Terry McCrann has an excellent article on the failings of Wayne Swan. In particular, Swan is targeting superannuation because
that is where the money is
Truly Swan is the worst Treasurer in Australia’s history. At least Jim Cairns had some style and Junie Morosi. Almost single-handedly, Swan has
- squandered hundreds of billions of dollars
- destroyed the reputation of Treasury for quality thinking and advice
- set Australia towards a future of low productivity and low living standards
- corroded the body politic and in particular tarnished the reputation of the Office of the Treasurer
- substantially increased Australia’s sovereign risk
- exposed the Australian economy to increased downside risks
Everything Swan has done has been to Australia’s detriment. He has not implemented one good policy – in effect he has operated (perhaps unwittingly) as an enemy of Australia. It will take at least a decade to repair the damage that he has inflicted upon our fine country.
Swan doesn’t care a hoot about what money he squanders
Mike of Marion
29 Sep 12 at 5:43 pm
He gives Willie a bad name
Tiny Dancer
29 Sep 12 at 5:48 pm
Swan is the antithesis of Keating.
How has the Labor Party gone from Keating to Swan in one electoral cycle (broadly speaking)?
Labor gave us Whitlam (the worse to that time), then Hawke (best ever), then Rudd-Gillard (worse ever). How can one Party do that?
There is something very rotten about the Labor Party.
johno
29 Sep 12 at 6:00 pm
Not enough invective in the dictionary to describe this total waste of space. Useless is much too positive.
Megan
29 Sep 12 at 6:02 pm
No argument from me. In some ways it is not surprising as he has very limited intellectual capacity. However, just being stupid isn’t his only flaw. He truly is a nasty little prick of a bloke, consumed by hatred and envy. I’m certain he thinks he’s really smart too, which is what makes him dangerous.
One thing you neglected to mention was the damage he has done to our federation, which is a key institution that underlies our prosperity. He has destroyed goodwill and trust between the states and the Commonwealth. Reform will be so much harder to achieve now.
In so many ways, he has taken us back to our pre-Hawke economic basket case status…
To hear people talk about him being a successful treasurer makes my blood boil…
Skuter
29 Sep 12 at 6:08 pm
“(perhaps unwittingly)”…. That idiot hasn’t any “wit”
Dexter Rouse
29 Sep 12 at 6:08 pm
He would look good in an orange jumpsuit ,head shaved,breaking rocks for the rest of his miserable life,fed on stale bread and water ,with one consolation,he would be with ALL his Liebor and union mates ,even the feminazi bitches?What Fun!
Borisgodunov
29 Sep 12 at 6:10 pm
The Rudd/Gillard Govt is IMO the worst Govt we’ve ever had
Also Jim Cairns was a great public speaker, you couldn’t say that about any of the current lot
val majkus
29 Sep 12 at 6:20 pm
Wayne Swan? @%@& @&€€$€§ £$&@¤§` @&%@%** €£$# @%&**@.
There, got it off my chest.
Wayne as Treasurer is walking proof of how far Labor has fallen. Beside him, Martin Ferguson look like the president of Mensa.
I am the Walrus koo koo k'choo
29 Sep 12 at 7:29 pm
Boris, this lot of Labor criminals will be employed in the prison system maintaining the Great Inland Sea.
Wot? We don’t have one?
Yes we do. It’s just full of sand – they can dig it all out. It shouldn’t take them long, they’re used to bottomless pits.
Winston Smith
29 Sep 12 at 7:41 pm
A continental friend once queried my strategy of salting money away into super: ‘how can you trust the government with all your savings?’
‘it’s more tax effective’ I said.
My woggy friend, who had seen a thing or two in his time, shook his head and repeated his original question.
If ever you could see an Australian government doing a Lula DaSilva, it’s this lot. How far-fetched is it that Wayne and Julia could decree that ‘wealthy’ SMSFs, with balances over (cue Austin Powers) one million dollars, need to give more back to the community via a super super tax?
Big Jim
29 Sep 12 at 8:41 pm
“It will take at least a decade to repair the damage that he has inflicted upon our fine country.”
This assumes that the damage can actually be repaired. Greece was a mighty country 2500 years ago – been trying ever since to be great again…..
TonyO
29 Sep 12 at 9:01 pm
I am thinking of converting mine into highly illiquid assets or alternative investments through a SMSF. Thoughts?
.
