Free Republic

WAYNE Swan has blamed the conservative Tea Party movement in the US for damaging the global economy and contributing to the "whack" to Australia's budget position that has ruined Labor's planned 2012-13 surplus.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's deputy prime minister warned Friday that the greatest threat to the U.S. economy are the "cranks and crazies" in the Republican Party, a rare foray into American domestic politics that was blasted by the opposition. Wayne Swan, who also is treasurer and his center-left Labor Party government's ranking finance minister, took aim at the tea party during a speech to a business forum, breaking a convention among Australia's major parties to steer clear of U.S. domestic political debates.

AS Barack Obama plots his US presidency, Australia's Treasurer has hailed him as the man to bring the world together amid financial chaos. "This is a huge generational change in Washington. There is a new president now with a fresh mandate," Wayne Swan told ABC radio. "Of course what the world needs now is for countries to work together. "Barack Obama looks like someone who will bring people together. In meeting the challenge of this international financial crisis, that is sorely needed."