Thursday, November 13, 2008

Just say it. Wayne Swan almost did.

From last night's 7.30 Report

Silly silly silly. Wasn't this government going to level with the Australian people?

PRESENTER: Let me hear in plain English, that the Budget is within a hair's breadth of going into deficit. It seems silly to me that anybody would bother to argue that proposition. Will you accept going into deficit, if you have to, to maintain appropriate stimulus of the economy under the threat of recession and high unemployment?

WAYNE SWAN: Kerry, it would be silly to speculate along the lines of your question.

PRESENTER: Why?

WAYNE SWAN: Because I've made it clear. We are projecting modest growth and modest surpluses but if the situation were to deteriorate significantly it would have an impact on our surpluses and it may well be the case that we could end up in the area that you're speculating about.

PRESENTER: Well, say it. "In deficit".

WAYNE SWAN: I am not going to say it because we're projecting modest surpluses Kerry.