It’s not that he says it but that he believes it that makes this so pathetic:
WAYNE Swan has blamed the conservative Tea Party movement in the US for damaging the global economy and contributing to the “whack” to Australia’s budget position that has ruined Labor’s planned 2012-13 surplus.
The Acting Prime Minister and Treasurer used Twitter yesterday to warn that the looming fiscal cliff in the US, coupled with the European debt crisis, had directly affected Australia by reducing tax receipts, thus undermining next year’s budget surplus.
But Mr Swan saved his key criticism for the Tea Party, accusing it of holding the world to ransom and setting back the post-global financial crisis recovery for the past 18 months.
‘The impact of America’s fiscal cliff saga combined with Europe’s deep problems is having a real impact on the entire global economy,’ he tweeted.
‘Of course, we’re seeing that impact first hand in Australia with the huge whack we’ve copped to our revenue base.
‘The fact is, no matter what happens this week, huge damage has been done over the last 18 months thanks to the Tea Party’s influence. It is lamentable that so much of the world’s post-GFC economic recovery has been held hostage in such a reckless way by the Tea Party.’
Automatic cuts to social security and defence accompanied by scheduled tax increases are threatening to plunge the US back into recession, with President Barack Obama cutting short his Hawaii holiday to return to Washington yesterday to try to hammer out a solution to stop America sliding over the fiscal cliff.
Personal responsiblity for any of this is zero. Why he wants a surplus here but thinks the US can go on forever with its insane deficits he does not explain.
Or does he believe others are still gullible?
stackja
29 Dec 12 at 12:51 pm
Huh? That statement doesn’t make sense and isn’t it also the same formula carried out by Swan here?
Gab
29 Dec 12 at 12:52 pm
How do you spell “potatoe”, Goose?
Alfonso
29 Dec 12 at 12:53 pm
So now what Swan says is supposed to be an indication to what he believes to be true? – Good one.
Anyway, the only thing Lefties are capable of saying – regardless of what they really think, which usually has nothing to do with what they say anyway – is blaming the troubles of the world on conservatives. Leftism is nothing if not intense hatred of conservatism.
roger
29 Dec 12 at 12:54 pm
Again, Wayne Swan does all he can to tell us how incompetent, stupid, childish and ignorant of economic reality he is. He blames a movement that’s major goals are small government, low taxes and increased inidivual liberty for a massive debt created by nothing but increased spending.
Could this fool get any dumber. Gillard might be a massive liar, but Wayne Swan almost certainly believes what he is saying. That makes Swan not a liar, but an idiot.
Australia has an idiot as federal treasurer, wonderful.
MattR
29 Dec 12 at 12:54 pm
He really is a low rent fraud.
I’d be rather excited to know where the Tea Party’s economic agenda has been carried out. Perhaps Wayne could finger paint me a response.
Infidel Tiger
29 Dec 12 at 12:55 pm
Wayne Swan is facing a big test of his skills in 2013 I think … had to happen some time. He’s had the plaudits of world’s best tresurer after coming through GFC, and now he’s gotta prove it. Bet he’s nervous!
candy
29 Dec 12 at 1:01 pm
Isn’t Comrade Michael Kroger’s punching bag (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9GlEbEs4bQ) in charge now, while Comrade LargeAsks is holidaying in Logan or Werribee or Elizabeth or Kuta or somewhere similarly comfortable for her?
I do so hope he makes many, many more prime ministerial announcements this week.
Mick Gold Coast QLD
29 Dec 12 at 1:01 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
C.L.
29 Dec 12 at 1:04 pm
The Tea Party was pretty OK until the Koch Brothers became involved and steered it into a ditch (as intended).
paul
29 Dec 12 at 1:08 pm
At least Swan has stopped blaming bananas.
C.L.
29 Dec 12 at 1:13 pm
Why blame the Kock Brothers when you can blame John Howard and Tony Abbott?
While we are off topic I want to ask Steve if he knows the truth of this matter – I heard the other day that the British miners refused to take a 15% pay cut during the Great Depression. If so, that means they were prepared to have their families suffer on the dole and put other people out of work rather than take a small reduction in pay for the time being.
At that time award wages in Australia were cut by 10% across the board.
Rafe
29 Dec 12 at 1:25 pm
Is Swan taking over from Emerson with the role of head idiot tweeter?
Would appear not.
