Who Cares: The 2013 Australian Federal Election Thread

i'm sure they do

although surely the one indisputable fact is that housing is inflated

no you're thinking of 'bouncing castles'

you can't LIVE in them

you can't bounce in a house, what's your point

look I concede that there are ways around that

Argh my last post looks a bit triumph of capitalism, didn't mean it that way, more that expensive housing is a clusterfuck with many participants and I don't think there are really straightforward single answers that a govt can deploy short of compulsorily acquiring the fuck out of Australia and giving it all to the worthy.

backing out of increased channels for foreign investors, toning down incentives to buy a million properties per person, balancing out tax breaks for living in own home v putting on rental market

but then all the people who just killed themselves to enter the market will get the shits on when their investment declines in value, even by 0.5% in a year

Economic slowdown is the bigger issue politically I think. Like, that combination of policies would basically freeze the property development industry.

That doesn't particularly bother me but I can see why it would be political death.

something will buckle at some point. current prices are not tenable in the long term: inner city prices aren't likely to drop much but the fringe could easily collapse, even on a 3% interest rate increase. the whole thing's like a game of jenga at this point.

xp yeah, the rich people who determine aus governments would just favour the party that's more sympathetic

Yeah but fringe McMansions are already more vulnerable price wise - luckily those developers can lobby liberal govts to rezone rural land they already bought for super cheap.

the developers have it sewn up, it's the poor sods with three kids and only just managing at 5% pa or whatever who'll lose everything when it hits 7%

the popular argument is that we won't ever see 17% again because it'd bankrupt the whole country, but that's predicated on (a) an hilarious fantasy notion that the government would never allow that to happen because ~magic~ and (b) that the traditionally reliable boom-bust property cycle has suddenly and ~magically~ gone away and will never happen again

i.e. short memories

The first part of your para is correct I think but not for reasons (a) or (b); rather because we're so geared that even minor shifts in interest rates have massive impacts on consumption (hence killing inflation). If we massively degeared the reserve bank would need to use bigger interest rate swings to have an effect. Of course whether a massive property bust could occur is a different question.

ie if an economic meltdown occurs I don't think interest rates will be the culprit

I was thinking defaults on loans (and that's assuming interest rates would go up for other reasons that would contribute to a meltdown)

We should use this thread to blue-sky politically suicidal policies that exist in our dreams.

xpost oh yeah heaps of loan defaults - but I think even 10% interest rates would wipe out yr new suburbs, hardly need 17% these days.

guys, i worked out how newspoll works: "GILLARD’S A DICK GILLARD’S A DICK GILLARD’S A DICK GILLARD’S A DICK GILLARD’S A DICK GILLARD’S A DICK GILLARD’S A DICK GILLARD’S A DICK GILLARD'S A CORRUPT MOLL GILLARD'S A LIAR GILLARD'S A LYING BITCH LIAR LIAR JULIAR JULIAR JULIAR JULIAR JULIAR JULIAR JULIAR what do you think of julia gillard?"

Guys there's no such thing as a property bubble, that's crazy talk

for those who may have missed bob katter riding a fixie dot com, http://bobkatterridingafixie.com/

I'm coming here for my election comment from now on

excellent, welcomr

e

One thing did occur to me - political cartoonists would prefer Abbott wouldn't they? More comedy gold to be had there.

unless they really enjoy drawing long noses

packs of cunce seem to enjoy drawing her with a 'hilarious' huge arse

surprised she's not getting polka dots and a vacuum cleaner tbh

hay guys been away overseas for two weeks; have I missed anything??

Tony Abbott is "Australia's biggest bulls--t artist", according to a cabinet minister who today used blistering language to defend the Government's carbon pricing scheme.

"There's no other way to put it. You might as well call it as it is. He's wrong about everything," Climate Change Minister Greg Combet told reporters in Canberra today.

ahahaha hopefully the prediction about Combet becoming opposition leader in the case of an ALP loss does true

* does come true

** but hopefully doesn't because that means PM Abbott

*** I choose to think positively

guys guys guys I'm worried about the Australian press; I haven't seen a new story about KEVIN RUDD in two hours!!

Admittedly it is 2.38am on a Sunday morning but it seems like News and Fairfax may have finally run out of Kevin Rudd stories.

as long as i) he draws breath, ii) he has hacks like hartcher and grattan in his speed dial, there will never be a true end to kevin rudd stories

murdoch tabloids' reddit-baiting website has outdone itself again

http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2010/06/04/1225875/622173-kevin-rudd.gif

waht site

"news" dot com dot au

- rudd introduces mining superprofits tax
- murdoch conspires to destroy him
- gillard softens mining tax
- it is not effective
- murdoch conspires to destroy her

- people continue to trust murdoch papers
- i just

Today's The Australian is astonishing, there must be 20 or 25 separate articles complaining about the awfulness of the govt, interrupted only by complaining even more vehemently about the greens.

on form then

i love how news ltd simultaneously (1) insists the oz is not biased and (2) acknowledges that it's a consistently loss-making paper that's been on life support for like 35 years

they have never acknowledged that!

through earnings statements iirc

One day they'll have to bite the bullet and replace it with, er, Rupert's Twitter feed.

http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/04/04/rundle-latest-on-the-hacking-scandal-by-guest-correspondent-rupert/