Is what Tennis Great John McEnroe would be shouting at the Australian Government after hearing this plan:
The federal government’s $42 billion Nation Building and Jobs plan is aimed at stimulating the economy and supporting up to 90,000 jobs during the next two years.
It includes:
$14.7 billion to be invested in school infrastructure and maintenance and bringing forward funding for trade training centres;
$6.6 billion to increase the national stock of public and community housing by about 20,000 new homes;
$3.9 billion to provide free insulation to 2.7 million homes and solar hot water rebates;
$890 million to fix regional roads and blackspots, to install railway boom gates and for regional and local government infrastructure;
$2.7 billion small and general business tax break to provide deductions for some equipment purchases before the end of June 2009;
$12.7 billion for immediate one-off payments to working Australians, families with school-age children, farmers, single income families and for those undergoing training.
Shenzhen, China
…
Last month, the National Development and Reform Commission announced revised plans to transform Guangdong and neighboring Hong Kong and Macau into a “significant innovation center” by 2020.One hundred R&D labs will be set up over the next three years. By 2012, per-capita output in the region should jump 50 percent from 2007, to 80,000 yuan ($11,700) And by 2020, the study predicts, 30 percent of all industrial output should come from high-tech manufacturing.
…
Favored companies, like Huawei Technologies, China’s leading telecommunications equipmentmaker, got free or low-cost land and utilities, says Kroeber.
…
From Beijing’s perspective, the returns are worth the investment. The auto stimulus will benefit companies like BYD (“Build Your Dream”), a battery manufacturer-turned-carmaker that has advanced China’s green-car prospects and won it prestige as a globally recognized brand.
[it’s worth listening to the associated audio clip, by the way…]
Which plan represents true nation-building and which is simple pork-barrelling, PR and political expediency? You be the judge.