There is something seriously wrong with an elected official spending so much time on twitter. I wonder how long it has been since these two silly fuckers went out and did a door knock in their electorate?
Dan
29 Dec 12 at 1:32 pm
No.
Yes.
There are a lot of things to blame on the Labor Party, but surely one of the main things is the idea that they would see fit to put this slow, dimwitted fool in charge of our economy.
Greg James
29 Dec 12 at 1:37 pm
Remember people, hes the best person in the whole ALP caucus for the position of treasurer..
His deep knowledge of
play dougheconomics compared to his ALP comrades made him the first pick for the job..There was just no better person for such a vital job…
Lucky us.
thefrollickingmole
29 Dec 12 at 2:06 pm
The man is an effing embicile.
End of story.
dianeh
29 Dec 12 at 2:14 pm
Swannie..the gales of laughter you just heard were the guard detail sitting out front of your place in the white van..
Steve of Glasshouse
29 Dec 12 at 2:31 pm
This idiot is way out of his depth, but no doubt riley & the canberra press wankers will back him up as they always have done.
gnasher
29 Dec 12 at 2:35 pm
What C.L. said.
Megan
29 Dec 12 at 2:38 pm
Before the 2007 election there was a big push to undermine Swan from shadow treasury but Ruddles stuck with him to appear to have a solid team. Everyone could see he was hopeless, and would remain hopeless, but Rudd bought the politics of “stable team” over quality.
What I want to know is what did the Goose have over Ruddles to get him into that position in the first place? It certainly was not character, smarts, experience, knowledge, political nous or a scerrick of economic ability.
Goose has let the plaudits go to his head, and now cannot see that he never ever had the ability in the first place.
A perfect treaurer for this perfect government of frauds and wreckers.
pete m
29 Dec 12 at 2:38 pm
Rudd and Swan used to be great mates. Rudd is godfather to Swan’s youngest.
Gab
29 Dec 12 at 2:46 pm
C’mon, this was a cut & paste from The Onion or Daily Mash………………………..isn’t it????
Carpe Jugulum
29 Dec 12 at 2:48 pm
This clown is acting prime minister? Standards in Australia have fallen through the floor.
He’s apportioning blame just in case figures show the cabinet circus has driven us into recession. Someone else did it. Who? Anyone.
And Another Thing
29 Dec 12 at 2:49 pm
Swan has never done or said anything to dispel the notion that he ain’t the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Steve at the Pub
29 Dec 12 at 2:51 pm
He’s been the Comical Ali of Australian politics for years. But this is up there with the best of his one liners.
The serious observation is that we have people in charge who will literally say anything.
blogstrop
29 Dec 12 at 2:52 pm
I guess mcTernan is on leave letting him stray from Tony Abbott being directly blamed. Although I think Wayne did go on to try to connect the Tea Party movement to the Coalitions economic policy. It’s never Wayne’s fault, or Bowens, or Roxons, etc etc.
Honesty
29 Dec 12 at 3:09 pm
As nauseating as he is, we should keep in mind that he is only one of a group of utterly selfish people
who are a very serious threat to the future of our nation, & would collectively represent an eye catching display if smeared by an out of control road train!
maurie
29 Dec 12 at 3:24 pm
It is not like the situation in the US is new or unexpected. This still doesn’t explain the change of heart. All cabinet ministers from the slapper down have been saying for 3 years that a surplus was THE benchmark upon which to judge their economic credibility (and rightly so). Anybody who questioned them on whatever grounds were either fobbed off or shouted down. Now that they have squeezed everything out of the promise, they renege, coincidentally, in an election year. Now the floodgates are open.
All the crazies in the parliament are out of the woodwork and putting forth their lunatic schemes. The only thing that has surprised me is that Katter has been slow off the mark, which seems odd given that he will want to make a big impression at the next election and get some parliamentary companions.
Skuter
29 Dec 12 at 3:27 pm
This is just a continuation of his class warfare meme. Seems that is all he knows.
Biota
29 Dec 12 at 3:34 pm
Swan seems to think the private sector an problematic drag on government spending.
Toiling Mass
29 Dec 12 at 3:45 pm
The question is why. And how.
Answer: years of leftist media corruption have conditioned them to believe they can get away with anything. Absolutely anything.
C.L.
