It was Lehman wot won it

It certainly helped.

As any campaign worker will tell you from the John Howard era in Australia, - 'It's their wallets, stupid'.

Give them cash handouts before or during the elections if possible.

Worked a treat for a while in OZ and it is still fashionable north of us. It is the same principal as 'It's the economy stupid', Howard was just a little more direct.

The numbers for the Republicans went down, as the realisation of the impact they'd had on US voter's wallets dawned on the stunned population.

It's happening in reverse at the State level here, money is being taken out of wallets and the vote is heading the other way. We look set to have gone from a Liberal federal, and Labour states, back to a Labour federal (already) and Liberal states (after the election in WA) in record time, with at least NSW looking a sure bet to follow.

It seems as though you can't really have it both ways in Australian politics, unless you're just the voter, and then of course you often get it every way.

I can't forget that the previous government was the one that encouraged everyone to take advantage of the $1million tax free 'boost' they were allowing us to add to our retirement funds - just before the crash.

Some poor ill-advised fools even borrowed to chuck in the maximum amount because the tax incentive made it attractive - free money. You wouldn't be able to spend it until you retired but hey, why not have some extra?

For many, that $1million boost has been fully 'collapse taxed' now and, even if it grows back to what it was, it'll probably attract a little more 'taxing' on the way. Both ways...