Peter Costello is often pointed to with pride by the Coaliltion for his economic handling.
i.e 167 tonnes of Australian gold he dumped for $300 and ounce, causing a crash in the world gold price and Australians losing on gold mining investments in that sector.


So when their Howard government period economic guru says Tony Abbott is an Economic Illiterate, there must be truth to this statement.

Abbott, Hockey, Joyce and Palmer ... the Coalition's moronic economic team.

They have a Financial Black Hole that everything on the economy the Coalition touch, the Coalition's Funding Black Hole grows in density.


The Gravity of this coalition economic disaster is now pulling the coalition away from an election momentum towards winning the next election, to grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory.



So now back to the thread topic, Abbott The Economic Illiterate.


Why is he not strengthening his teams credentials by dumping Hockey and replacing with with someone who knows the difference between billions and millions.

Is the coalition's salary route they have going really worth losing the next election.

More proof Abbott Is Penny Wise and Pound Foolish?

i.e
Abbott's Economic Illiteracy.

Educators cost Abbott's Asian language push at $1 billion

TONY ABBOTT'S plan to boost the study of Asian languages in schools would cost $1 billion to implement, according to a leading Asian languages educator.

On Thursday night, Mr Abbott said one of his key priorities, if elected, would be to increase the number of high school students studying foreign languages - particularly Asian languages - to 40 per cent within a decade.

''We are supposed to be adapting to the Asian century, yet Australians' study of foreign languages, especially Asian languages, is in precipitous decline,'' Mr Abbott said.

But the announcement raised eyebrows among the Labor Party, given that, in 2002, the Howard government axed a successful program that had doubled the number of students studying Asian languages.

The National Asian Languages and Studies in Australian Schools strategy was scrapped eight years into its 12-year cycle.

The executive director of the Asialink and Asia Education Foundation, Kathe Kirby, said based on that program's costs, Mr Abbott's policy would cost about $100 million a year over 10 years.

''It will take very significant investment,'' she said. ''Right back with NALSAS, when we doubled [the rates] in today's monetary terms, that was an investment of $100 million a year … If we're not talking something in that ball park we don't do it.''

Mr Abbott said in his budget reply that since 2001 - the year before the scheme was scrapped - there had been a 21 per cent decline in students studying Japanese and a 40 per cent drop in students studying Indonesian. He did not offer a cost for the policy.

The School Education Minister, Peter Garrett, dismissed Mr Abbott's policy, calling it a ''rehashed announcement'' from the 2010 election.

''There were no details and no dollars, just an aspirational target and a vague intention.''

http://www.bordermail.com.au/news/national/national/general/educators-cost-abbot...


There is no detail on the funding  ... Because Abbott is an Economic Illiterate

Armchair_Politician wrote on May 12^th, 2012 at 6:59am:




So how much will it cost?

The first payments - which replace an education tax refund and will be funded by mining tax proceeds - are due to go out before June 30 and will be paid every January and July thereafter.

But Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has said the bonus amounts to a 'bribe' and there is no guarantee that families will spend the cash handouts on education expenses.

Ms Gillard said Mr Abbott 'could not explain' why he supported the Howard government's baby bonus but has rejected Labor's school kids bonus.

http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Politics/2012/05/11/Kids_bonus_cruises_through_p...


He Can't Explain because Abbott Is An Economic Illiterate.

The other two new measures were the $1.1 billion supplementary allowance, which will provide cash payments to welfare recipients, and a $1.8 billion boost to Family Tax Benefit A, which is paid to low and middle-income earners.

These will be funded from proceeds of the mining tax after the government axed plans to fund a 1 percentage point cut to company tax.

The opposition opposed the company tax cut because it was funded by the mining tax. But yesterday it abandoned its principle of opposing policies funded by the mining tax and said it would support these two welfare measures.

Mr Abbott said the measures were not linked to the mining tax but the budget paper links them explicitly.

Supporting these increases while still vowing to abolish the mining tax if elected will blow a $2.9 billion hole in the Coalition's election costings.


http://www.smh.com.au/business/federal-budget/cash-flows-as-mining-tax-wedges-li...



More Proof Abbott (and his economic team) are Economic Illiterates.

The Abbott Fact Check & Other Matters


The Leader of the Opposition Mr Abbott gave his response to the Budget a short while ago and while there were few facts relating to matters of the economy, there were a few assertions and judgments that should be put through the fact-check machine.

