It may well be the plan has worked and phone polls whose average respondents are about seventy years old have scared the unions and the Shorten camp into giving up on Gillard. But it would be wrong to have, again, an incompetent Prime Minister.
There are twenty competent ministers or ex-ministers who could better lead the country — Carr, Clare, Combet, Crean, Dreyfus, Faulkner, Garrett, Kelly, Macklin, Plibersek, Roxon, Shorten, Smith, Swan, Wong, Albo, Bowen, Burke, Bradbury, Gillard — and it seems weird to be giving the only Prime Minister sacked for his incompetence his job back. It would be noticed soon why he went, and he would lose any advantage his first, fine, careless rapture would accrue, by election day.
Carr, Shorten or Plibersek, by contrast — and all have more ministerial experience than Rudd, in Carr’s case six times as much — would keep what advantage they initially grasped and build on it. Labor needs only five hundred thousand more votes and they picked up two hundred and eighty thousand on the weekend. There are a million Australians still Undecided, and it shouldn’t be too hard to get half of them. The Liberals have no good policies and this government has a record as significant as Chifley’s and this, in the next twelve weeks, could become better known.
And it need not be twelve weeks either if there is a change of leader. It could be twenty weeks. That is one hundred and forty days, in which the new leader could face down Abbott Question Time after Question Time and speak of his policy cowardice and his personal cowardice (not telling Kathy he would not marry her and making his mum do it, not revealing the homosexual rape of younger seminarians these twenty-five years, wimping on the abortion pill, and so on) until even the seventy-two year olds move against him.
It is, as I keep saying (and said yesterday on many radio stations while selling my book), easy to win. Gillard could do it. Nineteen others could do it. But Rudd, probably, couldn’t. He would be remembered as the man who killed four boys with pink batts after Garrett asked him not to, and that would be that.
It is hard, though, to establish how scared the unions and the factions are. If Rudd comes back it will be one of the more significant successes in the field of brainwashing (another was believing mothers would throw their infants into the sea) in a century or so.
Why bring back an incompetent? Why?
Just asking.
Name:
Phone polls, Shorten;plus ça change, plus c’est pareil
What do you mean?
Speak English.
I’m sure you have knowledge of that saying.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
More of the hammering of near seventy demented people who apparently are the only people who answer their landline.
More of the eighteen really rather good Ministers past and present who might, just might, manage to lead us to the promised land.
And more of the throwaway lines about ‘incompetence’.
When the answer to retaining government is staring us in the face we have time to obsess on personal lines?
I think if you check, the Party itself is not that much on the nose that a swing back of about 6% with the right leader gives us a more than sporting chance.
Unpalatable as it may be JG’s approval by the hoi polloi is still in freefall and falling quicker and quicker and its taking the whole shebang with it.
So lets cut of our noses to spite our face and leave her in charge?
So a fact, if repeated, becomes untrue?
Is that it?
What are you TALKING about?
‘Freefall’ is wrong, she picked up two hundred and seventy-five thousand votes on the weekend and you must stop telling big lies or I will ban you.
Do not repeat lies.
Do not.
Please, Bob show me how that affected her personal approval rating and where these votes were.
Di d her rating go up?
So … she picked up a quarter of a million votes after the insults to her sex life and her body and her approval did NOT go up?
You are repeating a Big Lie and will be banned soon.
Be very, very careful.
Chris only knows how to lie
Shouldn’t you be doing something? Homework? Detention?
Sleep time?
No a FACT doesn’t, but rather the reverse.
If something is parroted often enough it seems to be accepted as a FACT by some and used as such.
That’s the untrue part.
That’s what I’m TALKING about
Definition of freefall.
The occasion when the value of something becomes much lower.
In the comparable period 2010/2013 the party has a swing of some 6% against it.
JG as PM has a 16% swing.
Find me a suitable word please.
No; no; no. No. There are a million Undecideds, which is where the Labor vote went. The Labor vote, now on 46.5 according to Morgan whose track record is great and whise methodology involves more than landlines, and the Palmer vote is on three and the Katter vote on two, boty concentrated in Queensland where no COALITION seat is therefore now safe, and it is likely that when the Debates occur and policies are concentrated Labor will pick up two more.
