He believes it but does anyone else?

It’s not that he says it but that he believes it that makes this so pathetic:

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.

The Acting Prime Minister and Treasurer used Twitter yesterday to warn that the looming fiscal cliff in the US, coupled with the European debt crisis, had directly affected Australia by reducing tax receipts, thus undermining next year’s budget surplus.

But Mr Swan saved his key criticism for the Tea Party, accusing it of holding the world to ransom and setting back the post-global financial crisis recovery for the past 18 months.

‘The impact of America’s fiscal cliff saga combined with Europe’s deep problems is having a real impact on the entire global economy,’ he tweeted.

‘Of course, we’re seeing that impact first hand in Australia with the huge whack we’ve copped to our revenue base.

‘The fact is, no matter what happens this week, huge damage has been done over the last 18 months thanks to the Tea Party’s influence. It is lamentable that so much of the world’s post-GFC economic recovery has been held hostage in such a reckless way by the Tea Party.’

Automatic cuts to social security and defence accompanied by scheduled tax increases are threatening to plunge the US back into recession, with President Barack Obama cutting short his Hawaii holiday to return to Washington yesterday to try to hammer out a solution to stop America sliding over the fiscal cliff.

Personal responsiblity for any of this is zero. Why he wants a surplus here but thinks the US can go on forever with its insane deficits he does not explain.