From The Australian:
Debt and taxes a recipe for economic chaos
The Australian sharemarket lost a massive $95 billion in a five-session horror streak this week, as the European debt crisis and the proposed resources super profits tax severely dented investor confidence.
It was the worst run for local equities since the peak of the global financial crisis, and the meltdown appears far from over, as the second phase of the global financial crisis takes hold.
Wait a minute?! A “second phase”? As recently as February this year, the Treasury secretary Ken Henry – architect of Rudd Labor’s massive “economic stimulus” spending, and the Henry Review with its resources super-profits tax that this week resulted in billions wiped off the value of Australian mining companies – publicly declared that the GFC was ‘over’:
“What people have called the global financial crisis, that has passed, I think it’s safe to say,” Dr Henry said. “But that isn’t to say that there will not be further adverse shocks for financial markets down the track and some of those shocks … could be of some significance for individual countries, but I don’t imagine (they would be) shocks of the sort that would be globally significant.”
Really Ken? You clearly do have a disturbing lack of “imagination”:
The local market tumbled a further 2 per cent yesterday, taking its loss for the week to 6.8 per cent, leaving the benchmark S&P ASX 200 index at its lowest point in 17 months.
Yesterday’s sell-off came after an extraordinary lead from Wall Street, where the Dow Jones sent shudders through the world, experiencing its biggest intraday move in history after another drubbing on European markets.
Asian markets also tumbled, with Tokyo’s Nikkei falling another 3 per cent, forcing the Bank of Japan to mount its biggest one-day injection of cash since 2008.
There was no sign of a let-up in Europe last night, with major markets opening as much as 2 per cent lower.
CMC Markets analyst David Taylor said markets were fearful the Greek debt crisis would spread globally and jeopardise growth.
“The sheer fact there is a possibility of a second global financial crisis or a second massive credit crunch inspired by a sovereign debt default, markets are . . . terrified about that,” he said.
Ken Henry completely and utterly failed to foresee the onrushing first wave of the GFC in 2007-08.
His “go early, go hard, go households” economic stimulus advice to Rudd Labor has resulted in massive wasteful spending, rorts, fraud, house fires, deaths, and a Budget thrown into an unprecedentedly huge hole.
He preemptively declared that the GFC is ‘over’.
And as recently as February, he could not even imagine any further “shocks of the sort that would be globally significant”.
How much is this arrogant, demonstrably incompetent clown receiving from MY taxes?
Sack Ken Henry now!
Barnaby Is Right 
When will they ever learn ?
Financial people think growth grows out of the credit ledger.
They are wrong, it grows out of energy.
No more energy, no more growth.
It really is as simple as that.
We have almost no energy growth left, so economic growth will not occur.
The financial people have not realised that the condition we now have is permanent. In very few years we will begin the long descent.
They are not drilling down through a mile of sea and then through five miles of rock in the Gulf of Mexico just to see if it can be done. It means there is nothing else left.
So if deep sea drilling is abandoned after the current spill you can expect petrol rationing in few years, permanently.
Apologies first I’m not tertiary educated yet could see that it was only a matter of time before financial institutions foreclosed on debits. How can manufacturers in the worlds largest economy offer zero interest on new products take home today, people with no money buying houses at inflated prices on inflated interest with the full knowledge that if it all turns per shaped you just up and walk out. I could see it as a small business man in Australia dealing on the world market yet Kev’s saviour Ken Henry the man given the task of mapping Australia’s tax reforms for the next deacde couldn’t see it! Where are we headed? We are yet to see the full extent of the GFC as the Euro zone heads into meltdown.
Kevin Rudd is Australia’s answer to Hugo Chavez first the mining tax that will affect every Australian next he will attempt state owned mining. Watch all the majors pull out of future operations and scale back current operations along with quarry products going through the roof price wise, it’s a good thing they stopped the insulation program as housing will become so expensive that we won’t need to worry about insulation as the housding industry will stop.