And the Katter and Palmer preferences, which are bitterly opposed to Newman, will see them back into office.
By a landslide.
Agreed about Morgan.
Pray you are right with the rest.
Without buying into the Ruddophobia, you are of course correct that reinstating him would be a suicide move.
I wouldn’t want a known Pentagon spy to be PM either.
But mainly I wouldn’t want Abbott or any of the Liberal leaderhsip group to be PM.
I wish the ALP would concentrate on that.
Well said.
That word, Ruddophobia,is a very good description.
more interesting is that so many of his former colleagues hate him
Said the almost Labor jsa,so it must be true and a ‘fact’.
I see one difficulty for Carr : he is in the Senate and would need a by-election as Gorton did to get into the House of Reps.
But all the speculation is absurd; Labor should not be panicked into abandoning a leader who has the confidence and support of her own Party and of the House; it has been expressed often enough!
You must have missed the papers and the TV news yesterday.
No; no; no. Carr could be made PM on the last say of the House sitting, announce he is standing for Kingsford Smith and Garrett is the new Senator from New South Wales, and campaign as Prime Minister till September 14.
Or, if he wished to delay the election, the Speaker could allow Senator Carr to sit in the House during Question Time just as the Speaker in NSW allowed the Treasurer Michael Egan to sit in the Lower House and debate the Budget there, and have the election in late November.
The Speaker would not refuse this.
Or do you think she would?
well that might save one seat for the ALP because Garrett looks like going down anyway.
Garret wont lose his seat if K.Rudd is the leader, there’s the rub.
According to what seventy-year-old sample?
What are you TALKING about?
I’m TALKING about this from recently in the AFR.
‘Schools Education Minister Peter Garrett and Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare would lose their seats with Julia Gillard as prime minister, but if Mr Rudd were leading the party both would comfortably retain their seats, the poll found.’
that poll and $3 will get you a cup of coffee; or a free trip to oblivion if you based a decision on it
Go back to your research.
“all the speculation is absurd”
or maybe the party has decided to show it has no guts or principles and go to the electorate on that
The vote pick up is imo, feeding through in vast numbers. from the womens vote. The Twitter and F/B discussions have been outstanding.So many women finally getting it.The pervasive anti female rhetoric, which included throat slitting as the choice way of ‘ridding’ the country of an ‘evil’ woman etc etc, equating to ‘violence’ against women has lost Abbott his dream. Corey Bernardi being allowed to do his ‘see I told you so’interview re meaningful fucking of animals being an outcome GMRs. The Madigan effect in a future senate.And of course the heartless removal of the NDIS etc. Weeks and weeks of actually finding out what the Loto would do.The more ludicrous the Oppo claims become, the more metaphorically violent you know his intent is on this Nation.BTW did his Mama really tell Kathy that he had gods work ahead of him and that she should labour ,then relinquish her ‘not Grandchild’ this raises many issues. As Hanson would say ‘please explain’
If you think the NDIS would be removed you must know something that I don’t.
Or is it one of those ‘facts’.
Robina, I think you are right, I have been reading some blogs of younger feminists, many women are getting very angry about the treatment of Gillard and misogyny in general.
I’m sure there are some extra votes coming her way…
yes, the momentum is building as Gillard moves into the election, having built up an extraordinary policy platform made even more remarkable by being achieved with a minority government and the former leader suffering delusions that he could ever return after an unprecedented revulsion by his colleagues against his rule.
In your dreams anyway.
If people really sat down and thought about it - Gillard has managed pretty well considering the circumstances. She managed through the minefield of the last election against the worst leaks imaginable - managed to negotiate an outcome with all but one of the independents to form government - managed to get legislation through - managed to keep government going for a full term with the thinnest of margins… akin to holding it together with bits of string, sticky tape, pins and clips, and she’s done it against two strong opponents (Abbott & Rudd), yet people want Rudd because he has a friendly round face and boyish looks. Is that how politics works in this country?
