kevin 07 what a disaster

Howard & Costello warned all Working families, but did they listen "NO"


OPTIMISM after the election of the Rudd Government, driven by the mining-fuelled economy, has gone from boom to bust.

After the biggest collapse in confidence about the outlook for living standards ever recorded by Newspoll, Australians are now as pessimistic about their jobs and cost of living as they were when Paul Keating said in 1986 that Australia risked becoming a ``banana republic''.

Even the anticipation of a GST in July 2000 did not make people feel as pessimistic about their future as they have become in the past six months as households have weathered the global oil shock, the crisis on financial markets, higher inflation and repeated interest rate rises.

According to the latest Newspoll, taken at the weekend, 43 per cent of voters believe their standard of living will get worse in the next six months - more than double the 18 per cent in December.

The percentage who think their lives will improve has almost halved from 21 per cent of six months ago, shortly after Kevin Rudd's election win, to 13 per cent.

Even Labor supporters are feeling the economic effects, with those who believe things will get worse more than doubling from 14 to 34 per cent.

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