I was preparing a critique of Kitchen Kabinet when IA beat me to it... I still had prepared the toon but I had stopped working on it... I was thinking of Morrison running a cheap and nasty charitable soup kitchen, as he has been working out ways to bash the poor by removing some "benefits". Then I decided to finish the toon with the black-haired Marie Antoinette... See at top. 

 

One Of The Brains Behind The Dick Smith ‘Windfall’ Just Got Appointed To The Reserve Bank

 

By New Matilda on January 14, 2016The Insider

 

In business, there are winners, and there are losers. And even though we’re only just a few weeks into 2016, we already know who this year’s biggest business losers are – the mugs who bought stock in Dick Smith Electronics from private equity firm Anchorage Capital.

The electronics retail giant went into receivership on January 4, after Anchorage bought the chain of stores from Woolworths in 2012, and only had to stump up about $10 million of their own cash in the process.

Anchorage paid the remainder of the sale price (just over $100 million) out of Dick Smith’s own bank account by offloading a huge quantity of stock. It looked great on the books, so Anchorage floated the company on the stock exchange.

Investors queued up to get a piece of the action, and in just over 12 months, Anchorage had turned $10 million into more than $500 million.

One problem – Dick Smith then had to borrow huge amounts of cash to re-stock their stores. You can read a simple explanation of how the collapse of Dick Smith occurred here, and a scathing explanation of Anchorage Capital’s actions here.

Before you do, you might like to know at least one of the faces behind Anchorage Capital’s ‘big day out’.

Adviser to Anchorage’s Investment Committee is none other than Allan Moss, former CEO of Macquarie Bank and the husband of former Independent Commission Against Corruption Commissioner, Irene Moss.

There’s no suggestion, of course, that Mr Moss engaged in any illegal conduct – indeed everything Anchorage did appears to be entirely legal. Indeed in the business world, there’s nothing really even immoral about it. But that’s likely to be small comfort for the shareholders left with worthless Dick Smith stock.

And speaking of stock, Moss’ continues to rise.

Just three weeks before the collapse of Dick Smith, federal treasurer Scott Morrison announced that Moss would be joining the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Thus, even though we’re only a few weeks into 2016, Allan Moss has already emerged as one of the big winners for the year.

That’s in stark contrast to the staff of Dick Smith, who are the other big losers for 2016.

read more: https://newmatilda.com/2016/01/14/one-of-the-brains-behind-the-dick-smith-windfall-just-got-appointed-to-the-reserve-bank/

 

I do not want to suggest that Morrison is a good friend of Alan Moss, or that Morrison failed to look at Alan's resumé, or that Moss hid his involvement into the Dicky Smithy debacle... unless he was not involved in the nitty gritty of shifting the cash. I Just want to highlight that in his new innovation statement, Mr Turnbull said that failure was okay... Even so, the trickery involved in killing the Dicky Goose should be rewarded with a kick up the arse not a place on the Reserve Bank. Because let's face it, doing such disservice to people is not innovative. It's an old trick of conning people out of their good cash by a system which is akin to a Ponzi scheme. The people should sue.

Morrison has his Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) script off pat. It’s pure Tea Party nonsense. Our tax system with its bracket creep is crippling our productivity. As if those on $80,000 or over will knock back a pay rise because of a few extra cents in the dollar tax. Or get their goals all confused. That’s what he would have us believe.

What he means is he needs a GST to pay for tax cuts. He’s just not saying.

In saying nothing, Morrison reveals a lot. Much of it ugly. "Bugger the Westminster doctrine of ministerial responsibility. I am not here to account for my actions."

Commodity prices are crashing, export earnings are at an all-time low, we can't collect half the company tax that's due us but we do not have a revenue problem; we have an expenditure problem. Because of Labor.

You don’t have to be a Freudian to sense the man’s not well. Just as well he’s not in charge of anything important.

Morrison has been booted upstairs because he’s a rival to Turnbull. Not because he has talent. Now he poses as our cute and fluffy Treasure-bunny, a stuffed toy in the window of Business As Usual the department store run by Adani, the IPA and Co.

Treasury does all the work. The minister takes all the credit and dodges all responsibility while focusing on the main task ahead. Sell a new version of himself.

Cue Annabel Crabb’s soft-soapie touchy-feely recent episode of Kitchen Cabinet. This is the new ScoMo commercial, a vehicle for reminiscing fondly how he and Jules were given the bum’s rush in Sri Lanka but how he just loves its curries.

Annabel can’t shut the man up, he’s so pumped with his own promo.

“Crabbers” helps all she can but, in the end KC, is a tacky mess.  We are meant to see a wholesome, home-loving, sweet and decent human being. But behind the rimless glasses lurks the bully who had a go at Gillian Triggs for questioning the detention of children — part of Abbott’s plan to force her to resign. That went well.

All we get on KC is a feeling of being deceived — and worse. Morrison will do anything to present his best side, but the ScoMo promo demeans us all.