No, they don’t.
But Cult Murdoch would have us believe they do.
Bob Carr could be the circuit breaker, if that’s the way it has to be. Gillard is an albatross for the Labor party, she only just stitched up government last time, on the dying momentum of Kevin 07. Carr is a mature, charismatic, seriously proven performer, with a superb delivery style, for some reason (not just looks), he makes me think of Abraham Lincoln. With him on the other side of the despatch box Abbot would appear like a flea, Pyne a trailing cry in a high wind, in fact, the whole Liberal camp would come over as, to quote the bard, “… a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.
Pyne reminds me of a sphincter that just keeps on delivering dribbling audio diarrhea.
Bob, with all due respect, can we get the fuck off this kind of paralyzing speculation and concentrate more on this:
“Does the Coalition have any good policies? What are they?
Should we not discuss them, and Labor’s policies, prior to a federal election?
Or is that too much to ask?”
Judd, I asked on ABC Drum: What are the Coalition policies?
The Liberals’ answer was: To get rid of Gillard.
That was all I got.
A grog policy - is that all they’ve got?
They have a grog policy? I didn’t know that. what is it?
Yes lets move onto policy. If wse move onto policy then all the leadership stuff will fade… so…
Question to Scott Morrison on border protection policy:
Over the period of time when you claim your border protection policies were successful there was a commensurate reduction if refugee flows all over the world.
What policies do you have to engineer a similar worldwide reduction in refugee flows so that once again your border protection policies would appear to work?
Bang on the money Boofy!
Here’s another: Abbott claimed 2 weeks ago that he would resolve the asylum seeker issue by “turning the boats around”. Government officials in Indonesia said emphatically that there would be “serious problems with that approach”.
Can ANYONE - I’m looking at you Frank and Ryutin - offer any insight into the specifics?
SPECIFICS!!!!
Ummm, let me change that, Frank, don’t worry about specifics, I know you have some difficulty with words, logic, reasoning, argument and comprehension. If Clive or Twiggy need a blowjob I’ll call you. Ryutin, you can forget about it too - you don’t have the courage.
Anyone else out there?
How about any of those Catallaxy vermin that descended on this blog last week?
Come on mouthbreathers!
Here’s your chance to shine!!
Ryutin doesent have the courage? Catallaxy vermin? Judd, have the courage to name them.
No, he doesn’t.
Yes, they are.
Yes, I do.
Here they all are,
take a good look Chris, come Sept these maggots will pick the flesh clean.
http://www.ellistabletalk.com/2013/06/07/curse-you-john-faulkner-an-agonising-reappraisal/#comment-73371
Perhaps if you could offer the SLIGHTEST evidence, let alone something which could even be laughably called “a critique” of the already announced policies on industrial relations, the NBN or asylum seekers/illegal immigrants such as to even indicate that you ever read (and not just mouth off on them) there might be some point in talking to you. Even if such a response of the smallest kind to an apparent programmed machine could just inform others.
Until then I suggest that you continue to get off on generalities, worrying about the age of poll participants and the rest of the meat and drink of this blog community.
My challenge goes out to you AGAIN.
Can you offer SPECIFICS of ANY Liberal policy that YOU see as being worthy of serious contemplation?
I also reiterate my INITIAL challenge to you: if you care to line up the Liberal policy on say education or broadband then I shall counter you with the benefits as I see them of the corresponding Labor policies.
You want to put an end to generalities?
Let’s go then.
I’m calling your fucking bluff.
What’s it going to take to get you to ACTUALLY say something about the HORRIFIC Liberal position on these matters? We can’t shut you up when you see a chink in the Labor armour, but with the Liberals dogsbreakfast you clam up like someone’s superglued your mouth!
Come on Ryutin! Let’s have it. Let’s hear about the wondrous Liberal policies that are deserving of our votes come Sept.
Over to you.
Fuck it. I can’t help myself. Let me help you along.
http://lpa.webcontent.s3.amazonaws.com/NBN/The%20Coalition%E2%80%99s%20Plan%20for%20Fast%20Broadband%20and%20an%20Affordable%20NBN.pdf
Now, where do you want to start? I mean which LIE do you want to argue over first?
