Andrei.Hicks wrote on May 19
th, 2013 at 2:09am:
The ( ... Australian) economy is not in an awesome shape that people would have you believe.
We ALL know Howard had a bit of form in being less than forthcoming with the truth - but we doubt that this "talent" now extends to giving a Labor Government any tick of approval in economic management - where any tick of approval is not warranted
Looking at the facts and figures ( ... not to mention a AAA credit rating consensus) he had no other options
THERE HAS been a lot of misinformation around lately regarding the situation Australia currently finds itself in economically.
The fact of the matter is you will struggle to find a country that is more envied for its financial position than Australia. The Global Financial Crisis that struck in September 2008 with the collapse of Lehman Brothers was the biggest financial shock the world has seen since the Great Depression. Global credit markets froze, global economic growth fell off a cliff, unemployment began to slide and people started losing their homes and the quality of life they were used to.
Through it all Australia remained top of the heap on almost every count. The Government and the Treasurer have been talking about the attributes we should be proud of, when it comes to our economy, for years.
They are right when they say we have:
■low debt;
■low unemployment;
■AAA credit rating from all three major ratings agencies;
■low inflation; and
■trend growth Australia’s debt is the second lowest in the OECD.
Gross debt stands at 28.9% of GDP. This compares to
Japan at 224%, Greece at 193.2%, Portugal at 133.1%, Italy at 129.6%, Ireland at 127.7%,
United States at 113%, France at 108.2%,
UK at 110.4%,
Canada at 85.5%, Spain at 100.2% and
Germany at 86.2%. We do not have high levels of debt. It is a red herring.