A century-old double standard: like Labor leaders before him, Albanese is being told he can’t manage money

Thu, 23 Jun 2022 06:13:04 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/a-century-old-double-standard-like-labor-leaders-before-him-albanese-is-being-told-he-cant-manage-money-184037>

"The Australian Labor Party is Australia’s oldest political party, and Anthony
Albanese is its 13th prime minister.

He would do well to recall the experiences of his predecessors.

Incoming Labor prime ministers have invariably faced immediate and serious
economic challenges, some of them bequeathed by conservative governments that
styled themselves as superior economic managers.

In October 1929, Labor leader James Scullin defeated the conservative Stanley
Melbourne Bruce, 12 days before Wall Street began the great crash that set off
the Great Depression.

The reverberations put the skids under the new government.

Even its brightest star, mercurial treasurer Edward Theodore, could not save it
from annihilation two years later as the grip of the depression tightened.

It didn’t help that the prices of Australia’s major export commodities, wool
and wheat, were in free-fall while the Commonwealth and the states owed
millions in foreign loans and servicing costs to London.

Bruce wouldn’t have been the only politician – before or since – to have
thought privately that the election he won was a good one to lose."

Financiers and the wealthy like to put their thumb on the scales for right-wing
governments. Imagine that!

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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