| Budget cuts crucial to fight inflation - Rudd
A $3 BILLION windfall courtesy of the Howard government will not save federal departments from massive budget cuts, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said today. Mr Rudd said the $3 billion difference between money allocated in the Howard government's 2006-2007 budget and actual spending by departments was still a long way from his ambition to deliver more than $10 billion in cuts in this year's budget. "The challenges we have in terms of a respectable budget surplus is considerably beyond that,'' Mr Rudd said. "We are going through each Government department like a dose of salts at the moment to make sure that any unnecessary expenditure is eliminated.'' Mr Rudd said the razor-gang style cuts were crucial to bringing down the inflation rate, which he described as "core business'' for the Government.
Threats hanging over polls
Pakistan has to choose one of the two. Our constitutional scheme and structure is parliamentary. It cannot pass for a democracy if the president can dissolve the very parliament that elected him at his direction, but he himself can be removed only by a two-thirds majority and that too if found insane or guilty of violating the Constitution or of gross misconduct.
The power to dissolve the National Assembly combined with many other powers that Musharraf has acquired by amending the Constitution or through the sheer weight of his army command have put him in a position to lord over the parliament, the cabinet, the prime minister, the election commission, the judiciary, the provincial governments and even the local councils. His power thus exceeds the powers of the president of the US and the British prime minister put together.
Respite's Over
The respite from Credit crisis came to an abrupt end. For the week, the Dow was hit for 4.1% (up 8.5% y-t-d) and the S&P500 3.9% (up 5.8%). The Transports fell 2.8% (up 5.3%), and the Utilities were clobbered for 4.1% (up 7.4%). The Morgan Stanley Cyclical index was slammed for 4.6% (up 16.3%), and the Morgan Stanley Consumer index dropped 3.4% (up 4.8%). The broader market was weak. The small cap Russell 2000 sank 5% (up 1.4%), and the S&P400 Mid-Cap index dropped 3.7% (up 9.3%). The NASDAQ100 declined 2.2% (up 21.3%), and the Morgan Stanley High Tech index fell 3.4% (up 17.1%). The Semiconductors declined 2.5% (up 1.5%). The Street.com Internet Index dropped 3.7% (up 19.1%), and the NASDAQ Telecommunications index sank 3.8% (up 21.3%). The Biotechs fell 2.7% (up 9.1%). Financial stocks were hammered.
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