Kevin Rudd announced earlier this week a $10.4 billion "Economic
Security Strategy" where generous amounts of handouts will be given
to eligible families, pensioners and caregivers in an attempt to
help stimulate the economy this Christmas period.
It was a massive exercise with extensive publicity in the
media. He decided to dig into the surplus to help Australians
right after returning from his trip to the US where discussions
were held with his American counterpart and other economic experts
on the global financial situation.
He was frank and to-the-point, announcing tough times
ahead. Unemployment is expected to rise and we're seeing the
start of it this week with the Ford auto plant here retrenching 450
of its staff.
Propaganda aside, the fact that the Aussie Dollar has slid so
fast against the SGD in the space of a month is a tad
worrisome. I don't know much about Economics because I kinda
slept through all my Economics lectures in college 
but this is one sign that will deter me from
buying the AUD dollar.
For the SGD to hold so well in comparison speaks volumes about
the level of control and relative 'stability', I think...
Again, this is just my layman sentiment.
Depending on whether you are keynsian or monetarist, the impact
of his economic policies are debatable.
