Australian Elections Results

[ElliotR]

Congratulations to all of Australia for making the change. Most of us here in the US are very happy to see yet another Bush ally go down to defeat.

[Phil153]

This answers most of your objections:

http://www.budget.gov.au/2005-06/ove...verview_07.htm

Note the massive debt under Labour governments. That's how they fund their spending schemes, eventually sending the economy into turmoil.

Hawke did some very important reforms, and received massive criticisms for them by his commie buddies and union supporters, eventually losing his leadership. Rudd has nowhere near the spine of Hawke or Keating.

[ QUOTE ]
And what reforms have we had in the modern Howard government? There was the GST, a bit of dabbling in privatisation, and AWAs and WorkChoices

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't have time to get into it, but they did a great deal of microeconomic management. Among the things you missed were keeping the budget in surplus, paying of massive amounts of labour acquired debt, selling Telstra, reforming education, encouraging private health care, home owner grants which drove housing, encouraging the independence of the reserve bank, massive reductions in industrial relations disputes (helping trade) and more. The liberals are highly praised by many economists. Meanwhile Labour repeatedly apologized for the mistakes of the past, saying they have "learned from their mistakes" and are now "economic conservatives". What are they apologizing for, exactly, if they didn't [censored] up?

I have no idea about the back of envelope calculation or how accurate it is.

[ QUOTE ]
Labor ran this election on a platform of spending less than the Coalition

[/ QUOTE ]
O RLY? Pray tell what they were cutting and how that compares to the cost of their education and health care promises and general left wing policies? Are you leveling me or something?

[TomCollins]

I'll be sure to post when Madison, WI has a next election for mayor. It will probably have more relevance on the world scale than this.

Also
[X] Smileyface
[X] LOL
[X] America Sucks

[MidGe]

[ QUOTE ]
I'll be sure to post when Madison, WI has a next election for mayor. It will probably have more relevance on the world scale than this.

Also
[X] Smileyface
[X] LOL
[X] America Sucks

[/ QUOTE ]


Yep, it shows the usual and despised understanding of world affairs showed by a vocal minority of US citizens that simply show a lack of education and culture. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Thankfully, they are only a minority, or so I believe!

[ConstantineX]

[ QUOTE ]
I'll be sure to post when Madison, WI has a next election for mayor. It will probably have more relevance on the world scale than this.

Also
[X] Smileyface
[X] LOL
[X] America Sucks

[/ QUOTE ]

Ehh...in this thread, MidGe has been decidedly not-trollish.

[lehighguy]

What does this mean for my Australian Dollar holdings (straight money market, it's part of the basket I bet against the dollar with)?

[Tweety]

[ QUOTE ]
What does this mean for my Australian Dollar holdings (straight money market, it's part of the basket I bet against the dollar with)?

[/ QUOTE ]

Probably not much. There may be an initial knee-jerk reaction to sell AUD tomorrow when the fx market opens given that the perceived less business-friendly candidate won, although in the longer term this change in leadership shouldn't have much impact on the currency. The australian dollar will move up and down based on commodity prices, australian monetary policy, australian economic data, and the general state of risk aversion in the world. Speculators buy up the aussie when risk aversion is low, as it is a high yielder and makes for a great carry trade against lower yielding currencies like the yen and swiss franc. When people panic and world equity markets sell off, the australian dollar suffers, because these same speculators have to cover these carry positions to meet margin calls elsewhere.

Given the clear up trend in gold and other commodities, the general robustness of australia's economy, and the relatively high rates in australia, I expect the currency to continue to strengthen. Any impact from this election on the currency should be short-lived.

[lehighguy]

tnx

[mrick]

Another ruling politician who foolishly tied his fortunes to Bush's war in Iraq bites the dust! Australia's Howard is out the door. The PM-elect of Australia is on record that he intends to pull out their troops.

Symbolic rather than materially significant -- but heavily symbolic.

Next up : The Labour Party in Britain. Unbelievable as it might have seemed a few years ago, "Loyal" Tony Blair has managed to resurrect the Conservatives' fortunes from the grave. David Cameron should be the next British PM.