Who needs evidence about jobs, spending, prices?
Not us. Not now.
What the Canberra Times is able to report about the state of Australia's jobs market is about to shrink.
Inside today's paper we report that the ACT remains the only state or territory whose vacant jobs outnumber the people wanting them.
The ACT literally has over-full employment.
But we won't be able to report that for much
Here's the final report from the 2020 Summit.
And here's the Parliamentary Library's analysis of the Budget.
First, fun with the budget:
Budget Hero, created by the team at American Public Media, is a life-like test of skill, for a Treasurer. Such as you Wayne. Turn on the sound.
Now, graphing the CPI.
All of Inflation’s Little Parts is an intuitive, almost organic graphical representation of what makes the Consumer Price Index (in the US):
Play with it. Roam around and zoom. It tells you a lot.
Wayne Swan said his Budget would keep all of Labor’s election promises.
But it didn’t really.
Some of them were too awful to implement in full.
Take Wayne Swan’s promised ‘Low Tax First Home Owner Savings Accounts’.
His pre-election sales pitch promised that “savers will be eligible for a low tax rate of 15 per cent on the first $5000 of income they deposit in their account each year rather
What ever happened to the promised pain?
All throughout the bureaucracy at the end of this week they are asking the one question: how many tough ideas were bowled all the way to the up to the Prime Minister’s office in the lead-up to the Budget and then knocked back?
There must have been many.
As early as last November just before the election Kevin Rudd warned us that his first Budget would
The ACT’s economy has stalled and gone backwards under the weight of high mortgage rates, high petrol prices and talk of Budget cutbacks.
It is the only Australian economy to have done so.
The Australian National Accounts released yesterday show that spending and investment climbed strongly in every state and territory other than the ACT in the three months to March.
Only in the Territory did
Have you ever felt guilty about receiving a gift?
Thanks to the Budget, from July many of us are about to be suddenly free of the Medicare Levy Surcharge.
The gift will be worth $500 a year to someone earning $50,000; $700 a year to someone earning $70,000; and so on.
At the moment the levy is charged to anyone earning more than $50,000 and to most people in couples that have a combined
Here is today's post-budget address delivered to the Australain Business Economists in Sydney.
He completely rejects the popular argument (endorsed by the Opposition) that interest rates and targeting can't be used to control inflation.
And he is none too pleased about the Coalition's "Soviet-style" approach to the use of prices.
Ross Gittins does the maths in his Saturday column:
"Since the budget hasn't eased inflation pressure in any significant way, it certainly hasn't reduced the possibility that further increases in interest rates will prove necessary."
And he follows it up today Monday examining what actually was cut:
"The more closely you study last week's budget the less impressive it is."
Spare us
It is difficult to work out whether Brendan Nelson was paying attention during his decade in government.
And just as difficult to work out whether he was paying attention during Tuesday's night's budget.
Here are some howlers from his speech last night replying to the Budget:
“We do not support higher taxes and higher spending.”
Excuse me, but that's exactly what the Coalition did
Blogotariat is a platform to enhance the role of blog commentary and its growing influence on Mainstream Media and the political process – the great contest of ideas essential to a civil society. If you wish to contribute editorially or add your blog please use the Contact menu to send some info.
