peter costello, page-17

I can't vouch for the veracity of your $800 billion and I don't intend to try. I can only repeat that during Costello's fiscal stewardship, a large portion of which was BEFORE the advent of the China economic monolith, we managed to go unscathed throught the SE Asian Fiscal Crisis.I remember that period very well as I was forced to pay for the previous ALP Government's fiscal ineptitude through a levy on my superannuation imposed by the Liberal Government.I vaguley remember it because Costello was forced to call it a tax and NOT a levy.But then all pollies like to soften words,which this present Federal Government has taken to new absurd heights with its very early MYFO etc etc.

And inspite of all the economic and terrorist difficulties encountered by the Liberal Government, it still left billions in the Government coffers.Billions that have been subsequently squandered by this inept ALP Government
And I am NOT saying that I agreed with ALL the fiscal policies undertaken by the Howard/Costello stewardship, but the manner in which this Labor Government has wasted such a lage fiscal legacy handed to it by the previous Liberal Government makes, me sick. And it still intends to spend billions more, with no end in sight.

And no one that I know believes that our Treasurer will be capable of attaining a surplus in the current fiscal year, unless,of course, he undertakes the usual fiscal tricks.And, of course, the biggest fiscal trick has already been undertaken by this Government when it decided to exclude the billions being spent on the NBN from the Government's 'balance sheet' (a very interesting article on this very subject, by an ex member of Beazley's advisory committee,Kevin Morgan, appeared in yesterday's 'Australian' newspaper). Fiscal trickery at its worst!