries. I was thinking of doing a tweaked no-bake version of Anzac biscuits, although that may be sacreligious and/or illegal. Any other ideas?

Jelly slice?

That's what my Aussie neighbor makes for tea.

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I need an Australian dish for a multicultural potluck. The complication is that I don't have access to an oven. I'm also vegetarian, and as a general rule better with desserts than savouries. I was thinking of doing a tweaked no-bake version of Anzac biscuits, although that may be sacreligious and/or illegal. Any other ideas?

Lamingtons?

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I need an Australian dish for a multicultural potluck. The complication is that I don't have access to an oven. I'm also vegetarian, and as a general rule better with desserts than savouries. I was thinking of doing a tweaked no-bake version of Anzac biscuits, although that may be sacreligious and/or illegal. Any other ideas?

A jar of Vegemite.

If life as a student has taught me anything, it's that vegemite can be applied to any food and make it much better. Raw onion and vegemite is now almost a daily thing for me.

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Jelly slice?

That's what my Aussie neighbor makes for tea.

I don't think I ever saw jelly slice in all the 23 years I lived in Australia - I had to google it!

Lamingtons?

Yes, but the problem is that I have no oven. I'm debating brooks' suggestion about just buying a sponge cake and lamingtonising it, though.

A jar of Vegemite.

If life as a student has taught me anything, it's that vegemite can be applied to any food and make it much better. Raw onion and vegemite is now almost a daily thing for me.

I can only imagine what has driven you to such depths of depravity. I've always suspected vegemite was in fact grease scraped from car engines played as a joke on someone, similar to drop bears, only somewhere along the way we started believing our own bullshit.

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A jar of Vegemite.

If life as a student has taught me anything, it's that vegemite can be applied to any food and make it much better. Raw onion and vegemite is now almost a daily thing for me.

I can only imagine what has driven you to such depths of depravity. I've always suspected vegemite was in fact grease scraped from car engines played as a joke on someone, similar to drop bears, only somewhere along the way we started believing our own bullshit.

Agree with Every. Vegemite is one of the most disgusting thing i've ever tasted. If we should emulate USA in anything it should be to ban vegemite (i heard it somewhere so it must be true).

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I can only imagine what has driven you to such depths of depravity. I've always suspected vegemite was in fact grease scraped from car engines played as a joke on someone, similar to drop bears, only somewhere along the way we started believing our own bullshit.

What the bloody hell are you on about? Dropbears are not a bloody joke.

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