Jacob's Soap Box

26 November, 2008.

Those of us who served time in the corporate sphere know only too well how the financial skeletons are hidden from shareholders and the market until they can be buried in an avalanche of unrelated bad news or can be “explained” by “circumstance beyond management control”.

For example, if a company had overextended credit to a customer that later went bad, such bad debt will stay on the books as normal trading debt until something else happens, something that will enable a quite write-off, no ‘irritating’ questions asked.

The current economic crisis is a godsend opportunity to many management teams allowing them to clean out their closets and they do. Take a look at how many skeletons that are bought out are bone dry, they have been dead for years but now is the time to bring them out and blame the death of the respective bodies on the current global financial crisis as if it had just happened … Thank God there is a global economic crises.

In corporate politics, as in political politics there are two simple rules, the first is that your success are in facts your boss’s successes and your bosses stuff-ups are yours. The second rule is that no matter how certain the anticipated benefits are, you ONLY take actions that you can “EXPLAIN” should thing turn sour. Global economic crisis is an ideal excuse, it is big enough to bury just about anything in it. … Thanks God there is a global economic crises.

* * * * *

No difference in politics. Our illustrious PM Kevin707 who is just back from yet another globe trotting exercise embraced the global economic crisis with both hands with the normal clichés such as “global challenges require global solutions”, “acting now will cost less acting later” (hey didn’t we heard this argument in relation to global warming?) and of course the continuing mantra about “free” trade, but that is another issue.

In the midst of all this, our Government is rushing through legislation, that although part of their election campaign, is strengthening the unions and have the potential to increase unemployment.

Until now the government was reluctant to introduce that legislation, to the great infuriation of the unions, because of the risk that it may increase unemployment and as we all know Kevin707 is a fiscal conservative, at least a self professed one (didn’t I hear this term elsewhere? Yes I did!) .

So you can now see, when we all busy watching and reading about government assistance, guarantees, bailouts, stimulus, insolvent banks, crushing car makers etc, Kevin707 slip this stunt on us and sure enough, I bet my bottom dollar that the resultant unemployment will be blamed on the economic crisis. Thank God there is a global economic crises.

Similarly, our government is pushing ahead with their Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) which apart from being a total deception, going it alone is and economic suicide bomb. What would happen to the little manufacture base left here if they have to pay such heavy fine for the privilege of having factories here? You got it! The will offshore themselves more people out work but …. Thank God there is a global economic crises.

And that is not all. The socialist have some more “progressive” policies such as (government) paid maternity and paternity leave. I bet you that we are going to get an influx of “family reunions” from the Middle East shortly, but … Thank God there is a global economic crises.

* * * * *

How is that relevant to my friends outside Australia? As I showed in my previous blog The Hollow Man there is very little differences in socialist policies no matter where you are. It appears that with the election of Barack Obama in the USA he is not only the first African-American president but also the first Labour president of the USA. from January 20^th 2009 we will have wall to wall Labor governments in USA, UK and Europe as well as Australia, all following similar policies which are to economic depression what gasoline is to bushfire, but … Thank God there is a global economic crises.

The rhetoric is virtually identical, global warming (climate change), fiscal conservatives, free trade, stimulus, Keynesian economics (of government intervention) etc and are not unique to Australia. What also is not unique to Australia is when such socialist policies will do what socialist policies normally do our politicians around the glob will be quick to point out to the global economic crisis with or without some more summits, but … Thank God there is a global economic crises.

Amazingly all our Labour governments, since the 1970’s all suffered from global economic downturn that led a government of a population equal to that of New York City, to a debt of $90 billion in 1996. It took our conservative government 11½ years to dig us out of our of hard labour sentence, pay our debts and build some nice cushion surpluses, the Asian financial meltdown of 1997 notwithstanding, but a mere year in our current hard labour sentence we already hear something we had not heard for a decade and that is the “D” word, DEFICIT but … Thank God there is a global economic crises.