These timely,important words from respected Australian banker and economist, Maurice Newman, should serve as an urgent wake-up call to both politicians and the voting public. IN a bright start to the new year we are reading that the global economic outlook is improving. Setbacks are transitory. The fiscal cliff is history and the debt ceiling is bound to be lifted. Stockmarkets everywhere, even those in Europe, are rising. World leaders, after numerous false starts, ask us to believe that this time, their policies are working. All the while their central banks continue to grow their balance sheets, determined to kick the can further down the road and keep investors and households hanging in and hoping. In Australia, Wayne Swan, accentuating the positive, repeatedly reassures us that our economy is strong and the envy of the world. Unemployment is low, the investment pipeline is impressive and the Australian dollar is high,…