Monday, March 1, 2010

Newspeak

Doesn't time fly when you are having fun?

In November 2009, I argued with the Assistant Treasurer that if the government was going to fund an economic stimulus, then it should not be giving money to banks. Perhaps it should give pensioners a taste of the increased pension rates instead.

I was surprised when a few weeks later, the government announced the $1200 grant to all pensioners and carers.

It seems I was the only voice calling for an economic stimulus. I could find no other comment calling for one. But I did find calls for the governments of the world to bail out the financial institutions, if they were going to give any stimulus at all.

In Australia, Treasury was calling for increased money for the banks, while Finance was saying that the consumers should be helped first. Of course, the political opposition was also calling for any help to be given direct to the financial institutions.

A few months later, and everyone worldwide was praising the Australian government for its foresight and its success, and its stimulus was being repeated (except in the US, where the financial giants such as IAG were being helped, and the fat cats were getting fatter).

Last night I was watching a repeat of a comedy show from late 2009, which showed that a whole raft of people has supported the Australian government's financial stimulus package. Funny, none of these had supported the government's package a year earlier.

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