We’d be better off in Israel - they don’t need stimulus

Nads says:

08:24am | 10/07/09

but doesn’t Israel’s ratio of debt to GDP sit at lose to 80%????

James says:

08:54am | 10/07/09

“We’d be better off in Israel “
If that’s what you really think please lead the way and close the door on your way out Chris, you whining little twat. ( I base that on your many spoilt brat like performances in QT)

If you insist on comparing apples with sour grapes then please do tell us, how do the education and health systems, roads and the environment of Israel compare to ours?  Australia is in debt because our government is investing in our future.  How much money is the Israeli government investing?

Marcus says:

09:41am | 10/07/09

You present an example of a single country and then conveniently forget to talk about the countries that will “emerge” from the recession much, much worse off, i.e. pretty much every other country in the world.  Anecdote makes bad policy Mr Pyne and this attempt to justify a policy that you’ve been proved dead wrong about just makes you look like an idiot.

Patrick says:

09:46am | 10/07/09

Mr Pyne, when are you going to acknowledge that the vast vajority of the $315 billion dollar deficit is due to a writedown in tax receipts due to the GFC? I suppose the coalition are taking a leaf out of the book of goebells, tell a lie long enough and eventually people will believe it.

iansand says:

10:29am | 10/07/09

Over the last 5 years Israel has received USD2,500,000,000 to USD3,000,000,000 in US aid every year. http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/politics/us-foreign-aid.htm Admittedly mostly military.  Can someone who is economically literate tell me if that makes Mr Pyne’s argument reasonable or not?

SW says:

11:07am | 10/07/09

James you’re a whining little twat (I base that on your transparently partisan whinge on this website).

P says:

11:57am | 10/07/09

I note Patrick’s use of Goebbels to make a political point and it reminds me of the Labor backbencher Gibbons who recently evoked the Third Reich to make a political point or the now Minister Plibersek who once poisonously called Israel war criminals.

Did you know that Tasmania is over 60 square kilometers and has a population of half a million people?  And that Israel is 20 square kilometers and has a population of over 7 million people, sitting amongst countries that want to wipe it from the atlas?

What does Patrick, Gibbons or Plibersek have to say to the two students stabbed by Hamas terrorists who entered their school in Kfar Etzion last year? Part of the Theird Reich? War criminals? Goebbels?

James says:

12:03pm | 10/07/09

Great addition to the debate SW, bravo.  I asked a question, I’d like to know if the Israeli Government invests much back into the country, if Chris Pyne has done his research properly and looked at the big picture, not just budget figures he should be able to help me out with an answer.  Yes, his article is based on Israels balance sheet, but he did start with “We’d be better off in Israel…”  and I’d like to know how that is so.

If he hasn’t done his research then he is exactly what he appears to be in QT, a whining little twat that adds nothing useful to debate and just mocks the government without proposing alternative ideas of his own (other than to keep the public purse closed tighter than a gropers sphincter.)

I’m not quite sure which part of my comment was transparently partisan though?  If voting for an independent candidate and disliking both major parties makes me so partisan, go me!

SW says:

01:42pm | 10/07/09

james the point I was making is that your contribution to the debate began with childish name calling while hypocritcally accusing Pyne of behaving in the same way.

Patrick says:

03:58pm | 10/07/09

P, should you ever read this, I don’t seek to make a point about Israel at all, merely about the coalition’s tactic of carping on about the deficit as Labor"s reckless spending” and deliberately ignoring the true causes, the GFC and recession imported to us from overseas. Anyone with a high school education understands this, and that even without government stimulus, we would still be massively in debt.

The coalition if in government would be running the same deficit, or, as their own shadow treasurer put it, they would have “about $20 billion less of a deficit than labor”.....so we would only have the oh so much better result of $295 billion rather then $315 in debt.

stephen says:

04:02pm | 10/07/09

Don’t panic ‘P’.  It’s a sign of poor genes.

V says:

06:39pm | 10/07/09

James, how about you help yourself find those answers? it doesn’t take more than a couple of simple Google searches to find that Israel spends the equivalent of 10% of GDP on education (http://tinyurl.com/IsraelEducation). By comparison, Australia spends around 6% of GDP on education (http://tinyurl.com/AustraliaEducation).

As for the other area you mentioned, Israel has a world class and universal health care system. The Israeli government invests the equivalent of 8.7% of GDP on health (http://tinyurl.com/IsraelHealth). Again, in comparison, the Australian government invests the equivalent of 6.5% of GDP on healthcare (http://tinyurl.com/AustraliaHealth). If you add in private spending then Australia actually spends a little more than Israel but as your questions was “How much money is the Israeli government investing?” let’s stick to government outlays.

What else is on your list? The environment? Did you know Israel is the only country in the world to end the twentieth century with more trees than it started with? Did you know they are world leaders in solar power? So successful has Israel’s investment in solar power been that it is now almost cost competitive with fossil fuels (http://tinyurl.com/IsraelSolarPower). No government in Australia - Liberal or ALP - has managed to do that despite the obvious appeal of solar power in a country so sunny. So efficient is the solar power generation in Israel that you can break even on your solar panel investment (by selling excess electricity back to the grid to cover the cost of the panels, installation etc) in just six years (http://tinyurl.com/IsraelSolarROI). Some 90% of Israeli households have solar power of some sort or another and every new residential building is required to have - at a minimum - solar panels for heating water (http://tinyurl.com/IsraelNewHomes). Israel - along with Cyprus - is the world leader for the number of homes with solar water heating.

James, you reckon “Australia is in debt because our government is investing in our future”. In terms of government spending, Israel invests much more in education, more in health and has an environmental record and environmental practices that would be the envy of many greenies in Australia.

All of this and Israel didn’t need a $300 billion credit card.

stephenlesliejones@hotmail.com says:

08:08pm | 10/07/09

Is v trying to “sell” us something?