The lack of any detail about how the aspirations would be paid for is another matter, but at a quick glance, here is what came out:

ABBOTT:  People who work hard and put money aside so they won’t be a burden on others should be encouraged, not hit with higher taxes.

FACT: The tax to GDP ratio of the first 5 Labor Budgets averaged 21.1%.  The lowest ever tax to GDP recorded under the Howard government was 22.2% and the average was 23.4%.  The last time a Coalition Government delivered a tax to GDP ratio below 21.1% was in 1979-80. Cannot see where the “hit with higher taxes” statement fits these facts in the current Budget context.

ABBOTT:  And people earning $83,000 a year and families on $150,000 a year are not rich, especially if they’re paying mortgages in our big cities.

FACT:  Average annual earnings are around $53,500 in NSW and $51,500 in Victoria.  Maybe they are “not rich”, but someone on $83,000 is earning around 60% above the average wage whether they have a mortgage or not.

ABBOTT:  Madam Deputy Speaker, from an economic perspective, the worst aspect of this year’s budget is that there is no plan for economic growth; nothing whatsoever to promote investment or employment.

FACT:  After registering a 19th straight year of economic growth in 2010-11, the Budget shows Australia growing at 3% in 2011-12, 3.25% in 2012-13 and 3% in 2013-14.  Having risen a Chinese-type 18% in 2011-12, business investment is forecast to rise a further 12.5% in 2012-13.  Employment is forecast to rise by 1.25% in 2012-13, which will see the creation of around 175,000 new jobs from now until June 2013.   

ABBOTT:  With a growing economy, it’s possible to have lower taxes, better services and a stronger budget bottom line as Australians discovered during the Howard era that now seems like a lost golden age of prosperity.

FACT:  Despite the unbroken economic growth during the Howard Government era, which was a worthy achievement, the tax to GDP hit a record high of 24.2% of GDP, some 3.2% of GDP higher than in 2011-12 (that’s about $40 billion of extra tax in a single year!)

ABBOTT: I applaud the Treasurer’s eagerness to deliver a surplus – but if a forecast $1.5 billion surplus is enough to encourage the Reserve Bank to reduce interest rates, what has been the impact on interest rates of his $174 billion in delivered deficits over the past four years?

FACT:  The official cash rate set by the RBA averaged 5.42% during the Howard government.  Since Labor were elected in November 2007, it has averaged 4.73% and is currently at 3.75%.  The futures market, having seen the Budget, is pricing in a cash rate below 3% by early 2013.

ABBOTT:  The forecast surplus relies on the continuation of record terms of trade even though growth in China is moderating and Europe is still in deep trouble.

FACT:  The Budget forecasts are for the terms of trade to fall by 5.75% in 2012-13 and to fall a further 3.25% in 2013-14.  Based on Treasury’s sensitivity analysis, if the terms of trade were to continue at a record high as Abbott asserts, the surplus would be over $5 billion in 2012-13 and over $10 billion in 2013-14.

ABBOTT: I know what it’s like to deliver sustained surpluses because I was part of a government that did; indeed, sixteen members of my frontbench were ministers in the government that delivered the four biggest surpluses in Australian history.

FACT:  As a share of GDP, they are not “the four biggest surpluses in Australian history”.  The two biggest surpluses as a share of GDP were actually delivered by the Gorton and McMahon governments, followed by the 3rd largest surplus from the Howard Government, the fourth largest at 1.9% of GDP was delivered by the Whitlam government.

The “four biggest surpluses in Australia’s history” in dollar terms, which fit Mr Abbott’s claim, were in fact driven by the highest tax to GDP ratio in Australia’s history plus there was an extra $5.2 billion in dividends in those four years from the RBA.

ABBOTT:  If the budget really was coming into surplus, it stands to reason that the government would have no further need to borrow.   If the government really thinks that a surplus can be delivered, as opposed to being merely forecast, why is it proposing to add a further $50 billion to the Commonwealth’s debt ceiling?

FACT:  The debt ceiling is rising due to the requirement to main a deep and liquid bond market and to allow for intra-year cash flow lumpiness in government accounts. See also: http://www.marketeconomics.com.au/1286-gross-debt-gross-ignorance-2

http://www.marketeconomics.com.au/1973-the-abbott-fact-check-other-matters

The Greens & the ALP think they are economically litterate because they support neo-colonial invasion programs, human trafficking and slavery for big business.

Part of the Greens economic platform is free birth control and targeted abortion on demand for Aboriginal people.  The Greens are also trying to bring in Euthanasia in the Northern Territory and fully support the intervention.