Saturday, July 12, 2014

HYPERBOLE and HUBRIS: Carbon Traps Abbott and Hunt? (Murdoch v. Murdoch)

Could it be that the repeal of the carbon tax is the worst thing that could possibly happen to Tony Abbott?

Such a proposition seems bizarre but consider the following pre-election statements from Abbott and Environment Minister Greg Hunt about the carbon tax’s impact on the cost of living. Then consider what the actual companies concerned now say will happen with their prices.

The carbon tax will damage the economy and harm householders. It will ... create havoc with household budgets as rent, food, electricity, gas and the price of essentials all increase. – Tony Abbott, 23 March 2012

It’s going to hit the price of milk; it’s going to hit the price of fruit and vegetables. ..The reality of the carbon tax is it is small family businesses and it is goods such as milk and fruit and vegetables that are going to be hit. – Greg Hunt, 22 May 2012

We had yesterday an announcement from Qantas and Jetstar that their tickets are going to cost more because of the carbon tax. So everything you do will be more expensive under the carbon tax. Turn on the lights, you pay. Open the fridge, you pay. Get on the train, you pay. Catch a plane, you pay. – Abbott, 3 February 2012

Qantas, Virgin Australia and Woolworths are all refusing to reduce prices once the carbon tax is ditched, while Coles would not guarantee reductions…. Woolworths claimed only five products out of 40,000 rose in price during the carbon tax ­regime and said grocery costs had fallen since 2012. – Daily Telegraph, 10 July 2014

Abbott’s very rise was built on hyperbole about a carbon tax that would be a wrecking ball, undermining our very way of life, hurting our hip pocket at every turn. He rose on a chorus of front page news on the Daily Telegraph, Herald-Sun and Courier Mail screaming about the carbon tax’s impact on the cost of living.

Now it looks like he’ll be hung by his own hyperbole.

The electorate have already found themselves deeply disappointed to find that budgets deficits aren’t lowered by some kind of magically painless “DNA” which only the Coalition possess, which was Abbott's pre-election rhetoric. Rather it has been plain old tax increases and cuts to government benefits and services. Since the May budget, poll after poll has charted an almost unprecedented level of unpopularity for a government and leader less than 12 months into its first term. Some polls have the government trailing 45 per cent to Labor’s 55 per cent on a two-party preferred basis – this would represent electoral devastation for the Coalition.

Now the electorate’s inflated expectations – fed by Abbott’s cheerleaders in the tabloid press – will suddenly crash into a second wall of economic reality, post carbon tax repeal.

After their visits to the supermarket and when they open their next electricity bills, consumers around the nation will be deflated to find very little improvement in their cost of living.

Coming on top of a budget full of surprises (which really shouldn’t have come as a surprise if you knew that DNA doesn’t reduce deficits) the electorate is likely to feel like it's been conned.

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/7/11/carbon-markets/could-end-carbon-tax-spell-end-abbott

Note

The screaming tabloids ( Daily Telegraph, Herald-Sun and Courier Mail) in the article are all part of the Murdoch stable while there is no mention of the bolting horse Murdoch's flagship the Australian in which this excellent summary is published.

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