EYE-BALL’s Harry’s Growl on – Election 2013 – Growl No: 12 – Dunce Hat’s sit firmly on Gillard and Swan’s noggin’s –

Latest ‘Harry’s Growl’ Posts: – 8th Feb – Election 2013 – Growl No: 11 – Parliamentary remuneration – Peter Slipper in Profile – – 8th Feb – Growl No: 10 – Parliamentary remuneration – Peter Slipper in Profile – – 7th Feb – Election 2013  – Growl No: 9 – Gillard in Focus – – 6th Feb – Election 2013 – Growl No: 8 – Obeid has decided to take a few with him – – 4th Feb – Election 2013 – Growl No: 7 – ABC’s “Q&A” proves none of them have a goddamn clue – 4th Feb – Election 2013 – Growl No: 6 – Gillard in Cartoon Form – – 4th Feb – Election 2013  – Growl No: 5 – Poll Results,  Senate Leadership, & Pyne’s Hitler Gibe – – 2nd Feb –  Election 2013 – Growl No: 4 – Craig Thompson’s Bankruptcy revisited – – 1st Feb – Election 2013  – Growl No: 3 – Roxon’s Rocky Status as the AG  – – 31st Jan – Election 2013 – Growl No: 2 – Gillard lifts her skirts to thrill the Media  – – 28th Jan – Election 2013 – Growl No: 1 – Senator Penny Wong … policy exposed – – 18th Jan – Hedley Thomas and Larry Pickering – – Resume their AWU crusade against Gillard  – – 1st Jan 2013 – Jenny Macklin – Joins Swan as another ALP Fu_kwit – Claims she can live on the Newstart allowance – – 20th Dec – Wayne Swan – His backflip on the 2012-13 Surplus – Makes him the Fu_kwit of all Fu_kwits – – 16th Dec – Lenore Taylor – Chief Political Correspondent for the SMH  – Part II – – A correspondent pushing her own political agenda  – – 15th Dec – Lenore Taylor – Chief Political Correspondent for the SMH  – A correspondent with her own political agenda  – – 14th Dec – Gillard’s Gutter Mouth – The dishonour she does to the office of the Prime Minister – – 3rd Dec – The GREENS – Leader Milne has her head in the sand – – 28th Nov – The Dogs have their BONE Part II – The Wilson Interview and how it reflects on Gillard – – 27th Nov – The Dogs have their BONE Part I – Gillard’s kicked them out the house – – 23rd Nov – The ALP and Obeid Train Wreck  – is it meant to distract from Gillard & the AWU Scandal – – 22nd Nov – Gunfights at the OK Corral: Misandry v Misogyny – GILLARD v Ralph BLEWITT – GILLARD v Hedley THOMAS – GILLARD v Mike SMITH – GILLARD v Larry PICKERING – GILLARD v ALP Caucus – GILLARD v All Australians … – 13th Nov – The Day the heavens began to cave in – – Obeid and his entourage to bring it all down … – – 10th Nov – The 2012 US Presidential Election Part II – The Fallout – the GOP beating up on itself – – 8th Nov – The 2012 US Presidential Election Part I – what does it really mean — – 7th Nov – Bob Carr … Foreign Minister – as profiled by “The Australian’s” Ross Fitzgerald – – 29th Oct – The Most Irrelevant of all Irrelevancy – Independents – Slipper, Thompson, Windsor, Oakeshott, Katter & Wilkie – hanging on to office rather than face the electorate – – 27th Oct – Julia Gillard does not understand Hypocrisy – ALP Powerbrokers dump Penny Wong – makes Gillard look foolish over her ‘sexism’ claims – To see more EYE-BALL Harry’s Growl posts: click here …	Title: – Election 2013  – Growl No: 12 – – Dunce Hat’s sit firmly on Gillard and Swan’s noggin’s –  | Author: EYE-BALL’s Harry’s Growl | 9th Feb 2013|
	New Pickering images added – 8th Feb 2013 – see end of text linked here Did anyone see Question time during the week – what a flop it was – nothing has really changed.  The Opposition went ‘softly softly’ allowing Gillard to dig the holes to make her ALP boat sink quicker – and her ‘handbag brigade’ tucked in behind oblivious to the water cascading over the spillway … On Wednesday [7th Feb] Question Time began with a question from the Opposition Leader – Mr Abbott. QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE Economy Mr ABBOTT (Warringah—Leader of the Opposition) (14:00): My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the fact that the government’s total call on taxpayers, including tax borrowings and dividends, for the 2011-12 year, was 25.7 per cent of GDP—higher than for any year of the Howard government. Why does the Prime Minister insist that the government is not collecting enough revenue when it is collecting more than $70 billion extra in taxes this year and spending almost $100 billion more than in the last year of the Howard government? … Read Hansard on-line … from page 45 The PM responded as she usually does – belittle the Opposition questioner and then launch into a manic diatribe hoping that nobody on the other side can pull her up and make her accountable for what comes forth … this was her response – Ms GILLARD (Lalor—Prime Minister) (14:00): In the form of the question the Leader of the Opposition once again verifies—in case there was any doubt—that he doesn’t know anything about economics and he doesn’t know anything about the government’s budget. He is following the shadow Treasurer into error here. It was the shadow Treasurer who first