We’ll do education next.
I wish the Lying Bastards who call themselves the Coalishion had spent as much time and expense costing Howard’s $20billion on the war on terror that Howard’s lies took us into war as they have on the NBN.
If you started to read you would see that I covered broadband in great detail in an answer to the imposter calling’herself’ ‘Sara’.
As for education,(and the Gonski Plan and the fake, adulterated Gillard “gonski plan” I gave you a fair shot the other night to which you had NO reply except ”the BEST redress of education issues for a long, long time”.
You can re-commence your fact-free abuse and braggadocio now okay?
You miserable coward!
Phill and all the others are bang on about you, all fucking talk when it comes to pontificating about the alleged woes of Labor, but when push comes to shove you run a fucking mile!
You berate everyone for specifics but when asked to provide some yourself you got nothing.
NOTHING!!
What a pathetic man you are.
In front of everyone reading this you STILL produce a lame arsed excuse
and try for the high ground.
Have you no shame???
Have you no fucking shame????
Finding an LNP policy is hard work.
Their website is very long on rhetoric but actually finding anything other then the word ‘policy’ restated ad nauseam ther isnt anything on it.
We caught a glimpse of the intellectual void when they released their Broadband policy Chris. Too bad it fell off the radar so quickly.
I’ve been watching their website for a while now and its fascinating to see things like the Direct Action Plan drop off the first page, and the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th…
Fucking ridiculous.
Did you notice the expression on Turnbull’s face when they released their Broadband policy. It looked like he had been sucking on the most sour lollies he’s ever tasted.
He looked very embarrassed…god, to take orders from Abbott. What is he thinking.
Can’t you see that’s the way the Libs are playing it ? Let Labor do all the heavy work for them. Why start a debate about policy when that would just take the spotlight off Rudd and Gillard locked in a passionate embrace on the cliff top ?
Chris:-finding any Lib policy is hard work you say….well trying to Find Abbott for an interview is a bloody lot harder…ask any hack!
This is why Gillard needs to announce a series of debates NOW……in election weekIis no good……people get bombarded with election crap Forget Carr He has abandoned Assange like Howard abandoned Hicks This has done him NO GOD!
“paralyzing speculation” :something in that; maybe every thought does not need to be shared as the crunch time comes; let’s concentrate on the enemy now
The Coalition haven’t got any policies, there’s nothing to discuss. Maybe you should take timeout Judd, write five pages about what’s on the inside of a ping pong ball.
The entire intellectual worth of the Opposition front bench.
and Ryutin’s backbone.
Room for more?
Bernardi has given fodder for some of the best Satire I have seen in a very long time. Close down all pets shops as they will become the next big gay beat! Pmsl, and there are hundreds rolling in. The psycho would never have been allowed to do that interview, without loto approval. Oh his Arse must be aching now. Did Pearson channel him?!
…and ABC has him on Q&A.
It would be lunacy for them to risk pissing off Windsor and Oakshott, who could pull the plug and necessitate a snap election, by reinstalling the Ruddbot.
What an ego the annoying little nerd has. He speaks of Labor traditions, beliefs and solidarity, yet totally ignores the caucus by feeding leaks to his favourites in the media and launching a blitzkrieg of made-for-evening-news-bulletins appearances in shopping land where he can be filmed beaming among the Ruddbot worshippers who will probably be voting Liberal anyway.
The amount of white noise generated by the media about the mythical powers of the Ruddbot three months out from the election is exhausting enough for those of us watching from the side lines. Imagine what it must be like for the pollies. I just wish the media would take a deep breath and report on something more worthwhile such as a double-page interview with Bronwyn Bishop, Scott Morrison or Phillip Ruddock on their vision for an Abbott-led government. That would put the horrors into the broader public!
Seriously, I want to know on what basis a snap election would be necessary or even likely if the two you mentioned pulled out now.
