How to save lots of money, and kill the economy

With interest rates being low....now is a helluva time to pay off your house too.

It's probably a different mindset than most people on here are used to, but it is pretty common.

 

It is not their money.
Maybe for some of them, who have paid taxes previously, they possibly deserve a say in a very small part of it.
But, it is still the money gathered by the Government from all of us who pay taxes.
I dont think anyone would have a problem being allocated welfare dollars to use for essential items such as housing and food, and then be able to spend the remainder on their lifestyle.
If they do have a problem with that; their attitude needs adjusting, and their ability to prioritise with budgets is lacking.
Successive Governments have let this whole scenario get further and further out of control in the attempt to oil squeaky wheels, and then you end up with generations who simply expect free everything with no responsibility.
It is a slippery slope.
It gets back to hard decisions Governments wont make for the good of the majority, not the minority.

 

Also, it would be interesting to know which of the two strategies puts the Country further into debt and deficit.
The economy under Rudd and Gillard went from surplus into massive debt.
Will this ScoMo strategy end up producing a similar result?

 

The economy under Rudd and Gillard survived the GFC.

It will be interesting to see the result of LNP at the helm in the current economic climate. Not looking great at the moment, and giving tax cuts to the wealthy(er) hasnt helped the economy.

Cheers,
Inertia.

 

From the Australian

"By far the most visible component of the costs was the shift from a budget cash surplus, averaging 0.9 per cent of gross domestic product during the Howard years to a cash deficit that exceeded 4 per cent of GDP in 2010. Associated with a succession of economic stimulus measures, that deterioration proved difficult to reverse, with the commonwealth's balance sheet shifting from $44.8bn in net assets when Rudd took office to $161.6bn in net debt this year.
"

 

My observation over many years is tax returns largely get re-spent straight back into the Economy by the masses. Some pay down the CC's so they can go out and spend again.
Very few re-invest it back into their Loans and Investment loans, so I would think that the tax returns will help the Economy in the short term.

Werent the tax refunds to all levels of workers?
I understand that the dollar volume is smaller for low-income, but its about percentages. Higher income earners pay much higher amounts of tax dollars, so this is reflected in future tax cuts or tax returns
To say that these are "giving tax cuts to the wealthy" is misleading.

 

I must be reading different news reports then. A vast majority of the press is saying that the tax cuts have been ineffective in lifting spending. The banks are blathering on about tax cuts being good because they know that at the moment, people are nervous and paying down debt.

Try this in a search engine (limit it to last month) and see how you go.

australia tax cuts domestic spending

 

Philip Lowe raised this exact concern in a speech in May 2017.

https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2017/sp-gov-2017-05-04.html

 

Maybe the demographics of Australia is changing. I'm not being racist, but a lot of the cultures migrating to Australia are savers rather than spenders.

 

My parents came from Greece in the 60s. I don't know of any Greek or Italian family from that time that weren't tight a**es, even now they are very frugal.

 

Sometimes you have to be in debt in order to create growth opportunities, surely this is the same for governments.

 

The Labor government survived the GFC because they inherited a healthy economy from a Costello, so were able to spend big, then borrow their way out of trouble.

Rudd left huge government debts, so the economy after his spendfest has never really recovered.

 

The LNP have been in office since 2013. Close to 7 years later and they are still blaming Labor. When are they going to act up and take some responsibility and be accountable for the economy!?

Ironically the LNP have doubled the debt they inherited from Labor. Fact check: Has the Coalition doubled net debt?

 

Speaking of opportunities for growth; Adani? plus others.
I agree with you about the debt/opportunity, but there is debt and simply spending waste.
Did the Rudd incentive move the needle on Economic growth? If they were doing it to create opportunities where is the return? I cant see any evidence of stellar GDP growth, or an opportunity that provided a positive return.
The Rudd/Gillard debt has resulted in a level that has never been reduced, only increased, and the Labor-lite Liberals are no better.
80% of the Budget is made up of already accounted for spending - they have absolutely zero hope of reducing their debt at this point.

 

I think generally, spending is down in volume of dollars as you say. This could mean that the activity level is still there, but the ticket amounts are lower.
It would also depend on which news reports you read, watch or listen to as to how negative the spin is. Any Liberal Government is never going to be given a favourable report by the vast majority of the Press. Some will (if it is warranted), but the number is not big.
But in relation to spending; I have watched human nature in action for many years, and unless something has dramatically changed recently in their patterns and habits; most people are week to week, and hang out for their tax return to buy XYZ product, a holiday, fix the car, buy the Christmas presents on lay-by etc.
Ask any of your friends and relatives (apart from knowledgeable people here on PC who have reinvested it into their Investment or PPoR Loans ) what they did with their tax return this year or last year.

 

misquoting is also misleading - I said "wealthy(er)".

 

Anecdotes are not data. Various (all?) press are reporting the consumer spending did not respond as the LNP proposed they would.

Cheers,
Inertia.

 

Australia Consumer Spending | 2019 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast

 

The data you linked to shows that Australian Consumer Spending is at a record high. What it doesn't tell you is the rate of increase from the previous quarter, which is what the article is referring to

"He said the biggest factor was insipid consumer spending, which increased just 0.1 per cent over the quarter, the weakest performance since the global financial crisis.

"The reduction to tax payable did not translate to a rise in discretionary spending, which led to a visible impact to household saving," Mr Hockman added."

 

And weren't fighting a massive downturn like the GFC. The attempt to rewrite history here is farcical.

The LNP kept telling us how great the economy was going and yet they doubled the debt. Go figure.