29 Dec 12 at 3:48 pm
So the entire problem can be explained by the actions of a non government volunteer orgaisation over the last 18 months. So the government actions of running deficits and building up debt don’t rate a mention.
Somehow we must blame people arguing for fiscal responsibility for the absurd situation.
I was struggling to see how Wayne Swan got the job as stand in Prime Minister until I looked at the rest of the ALP front bench. As for the Treasurer role, it must have something to do with the Peter Principle.
Poida
29 Dec 12 at 3:53 pm
So much verbiage from Swann via Twitter? Impressive. Reminds me of the big bang, when nothing then exploded.
Louis Hissink
29 Dec 12 at 3:57 pm
Why am I visualizing a goose covered in chooks?
The Beer Whisperer
29 Dec 12 at 4:05 pm
” would collectively represent an eye catching display if smeared by an out of control road train!”
Don’t give the truckies any ideas…
The Beer Whisperer
29 Dec 12 at 4:08 pm
Re- CLs’HaHaHa….etc..
It’s not funny, it’s serious.Swan’s not a goose, he’s a puppet. Who’s pulling his strings? Possibly his missus 1st Springsteen 2nd but definately the deluded overpaid brainwashed fuckwits in Treasury.
JimD
29 Dec 12 at 4:26 pm
So, he is sort of like Achmed the Dead Terrorist with a lobotomy. “Silence – i tax you”?
Carpe Jugulum
29 Dec 12 at 4:32 pm
The thing I like most about the little prick is that he knows that whenever he says something most people in Australia think he’s dumb. It must hurt him and pain for that sack of turd is a good thing.
JC
29 Dec 12 at 4:36 pm
As an American, I find this hilarious:
(1) the TeaParty wants the *opposite* of massive debt.
(2) the TeaParty obviously has so much power & influence, that they got their man Obama re-elected.
(3) Ditto for their control of the House and Senate – look at all the members of both that are rabid TeaParty activists.
I really feel a great deal of wonder – what this man is saying is so out of touch with reality – he must have a bunch of minders so he doesn’t walk in front of a bus, or try to jump into the shark-tank at the aquarium with a bar of soap and scrub-brush.
And if he’s the guy who’s outsmarted the competition in Australian politics… OMG – what sort of bizarre inbreeding experiment has gone awry down there???
Well, still I do appreciate him – he makes Reid and Obama look positively in-touch and rational.
Ken
29 Dec 12 at 4:49 pm
Honesty at 3.09 pm nailed it…. Coalition = Tea Party = Economic Armageddon . As far as anyone believing it,well I expect that Gittins and Taylor will go totally orgasmic over the genius of his analysis.
Lew
29 Dec 12 at 4:52 pm
Every time I think we’ve reached peak stupid with this bloke he raises bar again. He’s an embarrassment to this nation and his family.
tbh
29 Dec 12 at 4:54 pm
JimD @4:26
You really do have to wonder what is going on in Treasury. Do they really think that productive people will work harder if the government takes a bigger cut?
Forester
29 Dec 12 at 5:03 pm
In the unfolding tragedy, Wayne plays Hamlet’s ghost – we can see right through him.
Transferred blame is a defense against the truth.
This man needs to grow up. Young children transfer blame this way: “It’s not my fault, mum. It wasn’t me, it was her.”
ella
29 Dec 12 at 5:30 pm
Blame Costello for resigning……his effortless eviscerations of the Goose means that Goose would be Minister for Fetes if Pete was still around.
Alfonso
29 Dec 12 at 5:47 pm
Blame the Libs for not drafting Costello.
blogstrop
29 Dec 12 at 5:50 pm
This drooling imbecile gets a free pass time after time.
If Abbott were to blame the trade union movement here (which is a legitimate cause of our loss of wealth) Swan, his Labor mates and 99% of the media would go off their tree for the next month.
Chris M
29 Dec 12 at 6:42 pm
Aaah, full moon time in north-east Brisbane. Walking along the beach at Brighton or Nudgee after dusk, the lapping of the waters, the soft calls of the night-birds, and in the distance one can hear the local federal member baying at the moon….
Mk50 of Brisbane
29 Dec 12 at 6:43 pm
Well, Costello, Howard, Abbott, Swan, Julia and Turnbull have something in common….. all are CAGWarmists who believe climate must be controlled by economic management of some kind.
The hubris gene expressed large.
Alfonso
29 Dec 12 at 6:49 pm
Good grief!