There’s no legislation after the end of next week and I don’t see how issues of supply could be affected in this period leading up until September.
I would have thought there is also some movement for the G G’s discretion.
Thoroughly agree about the issue of worthwhile reporting on the shortcomings of the motley crew that make up the LNP.
Just another thing.
All those ‘shopping land’ appearances, as you put it were carried out at the request of the local members and/or approved by the nerve centre at the PM’s office.
‘and/or approved by the nerve centre at the PM’s office.’
How would you know that ? Are you Chris Schact ? You seem to be very well-informed.
Common knowledge Henry.
he seems a lot more informed than he is, when you look into his stories. also he is clearly intent on destabilising the party by pushing krudd who is dead as a doornail
Gosh, I thought even you would have managed to verify it and accepted the truth.
Troll.
somehow and/or does not convey close acquaintance with the details
not that the official story would necessarilly reflect reality when dealing with a rat
Der???
good
“wish the media would take a deep breath” the press just want an EASY story; most of them are hacks, doing their quota, then heading off to get pissed
Bob, it’s good to see you have a genuine concern for Kevin Rudd’s health. Redux, as I recall, was used for weight reduction but because of its cardiovascular side-effects, withdrawn from the market. No doubt there are a still a few boxes lying around. Not to be recommended.
Fool - it means “brought back”, though reflux might be closer.
As usual Quixote, you don’t get it, you put your stupid fictitious horse’s foot in your miserable gob. Grow a fucking brain you dick head.
Fine make Shorten PM for the interim, but sticking with Gillard is mass suicide; Jim Jones Peoples Temple stuff for the ALP. So that Gillard can stay PM for two more months the parliamentary Labor party is willing to subject the party to decimation and Opposition for 10+ years. Really ? Gillard is worth that much, she’s worth sacrificing the party for ?
aint just about her; it’s about having the courage of your convictions; there are many times and occasions for changing leaders; this is all wrong on both counts - the reasons are obvious to anyone not shitting their pants in fear
also, you are in dreamland if you believe Labor can just change everything by getting rid of Gillard at this stage; or at least change it *positively*; piss-off a LOT of people, yes
I’m with you Richelieu II.
For those of us with actual connections to the party it’s beyond belief.
There is plenty of free advice on here of course, but at least the good thing is that free advice doesn’t cost anything.
Mostly its from the pretend Labor supporters, buzzing round like a noisy fart in a bottle.
Come the fifteenth September they’ll be advising some other poor sods about something else.
Our object is to get re-elected so we should be taking big steps to make it happen.
It’s not a matter of who you love or hate, although the noisy gnomes try to hang that one on, its a matter of pragmatism.
It MUST be Gillard. Any return to Rudd now will make decimation look attractive. The Liberals won’t even have to say a word, all they’ll have to do is play reruns of the public bitching from labor ministers.
Pragmatism?
Wombat’s right. The only way to pull this rabbit out of the bag is to talk policy ONLY with these Liberal mouth breathers.
Lets talk broadband.
Let’s talk education.
Lets talk about the economy.
Fuck this confected gillard/Rudd drama. The only ones interested in it are the Liberals.
The problem about talking policy at the moment at least, is we would be talking to ourselves.
It would be like Nicola Roxon at the National Press Club the day Abbott was late.
She had to agree with herself.
You may consider the current leadership issue a Lib only event, fair enough.
I don’t think its any where near a conclusion.
Don’t forget a ‘hot toddy’ for that cold.
I agree that we’re talking to ourselves. Thats a big problem What I’m suggesting is making every question an open one, one that needs dialogue, argument, rebuttal, debate. The only way that I can see we do that is to hit the liberals with question and statement, bang, bang, one after the other. What’s the company tax going to be, who will pay for the education shortfall, what’s the cost of their node upkeep. One after another. Their weakness is policy.
Hit them very hard there.
Thanks for the suggestion. My neighbour called in earlier with some backyard moonshine. He said boil some on the stove and add about a teaspoon of sugar.
I don’t know if its fixing my cold but I’m sure as shit drunk!!!