started trying to retail these figures, where he put together apples and oranges and pretended they were the same thing. It is nonsense when it comes out of the mouth of the shadow Treasurer and it is nonsense when it comes out of the mouth of the Leader of the Opposition. I would refer the Leader of the Opposition to the fact that, as a percentage of GDP, tax is lower under this government than it was under the Howard government—that is a fact. [This is a lie – see below for proof.] Of course we know that the Leader of the Opposition does not to like to confront facts which do not reinforce his prejudices—but that is a fact. I would also remind the Leader of the Opposition of another fact he frequently chooses to forget. The world has confronted the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression. That is a fact. It cannot be denied— Opposition members interjecting— Ms GILLARD: No point screeching and carrying on about it: that is a fact. And there are millions and millions of working people around the world who are now in the despair of unemployment because that financial crisis happened and because it had consequences in the real economy, the global economy and the economies of nations. … continues … … Read Hansard on-line … Is this Gillard rant misleading the House – well look at the Table below and tell me whether Gillard is a DUNCE when it comes to understanding economic numbers  … a Table is produced below to prove Gillard is lying. Tuesday’s [5th Feb] Question Time again began with a question from the Opposition Leader – Mr Abbott. QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE Budget Mr ABBOTT (Warringah—Leader of the Opposition) (14:27): My question is to the Prime Minister. I remind the Prime Minister of her statement that returning the budget to surplus ‘is the best thing we can do to help families with cost-of-living pressures’. When now does the government commit to produce a budget surplus and thereby help the struggling families of Australia? … Read Hansard on-line … from page 6 The PM responded as follows: Ms GILLARD (Lalor—Prime Minister) (14:28): I addressed this question about surplus and the government’s budget position, indeed the nation’s budget position, when I spoke at the National Press Club last Wednesday. The circumstance in which we find ourselves really has not been experienced for a long time in Australia’s national life—that is, the amount of government revenue being generated per unit of GDP is at its lowest since the early 1990s – [This is also a lie – see below for proof.]  – and is far lower than was expected by Treasury. The difference before the days of the GFC is stark, but even since then the GFC revenue returns have been far lower than anticipated by Treasury. There are a number of factors, some of them domestic, some of the global, which are leading to this result, and it is important for anybody who seeks to be taken seriously in the economic debate to understand the factors that are pressing on the Australian revenue. … continues … … Read Hansard on-line … The below Table is an extraction of Annual GDP for Australia as extracted from the Reserve Bank of Australia[RBA] database – linked here – and the RBA Budget spreadsheets from the same database – the Budget file is linked here – this data Table can be downloaded in full as an ‘excel’ spreadsheet here. [Click on image to enlarge in a new window – use ‘Ctrl+’ to enlarge.] Tax/Revenue to GDP Table: To Thursdays [7th Feb] Hansard record of Abbott’s question and Gillard’s response. The Table above clearly shows that as a percentage [%] of GDP, the gross revenues collected – i.e. Taxes, is much higher under Gillard then they ever were under Howard … Howard averaged 15.2% as a tax collect percentage of GDP. Under Gillard the rate is 20.7% to the end of 2012, and under Rudd it was 21.2%. The average for both Rudd and Gillard is 20.9%. How can Gillard claim – … I would refer the Leader of the Opposition to the fact that, as a percentage of GDP, tax is lower under this government than it was under the Howard government—that is a fact. Gillard lies – we know this as history has proved – but now she does it in the ‘House’ and that is a much more serious matter. There is of course the comparing number extractions – i.e. Mr Abbott claims the tax ratio was 25.7% and I have no idea how he came up with that number – maybe his qualification -“including tax borrowings and dividends” – produces more favourable numbers for his argument.  