Alfonso has turned Green.
jupes
29 Dec 12 at 7:11 pm
Please explain.
Alfonso
29 Dec 12 at 7:29 pm
The square next to your name has changed colour.
jupes
29 Dec 12 at 7:31 pm
Sheet, excuse is I’m drinking…….lack of observation like that could get a bloke killed.
Alfonso
29 Dec 12 at 7:56 pm
Swan in Canberra is definitely denying a village somewhere, of an idiot. Blaming the Tea Party?
Personnally I look to profligate leftist governments handing out other peoples money and the US Democrats who required banks (with the backing of Fannie Mae) to provide home loans to people who had no intention of repaying. The subsequent CDO’s were merely the banks attempts to reduce their risks. Its known as pass the parcel. But in the USA the parcel was handed back to the Government.
Jock
29 Dec 12 at 8:09 pm
Even worser and more terribler things happened Jock, the Community Reinvestment Act was enforced by threatening Banks who did not lower their prudential lending standards with being cut off from dealing with the US govt…..end of Bank.
Approximately, “Yossarian whistled long and low, “that’s some catch, that Catch 22″.
Alfonso
29 Dec 12 at 8:32 pm
And Jock, the “centre right” here doesn’t like their similarities with their pretend deadly enemies Labor, being pointed out …makes them uneasy.
Alfonso
29 Dec 12 at 8:46 pm
It’s a good thing for Swan that he is a politician – otherwise the fuckwit would starve to death.
Too stupid to get and hold a job, too stupid to get unemployment benefits.
TonyO
29 Dec 12 at 9:46 pm
These comments by Swan don’t prove he is stupid. These comments show that Wayne thinks people are stupid enough to believe it.
The worst part of the whole comment is that Swan is right. A whole host of commentators, like Gittins et al, are likely to follow this lead and then say how smart Swan was to identify that the fiscal cliff destroyed Australian Tax Receipts and hence his surplus. We can’t blame Wayne, because he can’t control gun toting, Christian nutters, no government tax cutting zealots like the Tea Party.
Remember 90 odd percent of Australians wanted Obama to win the recent US election. Low information Australian punters will just hear evil conservatives ruined the US and Australian economies and vote ALP. It was low information voters that re elected Obama – it was his strategy to appeal to them, and it worked. The ALP is merely following Obama’s lead, just like they said they would.
So who is dumb? Not Swan. He mightn’t know anything about economics but he does understand a lot about dumb people and how they think politically.
In Leninist propaganda theory this tactic is called ‘pre-conditioning’. You would think at some point the Conservatives and Libertarians would catch on to how this works and fight back. But no, Conservatives always play by the rules that the Left set up. Then they often lose and wonder why.
Swan isn’t dumb, he is banking on a lot of Australian voters being dumb. None of the smart comments above picked it up. How dumb are we?
John Comnenus
30 Dec 12 at 9:57 am
I can’t believe the level of the flat out lieing and nonsense anymore.
I thought swans budget overviews were bad enough with every single graph presented in a way to miss-lead.
Make no mistake about it – he isn’t this stupid – he knows 90% of Australians backed Obama and wants to use the fact that the republicans still have power to instill that kind of fear in Australian voters.
Mundi
30 Dec 12 at 10:46 am
and
A parrot can be trained to quote Plato; that doesn’t mean that it’s smart.
Deadman
30 Dec 12 at 11:00 am
Which of course, they are. Utterly illiterate, innumerate, ahistorical imbeciles.
And thanks to compulsory voting, they have a disproportionate influence on election results.
Rabz
30 Dec 12 at 11:03 am
Labor will be waiting on the next polls to see how their deficit news is received hoping not too many poeple remember/care about the Costello surpluses.
candy
30 Dec 12 at 11:13 am
[...] our friends Down Under at The Catallaxy Files, reports of Tea Party Derangement Syndrome, He believes it but does anyone else? (emphasis mine): WAYNE Swan has blamed the conservative Tea Party movement in the US for damaging [...]
» Slip some extra Tea Party Derangement Syndrome on the barbie - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion
31 Dec 12 at 1:01 am
Just FYI, Kates, Prof Jacobson has picked this one up. With some bonus video pwnage. Cheers.
http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/12/slip-some-extra-tea-party-derangement-syndrome-on-the-barbie/
sdog
31 Dec 12 at 7:07 am