But what’s interesting, though, is how quickly it all turns around. Just a few years back, the coalition were dominant, while the ALP looked like it was destined to stay in opposition forever. Swan looked like he couldn’t tell a debit from a credit before he got into power. Now he’s a polished reciter of party talking points and only looks moderately incompetent (as opposed to grossly incompetent). So the coalition probably have to lose the next election before they work themselves out enough to present a coherent pitch for election at the following election.

Maybe all names of people over 30, of average IQ or higher, who don’t have a criminal record, and have passed some basic test for being mentally stable and lodged at least 5 tax returns on which they haven’t cheated too much could go into a hat and if your name comes out the job is yours – For six years with the first three years of the six being spent as an apprenticeship where you tag along behind the current encumbent learning the ropes so that when it is your three years for real you actually have some idea what you are doing. All backed up by a lengthy mandatory goal term for any rep found guilty of taking bribes.

We can dream I suppose!

Dutton is the current shadow health minister. He was also Assistant Treasurer for years under Costello. So he has ministerial experience and he is still in his 30’s. Basically his current seat has turned into a Labor seat due to a redistribution so he will loose it. The Libs wanted to move him into another coalition held seat but due to their infighting he lost the pre-selection vote and is now without a seat.

Forget Liberal or Labor and all that political stuff – it is just ridiculous that someone competent and experienced can’t stay in parliament and can be knocked off by someone with no experience because of a flawed selection process, bickering and infighting. How are we supposed to get the best people for the job with this kind of process? The Liberals have them self to blame for this particular mess. Why would anyone bother trying to get into parliament with this kind of stuff going on? This is why politicians have such a bad reputation.

The real point here is that we have a government not being held to account and the best people for particular jobs are not in those jobs. As a nation we need a Government with the absolute very best people running the show. As a nation we need the very best people in opposition holding them to account and keeping them on track. Currently, I do not think either of these two things is happening.

As far as a solution goes I really don’t have a clue… I look around at what other places have and ours seems to stack up pretty well. Probably the best out of a group of poor alternatives? Short of going back to Togas!

He was aberrant in that he obviously wasn’t playing hide the sausage out of wedlock or I would have heard of course – Which is Oz politics I guess. And might mean it is a good idea for Oz politics to change?

But the mob likes a circus with its bread as both Greg and history point out.

The problem seems to be that we don’t end up with too many of the best and brightest running the nation, just the shrewdest, sneakiest and scariest!

What do you do? That could be worth exploring further. Because what we have is not working. When there really are lots of smart and decent people out there who could do the jobs. IMO?

I cant argue with that lol.
The way I see it, you have the following:
Rudd will buy his mother for a vote;
Turnbull will sell his mother for a vote;
and the Greens will go bankrupt for a vote.

What do you do ?

Chart:
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/U3-U6-10.02.09.png

Truly shocking figures

I do aswell ! But you make a good point that we are still 30% from the highs in 07.

The thing that worries me is that alot of people are calling for a small correction and then a continuation upwards (me included). Thus my concern we may go further down than most expect.

I thought I’d post the main part of that Unemployment Article link i posted:

http://econompicdata.blogspot.com/2009/10/unemployment-even-worse-than-headlines.html

“the headline 9.8% unemployment figure would have been even worse had the number of those ‘not in labor force’ not spiked (the unemployment rate is a measure of unemployment / labor force).”

I wonder how much unemployment would be if we included all the people who have given up and gone out of the labor force.

I have never really been into short selling since I am terrible at timing the market, I just use corrections as times to look at buying something I have had my eye on for a while.

Regarding these figures, they were actually worse than reported:
http://econompicdata.blogspot.com/2009/10/unemployment-even-worse-than-headlines.html

I have taken some insurance shorts recently just incase. My intuition is telling me we may have a substantial correction soon and it wont be soft. If i’m wrong (which I regularly am) I am predominately long to take advantage of higher prices in any event. I agree with your call about the market being higher than we are now at the end of the year.

Please remember this is just for discussion. This isn’t advice. Always seek a qualified financial advisor who knows your circumstances when making decisions.