I am disappointed that Australia achieved so little during the...

I am disappointed that Australia achieved so little during the past ten boom years. I think we had the opportunity to do a lot more than we did as a nation.

As to Keating's recession well the foundations for that were laid in the time when Howard was treasurer. Hawke had begun fixing the economic mess Frazer/Howard left but high international inflation and interest rates meant it was up to Keating to finish off with the nasty stuff.

Interest rates had reached a record high of 23% under the Frazer/Howard Liberals, fell under Hawke but then begun rising again until Keating took harsh action to kill inflation right off. Rates were falling rapidly when Howard/Costello took over and to their credit they managed to keep them down for several years helped by international low rate circumstances. In the past two years though rates were climbing again and will probably continue to climb for a while. Rudd/Swann might be able to bring them down a little next year but I am speculating and it also depends on what international rates are doing then.

Dave R.