Alan Jones had an effective rant yesterday about the failure of three of Rudd’s highest profile initatives: bank, fuel and grocery watch. The NAB reported that only two people had ever used Rudd’s bank watch to transfer their accounts between banks. He also highlighted the groupie mentality of the Canberra press gallery, as also pointed out by the Australian:

…last August, aided and abetted by a gullible media ever ready to follow the government’s populist line, then consumer affairs minister Chris Bowen announced “a dedicated website that gives consumers a snapshot of local grocery prices”. The Australian was sceptical, noting shoppers would find that Grocery Watch, as it was then called, did nothing of the sort, and provided less detail than the specials pages of local newspapers. The government’s journalist groupies, however, welcomed it as eagerly as bargain hunters rushing a sale.

Rudd said at the last election that he and his government mates were here to help. Ronald Reagan once said that they were the worst words in the English language. I think people would generally agree with Reagan. Most people don’t look to government to solve their problems, and if they do, Rudd’s three watch initiatives have probably turned into a good teaching moment for them. Government programmes can’t solve people’s personal financial problems. The left claim to have good intentions, but they always ignore outcomes.