The data extraction above use the ‘gross’ tax collected as extracted from the Federal Budget annual and monthly data spreadsheets at the RBA website. In any case – the Gillard statement to the ‘House’ is lie at worst, and misleading in its obvious intent, and I would like to see where her numbers came from and who supplied them – if at all or whether she was just letting it roll off the tongue. The Tax/Revenue to GDP Table above allows comparisons to be made – the average Tax/Revenue collect as a % of GDP under Prime Ministers going back to Malcolm Fraser is listed below: Fraser – 4.96% Hawke – 10.34% Keating – 12.50% Howard – 15.17% Rudd – 21.21% Gillard – 20.65% There can be no claim by Gillard or any other Government spokesperson that the tax collect ratio to GDP under this Government is lower than any period dating back before Rudd to when Malcolm Fraser was PM.   It astounds that the PM is allowed to claim this in the ‘House’ – a ‘House’ full of lawyers who demonstrate they have no idea about numbers and how to do basic extractions. In fact – the average tax collect as a percentage of GDP has risen during every Prime Ministers term since Gillard except for Rudd – his ratio was 21,21%, and under Gillard it is 20.65% – but the 2013 figures still to come might yet change that stat. See Chart below: [Click on chart to enlarge in a new window.] Tax/Revenue to GDP Chart: Now to Tuesday’s Hansard record of Abbott’s question and Gillard’s response. The early 1990’s tax collection as a percentage of GDP ‘presented in the Table below proves Gillard’s numbers don’t stack up. The revenue/tax collect as a percentage of GDP between 1990-1994 averaged 12.1% – this compares with the revenue/tax collect during Gillards term of 20.7% to the end of 2012. The 2012-13 numbers are being withheld – the RBA database has only been updated to Oct 2012. Mr Swan would be feeding the numbers Gillard is relying on and at some near-term point – Gillard will realise that not only does Mr Swam wear a DUNCEHAT, she too will be wearing one when she realises what a goose she has made of herself. The Tax/Revenue to GDP Table above is much more than just a truth test for Gillard and Swan as they try to produce ‘rubbery figures‘ – pun intended – to defend their economic management.  Again to open an ‘excel’ spreadsheet for the full set of Tax/Revenues to GDP numbers – click here. Another Table presented by EYE-BALL Guru in a post some weeks ago – and presented again below – also disproves the Governments argument that the Budget Surplus backflip was caused by revenue writedowns.   The Government’s has positioned itself with another fallacy pulled from Gillard’s witches brew. That Revenue v Expenditures Table is presented below – [Click image to enlarge in a new window use ‘Ctrl+’ to enlarge.] Revenue and Expenditures Growth Tables: Look to the % of Revenue growth during 2010-11 and 2011-12 under Gillards term and compare those percentage [%] revenue growth numbers with the rest of the 1996-2012 years.   The 7.84% [2011], and 9.61% [2012], rank 6th and 3rd highest revenue growth year on year since 1996.  There is no way Gillard, Swan or any other ALP MP who continue to talk about revenue writedowns being the reason for the Budget surplus backflip, can sustain that position. To compare – note the Expenditure numbers [%’s] for the same period and try to convince yourself the problem was revenue writedowns. Mr Swan was also pinged in the House during the week because he [or his office] sent out ‘flyers’ in his electorate still claiming the ALP would deliver a budget surplus for 2012-13.  That is just another example of poor Management, or an electorate staff who believe their boss unconditionally. EYE-BALL Guru would normally post this type of data, however his Parliamentary Remunerations and Superannuation research has him snowed under. Anyway – what further lies and stuffup’s from the DUNCEHAT’s will happen next week. To bring some much-needed levity – there is always the Larry Pickering Cartoons … below is a sample of his summer offerings – his images page can be access here … [click on image below to enlarge] … enjoy and don’t hurt yourself with the belly laughs … Larry Pickering also writes some very intelligent blogs including many on the AWU scandal.  Whilst not as regarded as Hedley Thomas in journalistic circles – his penmanship and his heady wit give him a take on things not easily publishable in mainstream media.  None the less … his take on events cuts to the chase and he does not mince words … his Facebook page can be accessed here … Added 8th Feb 2013: To see all of Pickering’s Political cartoons – use this link …
	Please – if you found this story to your liking and would like to promote it to your social media contacts – i.e. Twitter, Facebook, or other icon linked account below – please click your favoured Icon(s) to promote the story.  Thankyou. Have your say where it counts: – contact your Local Federal Representative via the links below and let them know how you feel about this, or any other topic that you feel strongly about – or you can just post a comment below and let off some steam. Links to Australian Parliamentary Website – MP’s: [Link to Federal Government House of Representatives Website] [Link to Federal Government Senators Website] Subscribe to EYE-BALL’s – Harry’s Growl