From Scott Rochfort at the Sydney Morning Herald:
Illustration: John Shakespeare
In these increasingly desperate times on global financial markets, faith in the ability of politicians to solve the world’s economic problems has been in short supply.
But after searching around for answers, CBD was relieved to find a website highlighting the past predictions (and warnings) of the Nationals leader in the Senate, Barnaby Joyce.
The founder of the blog barnabyisright.com, who asked not to be named, said the recent concerns that the US could default on its $14.3 trillion of national debt vindicated the comments made by Joyce to the Herald in late 2009.
”A default by the US means complete economic collapse around the world and the question we have got to ask ourselves is, where are we in that,” Joyce said at the time. The senator also raised the alarm about Australia’s government debt in the interview.
The S&P downgrade of the US government’s AAA credit rating at the weekend prompted barnabyisright.com to post the entry ”I Told You So”.
The creator of the blog, launched in February 2010, said it was driven by his anger over the treatment of Joyce during his brief tenure as Tony Abbott’s numbers man.
”Anger at the dishonest, and economically ignorant treatment that Senator Joyce was receiving as then newly promoted opposition finance spokesman, due to his courageous and prophetic voicing of concern over US (and Australian) debt levels, and the risks that these debts (foreign and domestic) pose to Australia’s future.”
WHO’S NAIVE?
When contacted by CBD yesterday, Joyce said he also felt his past warnings about US debt had been vindicated. ”I don’t get enjoyment out of it. There’s no joy out of the pain it’s going to cause,” he said about the world’s level of indebtedness.
Barnaby said he was annoyed at the economists who branded him as ”naive” and ”absurd”.
”You should Google search me for that period of time. And you should Google search them too,” he said.
It was only last month that the founder of barnabyisright.com said he was contemplating the future of the blog ”in that wonderful place where our latte-sipping, concrete-jungle-dwelling, holier-than-thou, ‘green’ totalitarian-wannabe paragons-of-hypocrisy never actually venture (the bush)”.
It seems the S&P downgrade has guaranteed the future of the Barnaby tribute site for some time yet.
Barnaby Is Right 
You’re famous!
I wonder if they would publish my RBA gold sale analysis? I’m thinking fat chance, the ordinary people don’t care to know & wouldn’t understand such complicated issues that directly concern them.
Let’s hope the spike in reads from this will find someone of influence – and an open mind – reading your piece. You never know…