What do you mean exactly by ‘I don’t think it’s anywhere near a conclusion’?
Just that the leadership issue hasn’t disappeared.
BLOODY HELL:when Craig Emerson tried to talk policy on 7.30 tonight Leigh sales would not let him. What the fook is up with the Hey be See….they must be shit scared Abbott is gunna sell it off? Dennis Shanahan is approaching 100 consecutive columns against labor…will someone send him a bottle od poisoned wine for his 100th. Geez how biased is that? Abbott dome NOTHING wrong in 100 columns?
I proudly state I have no connection with any party. I vote, is all.
Lots of people claiming to be IN the party are supporting the rat krudd despite him having been spewed forth by his colleagues who actually worked with him and know what they are talking about unlike the armchair experts in the suburbs. (That is not to denigrate party members in the suburbs, just the know-nothing armchair experts who think their possibly large, possibly not, service to the party makes them geniuses)
Thank you for the clarification.
Could I ask then given that declaration how you ‘know’ about spewing, rats and colleagues to wax so lyrically about the subject.
I’m not in an armchair(laughing here, its an in joke)but actually despite your view some members do congregate together.
They call them meetings.
You can’t make this shit up, you really can’t.
1. I am a member of the ALP, the talk there about the monumental fuck up of putting Gillard in as leader, is discussed at meetings, ad nauseam.
The fact is, the Labor party fucked up dumping Rudd. His demise was akin to getting rid of some tin pot dictator in South America in the middle of the night.
The people responsible for this, are not now going to say they made a mistake. They would rather bring the party down, than admit they have the political nouse of a common garden worm.
2. The union movement of which I am also a member is not happy about the demise of Rudd and the direction the modern Labor party is taking.
They tell me, like everyone on this blog that wants Labor to win. This is not about personality’s it is about winning elections.
Yes they have done good work, they have also pulled some right fucking boners.
The Labor party is not about Gillard, Rudd, or indeed Bob Ellis. It is about winning and keeping government.
All the rest is horse shit.
Phill:
For me:
1.Same, all of it.
2. Not a union member these days.
I would have thought the same I reckon. But were does Paul Howes fit in.
At the front of plane apparently, like business class.
“The Labor party is . . . about winning and keeping government.”
yep, to the hacks; to the people who matter - the voters - it is about policies
and a party that hasn’t got any principles or guts, a party that shits itself amd does a jig to the tune the media bosses plays is done for
a party that listens to dills like Chris is going to get lots of votes from dills in the party like Chris, and be happily in opposition until a leader comes along to tell the dills like Chris to shut up, and turns them back into a party that stands for something more than being in power
I call bullshit.
lot of women at your meetings?
“the direction the modern Labor party is taking” get over it; the world has changed irrevocably, all the old categories but one - rich and poor (now super-rich and the rest) - have gone.
I call bullshit.
Fill:- what amazes me is that Rudd was not given a chance to change his leadership style. He deserved what he got-keeping people waiting 4 hours outside his office;tantrums,some members did not see him for a year;ran a one man show(but so did Howard)…if several of his Cabinet had fronted him and said “You are being given 2 months to become more inclusive or you are gone”…mark my words he wld have changed. From what I gather, this “chance” was never given and it has never benn discussed in the media. Any comments or information on this? One person close to Labor said he WAS told but would not listen and told them to get fucked. But I dunno if this is true. If his close guard had told him…surely he wld have listened?
Wombat. I hear you. Rudd had faults, I’ve said so. I think he is a creep. Trouble is, he’s a winning creep.
The consensus at the time was, it was a laid down misere Rudd would have won the next election.
Laugh at your leisure if they had put Rudd back the first time he challenged, I would have bet money he would have won.
I fear now it is too late. They have made their choice, I just hope the people who have the most to lose, don’t get screwed over to the point, we see violence on the streets.
This country is headed for dark times. That BTW in my opinion is going to happen no matter who governs.
It was never about giving Rudd a 2nd chance, it was simply the machine fermentingdiscontentto force change that would leverage their woman into the top job under cover of Rudd-ALP sky high popularity.
