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13 comments

  1. Glenn Condell

    John Clarke (baldy on the left) is a bit of an all-round genius, and his thing in these ‘debates’ is to take the part of some mover/shaker du jour, with Bryan Dawe as the innocent reporter being spun a line. In this one Clarke is Wayne Swan, Fed Treasurer under PM Julia Gillard, and previously under Kevin Rudd, the ‘previous owner’ (hence the getting rid of Kevin’s roof, walls, etc)

    Kloppers is the CEO of BHP/Billiton, who led the opposition to the government’s proposal to impose a Super Profits tax on windfall gains from the mining boom, the tax receipts from which were one of the reasons Aust weathered the GFC storm so well (so far). The well-orchestrated and media-driven mining industry opposition to the tax plan was one of the main nails in Rudd’s coffin.

    Kloppers is a plausible young Sth African from CEO central casting and he helped reduce the tax considerably, with Gillard playing the conciliator. The miners had threatened to take their marbles elsewhere if their demands weren’t met. Several independent expert commentators I saw on the ABC at the time made the point that if you gave them a week they could come up with investors from around the world who would crawl over each other to take the sites the militant magnates left behind, even with the original rate of tax.

    So it was a cave-in to monied interests at the expense of the nation’s overall welfare, which is contrasted neatly with the insouciant dismissal of mere bagatelles like walls, floors, roofs etc.

    While Kloppers was plausible, some of his co-warriors, one of whom came from laissez-faire Fat Cat central casting, were not:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT3kjnT_Sq8

    If you made him up you’d be accused of caricature, but he was taken seriously in a media environment which is 70% Murdoch.

    2. skippy

      Better keep an watchful eye on those (cough Gina Rinehart) whose fathers employed nuclear physicists, with the intent of utilizing thermo nuclear explosions, thus creating artificial harbors increasing profit…eh…walls, floors, ceilings and the bloody foundation raining down every where in the name of a few *great thinkers*.

      Skippy…St Hilda’s girls…sigh…I married one…penance methinks.

      1. skippy

        BTW Clive Palmer…Gold Coast developer nuff said…

        Skippy…now if he could only get his hands on some Chinese prison labor…ohhh boat people!

        1. Glenn Condell

          Gina was our richest person last year, elbowing Twiggy and Packer aside. She went from 2 bill to 7 or so in a year. She says she’s self-made but her parentage helped. She now has a foothold in my local rag the Herald, but it is capable of continuing to decline without her.

          Speaking of parentage, imagine the magnate offspring a union between our Gina and our Clive would produce…

  3. Random Blowhard

    They should have used the American budget method. Short of money due to crack addled spending – scan dollar notes into the computer and PRINT IT. After all, money is made of ink and paper so WHAT”S THE DIFFERENCE? :-). Obama budgeting at it’s finest.

    1. MichaelC

      Justicia,

      Sorry, didn’t see your catch before I posted, the thunder is yours!

      But seroiously, Goat poo. LMAO , and CMAO (C=crying) at the absurdity.

  5. gordon

    Clarke and Dawe did a TV series just prior to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. It was called simply “The Games”. It was brilliant.

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