Category: Spending

Spending

Back to the centre | The Monthly

For the third election in a row, Australians are being offered a choice between a government that can’t run on its record and an Opposition that pretends it is ready to return to office. A third election in which incumbent and challenger are bound by limited leadership experience and modest prior ministerial achievement. Malcolm Turnbull entered parliament at the 2004 election, and Bill Shorten followed in 2007. By any objective standard, each man is a decade short of the necessary grounding to run the country.

Source: Back to the centre | The Monthly

Defense, Spending, USA

Death Toll Continues To Rise In Armed Forces Bowl Tragedy

Death Toll Continues To Rise In Armed Forces Bowl Tragedy

wreckage

FORT WORTH, TEXAS (CT&P) – The death toll topped 4000 this morning as rescuers continued to pull victims from the ruins of the Amon G. Carter Stadium after two Lockheed Martin F-35 jets collided during a halftime flyover. Reuters is reporting that government authorities say that the toll could go much higher in the next few days as more rubble is removed from the south end zone.

stadium2

The tragic collision occurred just as three F-35’s were approaching the stadium in a delta formation. The jets were trailing red, white, and blue smoke in a display of patriotism meant to garner public support for the military-industrial complex. Eyewitnesses told the Dallas Morning News that two of the planes were behaving “erratically” just before the crash.

“One plane was jerkin’ side to side and its landing gear were poppin’ up and down faster than a rattlesnake!” said Angus McTurd of Tainted Springs. “It was like it was in some kinda of video game. The plane flying next to it was rearin’ up and down like steer on steroids. Just as they came over the top of the stadium they collided and one of ‘em cartwheeled into the south end zone. The other one started burnin’ and crashed over in the colored neighborhood just to the west of the stadium. It was a helluva thing to watch!”

Both pilots managed to punch out of their planes and survived the crash. Air Force spokesman Major T. J. “King” Kong told reporters that was because “the ejection seats were the only thing on the aircraft that worked worth a shit.”

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Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price told KDFW Fox 4 News that she had begged Pentagon officials to use some other type of plane for the flyover, but they insisted on using the F-35 Lightnings, even though they were the only three cleared to fly out of the entire fleet of troubled aircraft.

“I told those idiots we did not want those flying washing machines over our city, much less a stadium packed full of people,” said Price. “Hell, it would have been safer to fly the fucking Hindenburg over the game!”

The trillion dollar F-35 has been plagued with cost overruns, groundings, and embarrassing glitches, such as its inability to fire its cannon until 2019, when the software for the weapon is upgraded. However, this has not dampened the Pentagon’s enthusiasm for the plane and it continues to garner support from senators and representatives from states where the plane’s over 300,000 parts are manufactured.

“It’s a gorgeous plane and we fully believe that some day it will actually be able to fly on a regular basis,” said General Jack Ripper, USAF (Retired). “Every new weapons system is bound to have a few snags or hitches in development, and I don’t think we should condemn an entire program for a single slip up.”

majorkong

General Ripper is a lobbyist for Lockheed Martin.

Some cable pundits expressed surprise that the game was allowed to continue after the plane incinerated several thousand fans, but Pentagon officials on the bowl committee insisted that it would be good for the public to get used to these types of incidents, because over 2500 of the flying deathtraps will eventually be in service in the USAF alone.

“Things explode every day,” said General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “If we stopped what we were doing every time something blew up, we’d never get anything accomplished.”

Houston managed to win the game 35-34 over the Pitt Panthers after an incredible comeback in the fourth quarter. Many sports analysts attributed the comeback to the Pittsburgh player’s reluctance to approach the south end zone, which was a sea of fire and twisted wreckage for most of the second half.

The third F-35 Lightning was last seen flying erratically towards the U.S.-Mexico border and remains unaccounted for. Air Force personnel have been unable to raise the aircraft by radio because of a glitch in the F-35 communications systems and stealth safeguards built into the plane are making it very difficult to spot on radar.

24.3%, Blow out, Spending

The Coalition’s Looming Debt and Deficit Disaster

drunk

  • October 30, 2014
  • Written by:
  • They’re spending like drunken sailors.

    When you voted in the federal election last year, were you concerned about Labor’s debt and deficits, and did they effect how you voted? Did you think that Labor’s spending was unsustainable and had to be stopped?

    Because if the answer is yes, the news is not good. The Coalition, right now, is on track to double Labor’s debt by December next year.

    In the first three months of this financial year (2014-15) net debt increased from $202.46 billion to $221.33, a jump of 10 per cent. But that’s only part of the story. All the economic forecasts were projecting a net debt at the end of 2013/14 to be $178.10 billion.

    So the actual figure of $202.46, realistically, is the true figure for which Labor must accept responsibility. If we accept that the $202.46 billion belongs to Labor, that still means that the Coalition have been spending like drunken sailors since June 30th 2014.

    If we want to be relentlessly selfish and insist that the original Treasury projection of $178.10 is Labor’s to wear then the Coalition have thus exceeded Labor’s spending this financial year by $43.2 billion (up 24.3%).

    debtEither way they are no better in managing the economy and based on future projections, they are on track to be a lot worse.

    Since June this year the Coalition has borrowed $19 billion which, if maintained each quarter from now until December 2015 will double the debt they inherited in 2013.

    Remember, this is net debt, not gross. The gross debt on which we pay interest is now $339.4 billion. When Labor lost office it was $284 billion. It seems extraordinary that Tony Abbott still happily refers to the need to fix the budget and to curtail Labor’s debt and deficit disaster when his own government is not only heading in the same direction, but is doing so at a faster rate than Labor.

    It is worth noting that the repeal of the Carbon Tax left a gaping $2.8 billion hole and is further compounded by the repeal of the Mining Tax, the projected Paid Parental Leave Scheme and the Direct Action Plan. Yet, they are determined to push ahead on both.

    myefoMuch of the Coalition’s projections in the 2013 Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) were independent of Treasury advice and we know they took some liberties with those figures to make Labor look bad. But, if they thought that was clever then they are in for an unholy awakening in the coming 12 months as revenues continue to decline and their spending continues to blow out.

    So one has to wonder how it will be possible to avoid a looming debt and deficit disaster greater than the kind they accused Labor of, without some savage adjustments to revenues and expenditures. With the current budget impasse in the senate, the Coalition is going to have a lot of explaining to do as the months roll on and ever more embarrassing information is released.

    One wonders how long the MSM can hold off reporting on the state of the economy and comparing it to Labor’s. We all remember how diligent they were during the Rudd/Gillard years. The October and November updates will be interesting reading as will the December quarter. As the position continues to worsen surely someone in the MSM will say something….won’t they?

    bankruptIn reality, if all the rhetoric about debt and deficit were true we should have gone bankrupt in the 1980’s when all the indices were far worse than they are now. The Howard government inherited a paltry $96 billion back in 1996. Hardly worth getting upset about today.

    It might be worth taking a look at the Liberal Party website where they detailed their plan prior to the last election. It will be the standard by which we can measure their success. As things get progressively worse, it might suddenly disappear before too long.