It is a well-known simple principle in hydraulics. Liquids have little or no compression nor expansion properties under pressure. Thus most liquids will transfer a change of pressure in one vessel to another should these vessels be linked. Thus hydraulics are like using liquid levers with magnifying potential of thousands.

Discounting evaporation via fluffy spending on sweet nothings and entertainment, money travels with a lot more elasticity and corrupting factor... The 34 billion dollars of tax cut on offer by John Howard and Peter Costello to bribe voters to vote for them at this crucial 07 election is just that: a corruptive promise... The IMF has "warned" the government to have a lot more restraint. 

The IMF knows that should this generous bait from the Vote-catcher be implemented, there soon would be less fish in the sea: less public infrastructure, less public education, less public health, etc... The moneys thrown out to individuals and businesses by the Howard-Costellos would soon be mopped by rising fees, private health costs and other costs such as inflation, cost of housing (gone through the roof under Howard-Costello), interest rates, trade deficit and others. For a few seconds, private debt and credit might be slightly relieved but soon they would balloon like never before and bite us on the bum. Profits would be used to speculate on yet another subprime level of futures gambling on the stock market. Thrift would be unsettled by more greed, real production and inventiveness would become lazy... Wage would be on a downward spiral and, after all this big money spurge, we would be back behind were we started from...

Sure we need some tax reform, but it needs to be done smartly not as a wholesale throw-away Howard-Costello style. Lets not forget that too much fertiliser will burn what your trying to grow. In many ways, diversity of crops and organic compost will bear the best fruit. Less glib and possibly more labour intensive, but in the long run more rewarding than a wasted throw of moneys.

And by the way, if Costello-Howard can be so carelessly generous, Rudd and his team can do the same too under the me-too clause... But...

But hopefully, all the present hospital problems — problems created by Howard-Costello in shifting public moneys to prop up private insurance profits thus depriving public health system of resources  and forcing the States to fork out more than their fair share — can be sorted out by Rudd, then extra money can be allocated to infrastructure and other public benefits like lowering the cost of education, especially university fees... if any money is left, then we might afford tax cuts, slowly as not to rattle the new "well-tuned economy" to borrow a Costello euphemism... His view of a well tuned economy is to strangle anything of essential public expenditure and to fill the coffers of private enterprise with public money... Totally unfair, unbalanced, and likely to break down. But this is the aim of the Howard-Costello team: An American system of health where eventually you could be left to die ion the pavement because your insurance does not cover you on that side of the street... Far fetched? It's happening already but Costello-Howard are blaming the States for the problem they've created. Costello and Howard have got to go-go-go...

It will be like a large weight removed from our shoulders. We will be able to breathe again, with pride of being Australians. Simple physics...

wack a poll

Student services 'significantly diminished' under VSU

The National Union of Students says its report on the first full year of Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU) has found that the system has significantly diminished welfare and advocacy services on campuses.

The report found that only two student associations are still self sustaining and that universities have taken up responsibility for many services since the Federal Government banned compulsory student union fees.

The Union's president, Michael Nguyen says the Government has undermined its own assertion that VSU was about choice.

"Previously students were subsidising the service that was available on their campus and now the Government is basically going against its own rhetoric of 'services shouldn't exist if students don't want to use them' by going in and subsidising businesses to set up with taxpayers money," he said.

Mr Nguyen says the students can still have a well-rounded experience at older 'sandstone' universities like Sydney and Melbourne, but others are not so lucky.

Median home loan needs $100,000 incomeJessica Irvine Economics Correspondent

First-home buyers now require a household income of more than $100,000 to qualify for a loan on the median-priced first home, a report from the Housing Industry Association and Commonwealth Bank has found.

This is up steeply from $80,000 two years ago, due to rising home prices and interest rates.

The figures showing housing affordability has plunged to another record low have reignited the election debate over who can best manage the "kitchen table" economy, in the face of rising cost-of-living pressures...

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This has been the direct result of John Howard policies. As you make a misery few bucks extra on "normal" wages to buy your entitlements and overtime (losing a lot of extra bucks), you now need a lot more money, about 20 per cent more than 2 years ago, to be able to apply for a normal home loan... And the inflation figures are about to hit the street probably above 0.8 per cent for the last quarter, mostly because the price of flat screen TV has gone down... Interest rates may rise again...

John Howard has gotta go-go-go... 

Energy Traders Avoid Scrutiny
As Commodities Market Grows, Oversight Is Slight

By David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 21, 2007; A01

One year ago, a 32-year-old trader at a giant hedge fund named Amaranth held huge sway over the price the country paid for natural gas. Trading on unregulated commodity exchanges, he made risky bets that led to the fund's collapse -- and, according to a congressional investigation, higher gas bills for homeowners.

But as another winter approaches, lawmakers and federal regulators have yet to set up a system to prevent another big fund from cornering a vital commodity market. Called by some insiders the Wild West of Wall Street, commodity trading is a world where many goods that are key to national security or public consumption, such as oil, pork bellies or uranium, are traded with almost no oversight.

Part of the problem is that the regulator, the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has had a hard time keeping up with the sector it oversees. Commodity trading has exploded in complexity and popularity, growing six-fold in trading volume since 2000 -- the year that a handful of giant energy companies, including Enron, successfully lobbied to get Congress to exempt energy markets from government regulation.

Banks to Costello: mind your own business

By business editor Peter Ryan

Two of Australia's biggest banks have politely told Treasurer Peter Costello to butt out of their business, saying decisions on how to set mortgage rates are theirs alone.

Mr Costello has again warned the banks not to use the subprime meltdown in the United States as an excuse to push up home loan rates.

In response both the chairman of the National Australia Bank, Michael Chaney, and the chief executive of the ANZ, Michael Smith, have firmly indicated that they will respond to commercial not political pressure.

Keating lashes Government on economy

  From the SMH

" You know how we have a Reserve Bank inflation target of between 2 and 3 per cent?" Mr Keating said.

"It's because unions where the progenitors of low inflation. They were the inventors of that 2 to 3 per cent target."

Launching the campaign of former ACTU secretary Greg Combet in the Hunter Valley seat of Charleton, Mr Keating produced two sets of handwritten cabinet notes covering his Government's final round of wage negotiations with unions.

According to his notes, on May 30 1995 it was former ACTU secretary Mr Kelty who suggested an upper limit on inflation of 3 per cent, which was embraced by then Reserve Bank chief Bernie Fraser.

The union leaders had told Mr Keating that low-income Australians were more vulnerable to the impact of high inflation so the unions wanted to keep a lid on price rises.

Mr Keating said as a consequence of these agreements, the Howard Government had been lazy in its economic management.

"The Treasurer has spent the past 10 years in a hammock. This is the laziest, most indolent, most unimaginative treasurer in postwar history."

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Gus: A few days ago on this site I called the Howard government "lazy"... Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so...