Re your post which included; "Peter Costello, former Coalition Treasurer who returned a record 10 Budget Surplusses ..."
I regard Wayne Swan as a painful-to-listen to windbag. I nevertheless acknowledge that he was Treasurer throughout the GFC and its aftermath, and that under his watch Australia enjoys world best macro-economic KPIs.
Sadly for Peter Costello; he can make no such claim.
Costello will be remembered as the brilliant parliamentary performer who had no political ticker; the lucky one who rode the mining boom but still failed to achieve the title of World's Best Treasurer; the whimp who allowed John Howard to deliver welfare to the wealthy and repeatedly stare him down.
History will record that after inheriting an economy transformed from the dark ages to a modern one focussed on Asia; Costello allowed the proceeds of the mining boom to be frittered away by the leader he dare not challenge. The Treasurer who watched productivity growth vaporise, private indebtedness create new records, housing prices bubble, and the one who caused the RBA to send the OCR through the roof!
The very same Treasurer who flagged the onset of 'an economic tsunami' and promptly locked away $50b of public funds in the face of the greatest financial crisis since 1929.
Then again, maybe Costello will be remembered as Goldfinger; the Treasurer who watched Australia sell off its gold reserves for a fraction of its current value.
