The Dead Roo

Howard and the economy, it’s lies lies and more damned lies.

Over the fold, see Howard try and claim that he actually runs the economy, as I dissect a couple of the more obvious lies in the Prime Minister’s most recent weekly radio address.

the national accounts - that’s the quarterly snapshot of how our economy is going … showed the Australian economy has demonstrated enormous resilience in the face of the very severe drought we’re now experiencing.

Two factors to consider. The first is the decreasing importance of agriculture to the Australian economy. At the moment the raw materials we hinge our hopes upon haven’t been limited in their extraction by the availability of water, or at least we haven’t let them be.

Howard of course takes credit for this, with the following statements:

This strong performance is a remarkable achievement in the face of a one-in-a-100-year drought and a tribute to the Government’s economic management and the commitment of all Australians to our economic growth and development.

[rambling about “infrastructure”, and how the government is able to spend money on this “infrastructure”] because of the success of the Government in running the economy over the past 11 years.

Tim Dunlop reckons this picture was just crying out for a caption, how about: Journalist: “Are you at all concerned that Australia is overly dependent upon the export of raw materials?” PM: “no no, it’s all ok, I’m safely running the economy(?!)”

Several facts. First, the government does not run the economy. The government does attempt to influence the course of the economy, but the notion that the government can take the credit for any and all positive economic results because “we run the economy” is patently absurd.

Just as Howard so often blames economic downturns on externalities beyond the ability or will of the government to control, so often are his successes the results of these same sorts of factors. Howard’s claims that his attempts to influence these factors mean he runs the show are as vain and stupid as Arnold J Rimmer claiming he was responsible for the Red Dwarf.

So what does all this mean?

Howard is attempting to push the economic stewardship line. His past months speeches have almost exclusively been about his wonderous management of the economy. The implication, often overt, is that Labor’s proposed adventures will unset the fine balance his government has created and doom us all to ruin.

It’s nonsense. Firstly, his conception of the Labor party as economic adventurers demonstrates he is engaging (perhaps deliberately) with long since past notions of the Labor party in the seventies under Whitlam. “They spend lots of money and we don’t”. Labor and the Liberals are almost identical when it comes to their attitudes to the economy (balanced budgets, independent reserve bank, tax cuts and so on). Minor differences over the relationship between workers, the government and employers are just that, minor.

Second is the idea that Howard doesn’t engage in economic adventures. How else would one describe attacks on the industrial relations system, inflation causing “first home buyer’s grants”, and the odd billion here and there when he needs to shore up support… I mean be seen to do something about the environment… I mean, provide us with water security.

Howard and the economy, it’s lies lies and more damned lies.

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