Lets not pretend it was ever anything different.
Exactly right. Under the cover of. But it has not worked out and they can’t admit it. So they’ll scuttle the Titanic instead. That’s what Leigh Sales ws getting at last night but Emmo was stuck wit the Gillard/Howes propaganda. They are not for the party, they are mutineers.
hope to hell not too many are as dumb and gutless (and misogynist?) as you
that, of course, for Chris the suburban strategist
I guessed that. LOL you twerp.
the old Labor party Chris and phill have wet dreams about is gone; yet the need for a left party is not less, but more because of that. It just will be a different party, indeed.
here is an intriguing piece from Krugman that highlights how lots of old ideas just will never work again;
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/how-are-these-times-different/
So when do you leave for Noo York?
I call bullshit.
whatevs
Here’s another pointer to the depth of the issues facing capitalism now - issues that are just way beyond the boss-worker confrontations of the old Laborites
“The reality is that global high finance is de facto a set of interlocking cartels that divide the market among themselves and use their advantages to keep out competitors.
“Cartels can extract huge premiums over what would be normal profits in a functioning market, and part of those profits go to keeping the cartel intact: huge PR efforts, a permanent recruiting circus drawing in top academic talent; clever sponsoring of, say, an ambitious politician’s cycling scheme; vast lobbying efforts behind the scenes; and highly lucrative second careers for ex-politicians.
“There is also plenty of money to offer talented regulators three or four times their salary.
“Capitalists have an expression for this, and it’s “market failure”.
“Here is the source of so many of the perversities in modern finance, and the solution is not only to denounce those who can’t resist its temptations, it’s to take away those temptations.
“That probably means smaller banks, smaller and independent accountancy firms and credit-rating agencies, simpler financial products, and much higher capital requirements.
“Before studying bankers I spent many years researching Islam and Muslims.
“I set out with images in my mind of angry bearded men burning American flags, but as the years went by I became more and more optimistic: beyond the frightening rhetoric and sensationalist television footage, ordinary Muslim people go about their day like all other human beings.
“The problem of radical Islam is smaller and more containable than Islamophobes believe.
“With bankers I have experienced an opposite trajectory.
“I started with the reassuring images in my mind of well-dressed bankers and their lobbyists; surely at some basic level these people knew what they were doing?
“But after two years I feel myself becoming deeply pessimistic and genuinely terrified.
“This system is highly dysfunctional, deeply entrenched, and enormously abusive, both to its own workers and the society it operates in.
“The problem really is exactly as bad as the “banker bashers” believe.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/joris-luyendijk-banking-blog/2013/jun/19/banking-britain-beyond-control
“The problem with capitalism is that we haven’t tried it yet.”
Chris where Paul Howse fits in I haven’t got a shmick. Possible ambitions. I mean lets face it, it is the nature of the beast.
Why is it J.S. you seem to take great delight in telling all and sundry, it is about the policies?
Yeah, I asked the Howes question as I had seen him on a news program tonight directing traffic, pledging unrelenting support to JG.
Rush hour at The Gap?
cont.
Of course it’s the policies. That is a given.
What part of the policy of a supposed Labor party, of taking money off of single mothers and putting them further into poverty, don’t you understand? I could go on with Labor policies that affect the working class, that have been monumental fuck ups.
The so called wet dream I have of a Labor party of the past is bollocks. The union movement the base of the Labor party is well aware of the shift to the right of the current leadership of the Labor party. They are also well aware the demise of the Labor party is imminent. They are now looking to rebuild for the future. They are plugging for Rudd to limit the damage that is coming.
They are now gearing up for the fight with Abbott that will surely come, as he begins to screw over the workers, poor and sick with austerity measures, policies that will or should unite the Labor movement.
The Labor party I have wet dreams about is still there. Dormant at the moment but still there. The current spivs in the party are on borrowed time. The party will rebuild, and come back like it always has. The Gillard/Rudd saga will in time, be a non event.
Then it can get back to what it’s brief is, or should be. That is improving the lot of ALL people and not just the well heeled.