After PM saves capitalism, can he fix the Middle East?
Peter Costello in an interview with Tony Jones on Lateline expresses scepticism about Rudd's economic management
PETER COSTELLO: Essentially, what the Government is trying to do (with its $10 billion spend) is massage the figures quarter by quarter ... Did you notice a shift in the economy?
TONY JONES: Well, according to Westfield, they noticed a jump in their retail figures at a time when you certainly wouldn't expect it. So they're suggesting, evidently, that there was some sort of boost.
PETER COSTELLO: Yeah, but the purpose of people paying taxes is not to boost Westfield profits. If the purpose is to boost Westfield sales, you might as well have taken a couple of billion and paid it across direct.
TONY JONES: Mr Rudd is essentially arguing that with extreme capitalism and neo-liberalism getting the world into this terrible position, it now falls to social democracy, to prevent neo-liberalism, neo-capitalism from cannibalising itself.
PETER COSTELLO: When Rudd says, "This has failed for 30 years," I mean, he's not only condemning me and the Coalition government, he's condemning Hawke-Keating, presumably, because they were part of the last 30 years. He's presumably condemning Fraser. If you want to go back 30 years -- and he says the last 30 years have been a failure -- who do you end up with? Surprise! Surprise! Oh, it's Gough Whitlam! It's Gough Whitlam! Now, Mr Rudd says social democracy's gotta rescue capitalism from itself. And I suppose we're lucky that the world has Kevin Rudd to rescue the world capitalist system. Maybe after he's rescued the world capitalist system, he could move on to solving the Middle East, which undoubtedly he will.
The Wall Street Journal Asia is also sceptical in its editorial:
IN an essay published in the February issue of The Monthly magazine, Mr Rudd lays out his vision for "social capitalism"; a kind of halfway house between what he calls "extreme capitalism" and "an all-providing state".
Australia had that model once; it was called the Gough Whitlam government. The result was one of the worst recessions in Australia's modern history. That's why the Labor Party - the same Labor Party that Mr Rudd belongs to - embraced truly free markets, trade liberalisation and deregulation in the 1980s and 1990s. Milton Friedman once wrote: "What most people really object to when they object to a free market is that it is so hard for them to shape it to their own will." It's not necessary to read between the lines of Mr Rudd's essay to understand that that's what's going on here.
The Institute of Public Affairs is chuffed to be branded as the source of neo-liberalism:
KEVIN Rudd in his essay in The Monthly, released today, blames the Institute of Public Affairs for being the source of neo-liberalism in Australia. Executive director of the IPA John Roskam said today that the Prime Minister had paid an enormous compliment to the IPA. "The IPA is proud to be singled out by the Prime Minister for our work in promoting the benefits of free markets, individual choice, and smaller government. The policies of what the Prime Minister calls 'neo-liberalism' have provided unprecedented prosperity for Australia and the world over the last 30 years. Neo-liberalism has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. For 65 years the IPA has argued for economic and social liberalisation, and the IPA supported the deregulation agenda of the Hawke, Keating, and Howard governments. The Prime Minister's solution, which seems to be a combination of neo-socialism and Whitlamism, is not the way to fix the crisis."
The Wall Street Journal Asia expresses more scepticism about the Prime Minister's fiscal stimulus:
LOCAL governments will see $500 million to "support large strategic projects" including "town halls, community centres and sport and recreation facilities". Presumably this is so all the newly unemployed can meet and reminisce about the times when they used to have jobs.
John Durie in The Australian on Tuesday:
NATIONAL Australia Bank's Cameron Clyne, an ALP person from way back, is keen to promote himself and the bank as the punter's friend. He has hired George Wright from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's office and previously a former ACTU staffer.
The Age Diary a day later:
WE hear former prime ministerial media guru George Wright might be gearing up for a posting on the other side of the tracks.
Wright, the bloke behind the ACTU's Your Rights at Work campaign, is tipped to bob up at the National Australia Bank as a managerial spin doctor.
