Smiler trots out his mile-long list of his antipathies against Labor.
But when push comes to shove on 24 November 'Smiler' will get one vote and so will I.
Our votes will devour each other in the ballot box thereby creating a massive fat Zero for both sides.
Ain't democracy grand! (vbg!)
On the bright side, it's raining in Canberra home to thousands of public servants and decent folk as well who *earn* their pay and don't have gold- plated super schemes like the shiney-bums do!
A little story about the greatest Great Economic Manager of all time - John Howard.
To impress voters who loathe public servants that he hated them even more - he cut a swathe through their ranks making thousands redundant.
Redundancy payments cost taxpayers *millions* more than had he simply put a hiring freeze in place and let natural attrition (retirements, deaths job-changing etc) proceed.
But he wanted *instant* blood and the sad part was it was your wallet that did the bleeding - not his!
Howard loathes anything with the word 'public' in front of it.
When the AMP and NRMA were 'de-socialised' who got the cash - we did.
When Howard de-socialises a public asset who gets the cash - Howard does.
A lovely swindle - provided voters blindly keep voting for a kid-caging swindler!
Now we come to Public Buildings and here I have to declare a pecuniary interest - I have profited handsomely from one of Howard's swindles.
How the scam works is this:
Over many decades, wise governments (of both hues) had built up a portfolio of Canberra office blocks to house the thousand of public servants that keep the wheels of govenment turning.
But Howard *loathes* public anything and he loves instant cash to use to bribe voters with to vote Liberal.
So he holds a fire-sale of public buildings many of which were snapped up by syndicators.
I took up an 'interest' in a sydicate run by what is now the Brisbane-based Cromwell Group who leased the building back to John Howard for a net return to me of 11% pa.
Nice work if you can get it - but to enable punters like me to profit at taxpayer expense, some dimwits need to elect John Howard - Australia's kid-caging public swindler!
In 9 years time, the millions (in vote bribing cash) that Howard got will have gone up in smoke and rents will most likely have doubled in Canberra.
But it gets worse!
The Liberals are supposed to stand for 'small government' which is why (on taking office) they paid out millions to cut a swathe though PS ranks - to show how much they hate public servants.
But the probem is Howard is not a Liberal - he's a national socialist in a $2,000 Liberal suit.
So he begins passing laws for a GST we were 'never ever' going to have inflicted on us and AWA laws to grind wages into the dirt and he drags us into Bush's war on Iraq and Afghanistan and he decides to make a Big Fellah of himself in nearby Pacific nations.
So guess what?
Howard begins *Re-Hiring* thouands of despised public servants and contractors needed to manage all the paper-work associated with his Grand Master Plans.
But he has no office blocks or secure military buildings in which to house them because (remember) he sold many PS buildings (at rock-bottom prices) to grubby profiteers like (Omigod) Graham.
So he what does Howard do.
He *pays* other profiteers to build office blocks and a new 'Theatre of War' HQ on Canberra's outskirts so he can rent them back from the profiteers at huge annual rents at YOUR expense.
To quote from a song from 'Lil Abner':
The country is in the very best of hands! The best of hands, the best of hands!
Vote for John Howard - the world's Greatest Economic Manager! (vbg!)
I gave this couple a picture I took of John Howard and told them he was hoping to be re-elected as the the world's Greatest Economic Manager:
