Lost in Spades

New Suez Canal Project from AROMA Designs & Solutions on Vimeo . The Egyptian army's growing economic empire - Inside Egypt - Al Jazeera English Egypt and Israel: United in a common cause? - Inside Egypt - Al Jazeera English Interactive timeline: Egypt in turmoil - Interactive - Al Jazeera English

Has capitalism failed the world? - Head to Head - Al Jazeera English

One thing should be abundantly clear, after tonight's "Q&A" on ABC Television, to those of you who were befuddled during the election campaign: the LNP Coalition have no plan and never did - just a bunch of slogans and policy aims; but no detail of policy. Australians voted for an Aero-Bar party - more air than substance. Why do you think Tony Abbott was so quick to get to work? Yes, it is camouflaged behind words like: "slowly"; "methodically"; "carefully"... but they are winging it Big Time! No policy. No Plan. NFI. You get what you vote for - nebulous, superficial, unprepared, sloganeering. Make no mistake: Australia  IS the laughing stock of the world. Now Mr Murdoch, send in the clowns!

Only Australians are stupid enough to vote out a government presiding over an economy the envy of the world just because the Opposition said they weren't; and to which end they were backed by the media. Whatever female voters thought of Tony Abbott was effectively nullified by having his daughters stick to him like shit to a wet blanket. Furthermore, Blue Collar males are the demographic that deserted Labor - they never liked Julia Gillard and they preferred a man's man like Abbott over Rudd. And therein lies the irony: those most likely to lose from a Coalition government have just voted them in as the next government. Can't believe we made him Prime Minister. Well guys, you get what you vote for.

The Liberals have played 'Magic Cup' with the 'Mug' Punter   Yes. Labor really annoyed me when they deposed a sitting Prime Minister.   And then they did it a second time. Ropable, I was. Still am. I consider my politics to be just left of centre (prudent, but not a fanatic), but because of their twice deposing of a sitting prime minister, and also because of the Green's more humane asylum seeker policy (and strong climate policy), I was considering voting the latter ( they have been quite transparent ) and perhaps preference Labor, or, believe it or not, the PUP. Sound ridiculous? So fed up was I that I was considering a vote for Clive Palmer (mind you, you could do worse in this election – how dull would it have been without him). But this is no laughing matter – this is our future. And here’s the rub… Aware of Labor heartland disaffection, the Liberals are using this as leverage to wager an increasingly right-wing agenda; bu...

WA Today - Leanne Nicholson, September 6, 2013 - 1:36PM Disturbing findings from a cost of living investigation by a peak WA body is being reflected in the streets of Perth with more and more families living the hardships identified in the report.

After preaching doom and gloom for years, the Abbott honeymoon has started already, Michael Pascoe reports .

You might be able to accuse the Greens of a few things, but avoiding scrutiny is not one of them. Posted by  Greg Jericho , Thursday 5 September 2013 13.51 EST theguardian.com   

Lenore Taylor , political editor theguardian.com , Friday 6 September 2013 13.33 AEST Tony Abbott ended the campaign doing what he has done for so long with such brutal success – framing the political debate.

Joe Hockey and Andrew Robb gave us a list of numbers but no explanation of how they add up . The Coalition's Joe Hockey and Andrew Robb – playing us for mugs. Photograph: David Crosling/AAPIMAGE

Australian voters face an uninspiring choice. We won't try to tell you how to vote, but there is much at risk from an Abbott victory. Depressing though it is, this is nevertheless a vote that must be taken seriously, as much is at stake. Labor is broken; the Liberals are hiding – but they are not the same. Mr Abbott has asked the Australian people to trust him, but he doesn’t trust them enough to give them the facts they need to make an informed decision. Those who choose the Coalition because they think Labor don’t deserve it might soon feel regret; those who vote on Saturday for change may be surprised what that change entails.

I cast my ballot without really knowing what the Coalition intends to do, writes an anonymous postal voter.

As our readers know, we support Labor's national broadband network strategy, its commitment to increasing the superannuation guarantee levy, its Gonski schools funding plan, and its shift from a carbon price to an emissions trading scheme. We also support the deal it forged between business and environmentalists that led to areas of Tasmania's western wilderness being added to the World Heritage Area. In our view, these programs are initiatives towards generational change. They are visionary, forward-thinking and nation-building, not gimmicks devised to meet a three-year election cycle . But, as the SMH pointed, they are alone: Daily Telegraph – Coalition Sydney Morning Herald – Coalition Australian Financial Review – Coalition The Australian – Coalition Adelaide Advertiser – Coalition Hobart Mercury – Coalition Herald Sun – Coalition The Age – Labor West Australian – Coalition NT News – Coalition Courier Mail – Coalition Canberra Times - Coalition

Noel Towell, Public Service Reporter for The Canberra Times , writes: The Coalition will hit the public service with a bigger efficiency dividend if elected on Saturday, ripping another $428 million from departmental budgets. The new cuts, on top of the opposition's plan to axe 12,000 public service jobs, were announced on Thursday as part of the Coalition's long-awaited policy costings. The savings plan also includes caps on public sector consultancies, advertising and travel. The cuts are additional to Labor's increased efficiency dividend, which demands most departments and agencies strip 2.25 per cent from their annual budgets.

Look beyond the doomsayer's cry While we’re now officially crap at cricket, we remain the World Champion of economics, albeit champions with challenges ahead. It’s not possible to deal rationally with those challenges without first being able to rationally understand where we’re at and what is possible in the short term. That’s why the RBA will leave interest rates unchanged at its meeting today – not because there’s an election on Saturday. Last month’s board minutes and the August 9 monetary policy statement spelt out the challenges and encouraging signs. Since the last meeting, the international picture has remained volatile but, on balance, no worse. The trend building approvals figures along with APRA’s figures for new housing loans, among other sources, indicate the dwelling investment bet is coming off. You can continue to get a better grip on what’s really happening by reading the RBA board minutes than listening to politicians and commentators caught up in...

by JOSEPH STIGLITZ, published in the SMH (online) on September 2, 2013 While other countries fell into the global recession, Australia maintained strong economic growth, low government debt and a triple-A credit rating. With this record, you might expect the federal election to be focused on how to convert the strength of today's economy into resilience for the future. But instead the political spotlight has fallen on the perceived problem of government debt, with alarming proposals to bring austerity ''down under''. For an American, Australia's anxiety about deficit and debt is a little amusing. Australia's budget deficit is less than half that of the US and its net debt is less than an eighth of the country's gross domestic product. Most countries would envy Australia's economy. During the global recession, Kevin Rudd's government implemented one of the strongest Keynesian stimulus packages in the world. That package was de...

  OECD Unemployment Rates Greece: 27.6% Spain: 27% Portugal: 17%   Ireland: 14% Italy: 11% France: 10.5%   Great Britain: 7.5% USA: 7.5% Germany: 5.5% Australia: 5.5%  

The Labor party has run a very disorganised federal election campaign; the Liberals by contrast have been safe and controlled. All polls suggest the Liberals have been more effective. With five days to go to election day, most people are already calling the result. Tony Abbott has put on a suit of indifference to criticism, within which he finally appears comfortable. For his part, Kevin Rudd has not given up. The Liberals always come across as better micro-managers while Labor, as a trademark, likes to massage the big picture. But, is it enough to look Prime-Ministerial? Is it enough to deflect the questions, smile and just keep walking? Maybe so - three years' of relentless negativity and now a concerted "small target" campaign seem to be working. While I do not support social engineering, I am not convinced a laze-fair free market system is optimum either. And while I understand the importance of the economy, a government has many pressing issues to deal with - nam...

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.