From our friends Down Under at The Catallaxy Files, reports of Tea Party Derangement Syndrome, He believes it but does anyone else? (emphasis mine):
WAYNE Swan has blamed the conservative Tea Party movement in the US for damaging the global economy and contributing to the “whack” to Australia’s budget position that has ruined Labor’s planned 2012-13 surplus.
The Acting Prime Minister and Treasurer used Twitter yesterday to warn that the looming fiscal cliff in the US, coupled with the European debt crisis, had directly affected Australia by reducing tax receipts, thus undermining next year’s budget surplus.
But Mr Swan saved his key criticism for the Tea Party, accusing it of holding the world to ransom and setting back the post-global financial crisis recovery for the past 18 months.
‘The impact of America’s fiscal cliff saga combined with Europe’s deep problems is having a real impact on the entire global economy,’ he tweeted.
‘Of course, we’re seeing that impact first hand in Australia with the huge whack we’ve copped to our revenue base.
‘The fact is, no matter what happens this week, huge damage has been done over the last 18 months thanks to the Tea Party’s influence. It is lamentable that so much of the world’s post-GFC economic recovery has been held hostage in such a reckless way by the Tea Party.’
Wayne Swan blaming the Tea Party for Australia’s problems?
I don’t even know who Wayne Swan is, but the internet does:
Of course Wayne Swan from Down Under would blame the Tea Party, he adheres to the New Jersey School of Economics:
Australia sure has changed since the good old days …
… when men were men, and Treasurers were not shrimps:
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Comments
To misquote Darth Vader: “Don’t be too proud of this government you’ve constructed. The ability to destroy a planetary economy is insignificant next to the power of the Tea Party”.
You know, that’s the real problem with the Tea Party – they’re not using their Super Powers for good – instead they use them to force Obama to be re-elected, the Australian government to get less tax revenue…
The Tea Party only helps grow countries that cut their spending and balance their budgets and protect individual liberty – how evil is that?
The Nazis had to target an internal enemy (the Jews) to motivate their followers That is the role the Tea Party (and strangely enough still Sarah Palin) plays to the left.
I was just thinking that if you replaced the words “Tea Party” with “Jews”, the year would be 1939 and the speaker would be a funny little man with a Charlie Chaplin moustache.
The problem couldn’t ever be, couldn’t possibly be, having too much government or anything like that. No, it’s gotta be some boogeyman which defies statist efforts to control.
Q. How is it possible for this thing to be triggered automatically and at the same time impossible to untrigger?
A. Mr. President, it is not only possible, it is essential. That is the whole idea of this machine, you know. Deterrence is the art of producing in the mind of the enemy… the FEAR to attack. And so, because of the automated and irrevocable decision-making process which rules out human meddling, the Doomsday machine [substitute the Tea Party “movement”] is terrifying and simple to understand… and completely credible and convincing.
To which those who wish freedom FROM government, wherever they may reside, joined General Turgidson’s reaction, “Gee, I wish we had one of them doomsday [TP] machines.”
1. The following two articles are behind paywalls, but the opening sentences are illuminating. This:
And this:
2. Yes, in a fragile world and national economy, the Australian government raised taxes on their country’s dominant, job-providing resource sector.
The Teahadists are having the last Laffer…
(I know…I am awful…)
He who Laffers best, Laffers loudest.
Whaah, whaah, whaah! Swan blames the Tea Party? His record mirrors that of Obama and the Dems. And, none of them like Swan ever take responsibility for their inability to manage and lead. Hard numbers don’t lie, only liberals do.
Swan has “wasted billions” according to his interviewers & documented incompetence. It sure sounds like his fiscal policies come out of the Obama-Joker School of Economics: tax, spend, scapegoat.
Blame the Tea Party? I’m sure we also caused global warming and shifts in tectonic plates! The sun will die someday because of the Tea Party! Oh my! Whaah, whaah, whaah!
Swan: an adult man still in short pants.
Mockery is a great weapon when we’re on the offensive and have credibility with the voters.
As matters stand, we just got our butts handed to us in two contests we had been positioned to win, i.e. for the White House and for the Senate. It looks like the voters will blame the GOP if the country goes over the fiscal cliff. It’s great to be enthusiastic, but there is a danger that our mockery of the Left, though reasonable purely on the merits, may deteriorate into denial and sour grapes.
The above could just as well have been addressed to rinardman.
Alright, let’s try a different tact:
If you are the head a country which has systemic fiscal problems, problems that have undoubtedly being growing in magnitude over time and your answer to those problems is to blame another person or group then you are not a leader – you are part of the problem.
Agreed.
Hey, at least he didn’t blame BOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooosh….
This just shows that liberalism is a mental disorder not confined to one nation.
Can this fool find a way to blame the Tea Party for their increased crime rates AFTER they collected the guns? You know, Jared Loughner and Alan Lanza inspired their crazed mates in Queensland to go bonkers!
Has Lanza been linked to the Tea Party yet?
Have no fear or doubt friend, THEY will find a way.
Dear Mr. Swan,
G’day. And as the late, great Steve Irwin might’ve said about your ideas,
Crikey, that’s a big croc!
When I was a kid, when my mother would drop something or burn the dinner, she would turn to me and say: “See what you made me do?” Even as a 5-year-old I thought that was immature. Ever since, taking responsibility for your own mistakes was my measuring rod for maturity. The Democrats have been running Congress for 6 years, have held the White House for 4, and yet everything that has gone wrong during that time is the fault of conservatives. “See what you made us do?” they whine. Will they ever grow up? If they did, they wouldn’t be Democrats, would they?
He first stated this about August & got pushed back primarily for not holding the traditional line of neutrality about a foreign election.
The primary problem is that the TP is an open target for anyone . It was never defended & was in fact attacked & de weaponized by the GOPe. Not just the Tuscon shootings but the whole Credit downgrade drama & 2010 debt ceiling morphed into a noise that was heard around the world.
There are significant international repercussions of US fiscal policy that effects others primarily the devaluing of the US dollar & ridiculously low interest rates .
As the third most frequently traded currency The Australian dollar benefits /suffers in cycles but the economy is the more flexible for it. In this case Wayne Swan is looking for an alternative excuse.
But it is not working for him . So far , the public is more financially informed than Americans .
The polls are 46 -54 & they are already a minority government not least because an annual Budget IS law. it is televised nationally at 7.30 pm about the 2nd week in May evey year. There may be additional mini budgets to allow for adjustments if forecasts are proving wrong as in this case.
Overall the accountability is quite good . further the Constitition demands that The House provide all finance bills & if these are rejected twice by theSenate then there is a double dissolution of both houses & complete elections.
The irony here is that the Labor guv ‘s Mining tax is very close to Sarah Palin’s Respurce tax!
Other than that we are way ahead of you guys . We are trialling a national Disabity Insurance Scheme soon .Beat that!
I can see why you are banned from the Guardian. 😉 Thanks for the viewpoints from another grassy field.