Another thought – at the time of the financial crisis Australia was in surplus. It was thus able to put together a genuine stimulus package to AVOID a recession. Thank John Howard for that! His sensible management of the budget meant they were in a far better position to ride out the recession. Our existing debt put us at a disadvantage straight away and the so-called ‘stimulus’ was mainly used to buy up bonds, rather than the kind of stimulus that Keynesians like to think of (new rail links, bridges, stadiums etc). So much for Britain being ‘best placed’ to ride out the recession then.