$$$ Billion Election Bribery Bullsh*t

Rupert Murdoch yesterday pointed out the great white elephant in the middle of this election campaign:

"We've been through a period of a tremendous amount of loose money and loose lending, and it's coming home to roost," Mr Murdoch told shareholders at the company's annual meeting in Adelaide yesterday.

Given the uncertainty, it was too early to revise the media empire's forecast for profit growth in the low-teen-percentage range for 2007-08. But, so far, "it hasn't affected us at all", Mr Murdoch said. "We had a record month in October."

Shareholders greeted him with applause.

There is no way on earth that either Rudd or Howard (or even Costello) will be able to deliver on all the ridiculously over-the-top election bribes currently being offered. The Reserve Bank has already signaled another rate rise coming. Whoever wins the election will quickly reneg on all their promises by pointing out that the global economic downturn made fulfilling them irresponsible.

It's not Rudd's fault - he is just shadowing Howard's irresponsible fiscal policies. Nobody is going to vote for a harbinger of doom. Which is why Costello has stopped talking about the looming "tsunami".

But that doesn't mean it isn't coming. I've paid off my credit cards and locked in a fixed-rate mortgage. What about you?

UPDATE: Some common sense from Labor?

Opposition treasury spokesman Wayne Swan says Labor's spending promises, to be outlined at Wednesday's campaign launch, will be fiscally responsible...

Mr Rudd has said he will not match Prime Minister John Howard's $9.4 billion splurged in election promises at the coalition's launch on Monday

But Howard remains in denial:

"The genie is not out of the bottle, these promises are all carefully planned and fully affordable."