 

read more: https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/scomo-soft-and-fluffy-with-added-stain-remover,8618

 

See toon at top.

 

The highlight of the week, surely, was Treasurer Scott Morrison's decision yesterday to rule out the prospect of selling unicorns to the Australian public.

It was a kick in the guts to the fledgling Australian mythical/historical beast industry, still reeling from the anonymous torching of Clive Palmer's animatronic dinosaur Jeff last year, and the continuing underperformance of the Yowie.

The announcement also bodes ill for allied proposals, like generous fringe benefits treatment for Mad Hatter Tea Parties, and federal subsidies for the hunting of the Jabberwocky. (Though on reflection we know what happens these days to troublesome beasts which begin with "J" and end with "Ocky"; they get posted to Washington, which is less messy than striking them through and through with a vorpal blade as they come whiffling through Tulgey Wood. And probably cheaper in the end).

Mr Morrison's invocation of the fabled horse was, of course, not a literal one.

He has to be cautious in what he can promise. Plus, he's not stupid. He has to guard against the ambitions of Greg Hunt WBM - recently named the World's Best Minister at the World Government Summit in Dubai.

If Mr Hunt had been Treasurer, he would have bloody-well got us that unicorn. Hunt knows it, Morrison knows it, and we know it.

So the Treasurer's reference was carefully figurative.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-19/crabb-an-election-fought-over-policies-no,-this-isn't-fantasy/7182590

 

Very nice and entertaining, Ms Crabb. I disagree of course with your next item, number one:

1- For a country that for the last 10 years has largely been making do with ricocheting squeals-of-fright in place of any consistent political purpose, we should be mildly pleased at the very least that at this stage of the political cycle we have two major parties saying things that are different from each other.

This is a tad flippant and wiping out a lot of the good things that the Gillard government did, including the "Carbon Pricing", the Gonski education funding scheme which the Libs-CONservatives hate as much as the carbon pricing which they got rid off by making a sneaky double-cross with Clive palmer, now walking the streets with a begging bowl. But the libs cannot fully get rid of the Gonski scheme so easily because the scheme makes some sense in the electorate mind.

Gillard of course started the ball rolling on a genuine Royal Commission into sex abuse for which the very good friend of Mr Abbott, Cardinal George Pell, is being dragged along to testify one way or the other, unlike the non-genuine witch hunt of the Royal Abbott kick the unions in the budgies — to tarnish Billy and Julia as much as possible without proof.

Gillard also gave hope to the 20 per cent of Australians who suffer from a form of disability or another. Of course, this was the NDIS which would provide support and steps towards equality and better acknowledgement in the community. 

Gillard did a few more good things, including quietly valuing the contribution of some of the most disenfranchised people. As well, the economy under Gillard, and Swan was one of the best in the world during the trying times of the GFC (which according to a certain cretin Abbott never happened) as well as rating high — in first place— for the happiest country on earth. All this of course evaporated in five minutes under the mismanagement, the incompetence, the rorts, the favours, the idiocy, the fear-mongering of an Abbott government (I shall go and wash my mouth for placing these two words in conjunction) — and the same is happening with the new manager, Malcolm, mismanagement, incompetence, rorts, favours, idiocy, hate of sciences, though with less fear and more debonairity (bad service with a smile).

The only place where the two party could be claimed to be on par is on refugees. But there again, the methods and the heartlessness of the Abbott's LibCONservatives were — and are still — beyond belief. But I trust that Julia would never had sent a sick kid to Nauru, and one has to remember the crocodile tears of a certain Mr Hockey...

 

As well, Gillard never tried to interfere with the public broadcasters, while Tony promised not to and did exactly that once in power, cutting funding and demanding more right wing editorials and no balance (which there was little of, since the ABC had gone to the right under Howard)

Yes, I know that unicorns do not exist. But it look once again you believe in fake unicorns while sitting on a white picket fence, Annabel...

See toon at top...

It's election season and Kitchen Cabinet is back. No pantry is safe as Annabel Crabb travels across the country to meet some of the most interesting politicians in Australian parliament.

Series 5 Scott Morrison

How well do you know Australia's 30th Prime Minister Scott Morrison? In 2015 Annabel Crabb visited the Liberal heavy hitter at home where he prepared a fish curry, chapattis and samosas (or 'ScoMosas' as his staff call them).

 

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/kitchen-cabinet/series/5/video/

 

Crap.... It's not yet election season, dear ABC... it's only knife-stabbing Malcolm-season in the pantry and Scomo is barely back from washing the dirty dishes (or his bloodied hands) in the sink of Kanbra's pollie's soup kitchen. 

 

See toon at top.

The PM [scummo] wants you to see him as a league-loving, curry-cooking daggy dad about to win an election

 

Remember that other daggy dag daddy who made your life a misery?

 

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/26151

 

 

Read from top.