The
Treasurer is winning the post budget arguments because those who question his
mastery aren’t acquainting themselves with the true situation.
The
Treasurer is setting the agenda. We have fixed the budget mess he claims. There
are surpluses as far as the eye can see. Are there surpluses? Yes. Does this mean the
budget is fixed? No.
The
corporate world is littered with the corpses of companies which showed profits
one day and went belly up shortly thereafter. Profits or net operating surpluses
in this case, often coexist with cash deficits. Yet most people, innocently accept
the Treasurer’s claim about future surpluses thinking he means cash surpluses, and
respond by saying why not spend them now? The Treasurer’s answer is essentially to say,
no, they are needed to provide a buffer for the future.
This
is the point where the Treasurer crosses the line from an arguable position,
namely the existence of surpluses, to a baseless assertion that he is creating
a future buffer.