29 Sep 12 at 9:40 pm
The super tax breaks are arguably too good. I can see a case for cutting back on them. Though I prefer the case for slashing other taxes to make super less appealing. So long term super reforms, impacting future contributions, might fly, and not do any lasting reputational damage.
But this government is just going to do something to gouge out money that has already been contributed. Whatever it takes to get their hands on some quick cash. And distroy all faith in the system. They really do fuck up everything they touch.
Tim
29 Sep 12 at 9:42 pm
Dot – Watch and see what happens when they announce their raid on super – there is every possibility they will announce you need to invest 30% of your funds in government bonds or something. Which means that everyone with the majority of their SMSF assets tied up in illiquid assets – like their business premises – will be screwed. But as things stand, an SMSF is the way to go if you’ve got more then around $100K.
Tim
29 Sep 12 at 9:55 pm
They are mad for even considering this. Besides being deeply unpopular and perhaps the final nail in the coffin for this rotting vampire corpse of a ‘government’, there is an obvious legal challenge on the terms of compulsory acquisition no explicit power over superannuation but a history of banking nationalisation being illegal and rejected by referenda.
If they try to use the corporations power, it will only affect those with corporate trustees, and it will be an uneven application of tax related law through the commonwealth, and an example of Wednesbury unfairness.
.
29 Sep 12 at 10:10 pm
Swan can only count to 21, and he has to drop his pants to even do that!
Twodogs
29 Sep 12 at 11:34 pm
The most galling aspect, I think is the hubris of this lot. They are just not that smart, despite their opinions of themselves to the contrary. The sweeping centralization of government functions from the states to the Commonwealth is the most worrying. In my own work, the rolling out of the PRRT into what is states jurisdiction is the typical example of their malfeasance and stupidity. Applying the most arcane, complex, abortion of a tax system and thinking its a policy “win” is another aspect of this hubris.
Antipodean
30 Sep 12 at 1:45 am
Swan an idiot? Hard to disagree.
Combine Dave
30 Sep 12 at 6:36 am
You’ve got to hand it to Swan on one score though, has anyone in politics ever been a more obvious phony and fuckwit. He surely is the most loathsome PM ever!
Pedro
30 Sep 12 at 8:53 am
Swan has no dick.
cohenite
30 Sep 12 at 8:59 am
No balls in other words?
Catfeesh?
30 Sep 12 at 9:10 am
“Swan has no dick.”
But he is a dickhead – a disembodied ghoul
all froth and bubble with no substance.
Sirocco
30 Sep 12 at 9:24 am
Wayne Swan is a lucky man in a lot of ways.
He’s treacherous and says spiteful and mean untrue things to manipulate and deliberately create class warefare in Australia,
and yet he is never called to account for it. (yet)
candy
30 Sep 12 at 9:40 am
You’ve got to wonder exactly what Swan did for Bill Ludwig in his younger days. About the only person dumber than Swan is Joe Ludwig, so maybe that is part of the explanation, but it has bemused me for a while as to
Swan was promoted so far beyond his capabilities. I know that in the trade union party merit counts for nothing but Swan being parachuted into the deputy prime ministership is just perverse…
Skuter
30 Sep 12 at 10:18 am
“No balls in other words?”
I thought of that, but I couldn’t be confident how he’d count them. You know, two balls, one bag, and of course I seriously doubted he had any.
He is a dickhead, so his head IS his dick, but then he’d have to look into a mirror to count. Ugh! Swannie arithmetic IS hard!
Twodogs
30 Sep 12 at 10:53 am
Check out “angst multiplied” on SMH in 2010 during last election cycle. Sorry my BB is not good at adding links – Swan’s “oh bugger” moment. Nice.
Kenny
30 Sep 12 at 1:10 pm
iPad – much better. For Wayne Swan, it was the ultimate ”oh, bugger” moment. The interviewer’s children had suggested some on-air sums for the Treasurer. What’s 14 times 12? Swan, with hair still wet from rain outside, summoned his inner calculator. 156? he inquired hopefully. Bzzzt.
Kenny
30 Sep 12 at 4:40 pm
Which is why, if I had my way, he’d spend the rest of his utterly pointless life rotting in jail.
Along with quite a few others, who shall remain nameless.
Rabz
30 Sep 12 at 5:05 pm
Still better at counting than Costello, and he understands the difference between net and gross.
Tyson
1 Oct 12 at 10:31 pm