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There are lies, damned lies ....

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by jardinier

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and there is John Howard, our gallant leader who had a big ego trip playing in the major league with his buddies George Bush and Tony Blair (who both rang him to congratulate him on his recent election victory).

Well of course some of us down under aren?t exactly thrilled that he greatly increased the prominence of Australia as a terrorist target, by sending troops to that debacle in Iraq, just to ingratiate himself with his chum George W, because he was in the process of negotiating a free trade agreement with the USA. [Well of course it wouldn?t take Einstein to figure out which country will benefit most from this deal].

As some of you may have gathered, he won the election on October 9 predominantly by constantly repeating the outright lie that interest rates would rise under a Labor government.

So all the poor folk with mortgages believed him and voted for him.

Now, just 9 days after the election, it has been predicted that interest rates will rise by two to three percentage points in the next three years.

As property prices in Sydney are sky high ? a rise of 20 per cent last year ? even one percentage point will push many couples to the brink.

To give you some idea, in the part of Sydney where I live, the price of a free standing house on an average sized block of land starts at $AU one million, while many with larger houses and/or land fetch up to $AU 4 million.

So all the morons who fell for his big lie will find themselves up the creek without a paddle, as they say -- not to mention copping a large dose of egg on their faces.

I just thought that you guys might be interested in the progress of your ally down under. Australia is large in area, small in population, but big on resources and talent.

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by johnsmith

"Now, just 9 days after the election, it has been predicted that interest rates will rise by two to three percentage points in the next three years."

Predicted by whom, I wonder...

by jardinier

I think perhaps you are a bit cynical. The prediction was made by an impartial economic forecaster.

Various economists spoke as one voice before the election, declaring that whether or not interest rates would rise would be totally unrelated to which party won the election.

One of Labor's mistakes was not to counter Howard's TV advertisements with the unanimous views of these economists.

Here is the story 9 days after the election, which is not disputed by anyone to whom I
have spoken.

Interest rates are likely to rise substantially in the next three years while the economy heads for a downturn, the economic forecaster BIS Shrapnel has warned.
BIS Shrapnel made the forecast in its latest Long-Term Forecasts 2004 to 2019. The report said it was a myth to think that Australia's moderate growth, low inflation and low interest rates could continue forever.
Its senior economist, Matthew Hassan, said the Reserve Bank would have to increase rates between two and three percentage points in the next three years. The expected low unemployment levels next financial year would create a skilled workers shortage, which would mean many businesses were likely to pay higher wages, he said. Higher wages would cause price rises in 2006.
"These two years of inflationary growth will be the trigger for substantial interest rate rises, with the official cash rate expected to peak at around 8 per cent in late 2006," Mr Hassan said.
BIS Shrapnel still predicts a recession in 2007-08. Its report said a business investment bust in 2007 would follow the current rush to invest to meet demand.

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