Royal Commission into botched home insulation scheme.

[spog]

Have to agree with your last sentence.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I agree with you Liam but stimulus doesn't fix a problem, it is just a band aid, America is abandoning its stimulus program now, the reason why is it doesn't show any long term benefit.
Governments have got to get the economies moving but at their own pace we can't force economies to pick up.
As for the unfortunate deaths, they were youngsters, when I think back on some of the things I did as a teenager I think I am lucky to still be here. As was said in earlier posts no training was given, responsibility for human lives have to be borne all the way down the line.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

I agree with you and your bandaid analogy. You put it on ASAP, then take it off once it stops bleeding. I also did heaps of shit which could have killed me when I was younger, that's part of the deal right?

Edit: plenty of the stupid shit I did was on job sites. Would it be the PM, the federal minister for infrastructure, the housing minister, the BSA, the foreman, the contractor, or myself who would be responsible for shooting myself with a nail gun or severing a limb with a circular? Same shit.

 

[Scooby Tha Newbie]

2006;

2014;
Liam I agree as well,to use the band-aid analogy. It's like putting a band-aid on a sucking chest wound. The use of stimulus packages was mainly physiological no real long term good was achieved.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

What you're saying is that we would have been better to have dealt with a higher unemployment rate at the time and the the run on consequences of that, than to have more national debt right now. Yeah?

 

[browndog]

We talked about this before in the politics thread. At the time the home insulation scheme employed a shitload of people, the shit kicking dole bludging type of people (many of whom I knew at the time) who if hey weren't employed by this, would have been straight to the dole queue getting paid to do nothing at all. The very fact that these people had extra cash to burn, and aren't the 'saving' type, meant that every dollar they were paid was instantly recycled into the service industries, stimulating the economy, and yielding GST for the state govs.

A side issue (but related) was the BER program. I work for a small-mid size engineering firm, and for a couple of years there a good portion (maybe 10%) of our work was for national buildplan. So that program was employing everyone from labourers, through to trades, to surveyors, engineers, architects directly, and as a result, they spent it on services, and didn't default on their ******* mortgages. The economy was stimulated.

I'm not trying to say that the stimulus measures saved the day, but they definitely made a marked difference, over many sectors, and QUICKLY.

The numbskulls who stapled foil sheets to live 240v cables, well that's Darwinism in action isn't it. People die every day for doing stupid shit and we don't blame the government.

I had a young mate that died at work, I take offense at your last sentence.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

I'm sorry but you missed my point. I had a mate who drove a car into a tree.

 

[browndog]

Flippant comment.

 

[TidalPete]

I would love to have an AHB where politics & political threads get the arse quick smart.

Maybe you've missed the last bit of my last post above Tony>?
But just in case you haven't good luck to you mate.

Edit ----- Please note the absence of Americanisms in this post.

 

[Greg.L]

The stimulus definitely saved our economy from the GFC. If consumers had stopped spending our economy would have tanked, stimulus didn't work in the US because the real estate market crashed. The reserve bank raised interest rates to cool our realestate market a couple of years earlier, thankfully. Chinese demand for coal and iron ore wouldn't have saved jobs in Sydney and Melbourne We were lucky to have a government that was willing to spend, it's just a pity Labor had so many no-hopers. Mind you the current government don't seem up to much either, they are good at chasing refugees away but not much else.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

My take on it is that the initial impact was lessened by the stimulus measures and our (compared to US) heavily regulated banking system, and the continued demand from China for energy and our minerals led the recovery.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Greg I don't think that consumers had confidence, what was happening over the globe had created the lack of confidence, credit card debt was at its lowest,as was consumer spending, consumers would only buy if it was really necessary, shops and factories were closing down and it isn't much better now.
The reason that the Rudd government could offer the stimulus was because the Howard government had left the economy in such a strong position.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

And the reasom Howard left it in strong shape qas due to the Hawk/Keating reforms......and selling off assests to make the books look good.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Easy to make the books look good during an unprecedented mining boom. Tax cuts for everyone! Having a baby? Here have some money! Woohoo this is gonna last foreverrrr!

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Have another baby while you're at it and here's some more cash!

 

[Greg.L]

The Howard gvt's big spending on family payments is now causing big problems for Abbott, Howard had a lot of luck with the mining boom. Now they have no way of reducing pensions and family payments without causing a political headache.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Abbott has been handed a poisond challice

 

[Liam_snorkel]

I don't think he would mind being seen as the tough guy, seems to be a strong character.
Rudd/Gillard didn't have the guts or inclination to cut family payments.

 

[Greg.L]

If you think bullies are strong, then yes Abbott is strong. I don't think he has the bottle to take on the pensioners and middle class mums.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Yeah I didn't necessarily mean "good" strong.