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Crikey readers weigh in with their pre-Christmas opinions.

In the last episode of Crikey Calling for the year, Bernard Keane and Jason Whittaker discuss the announcement that the federal government won’t be delivering a surplus next year. Then it’s time for a wrap of the year that was in politics and the awarding of the 2012 Crikeys.

Crikey media wrap: Journalists will be locked up for seven hours in Parliament House today to pour over Treasurer Wayne Swan’s latest budget offering, which promises to return a $1.5 billion surplus.

Yesterday’s defence spending cutbacks won’t have much impact from the critical perspective of industry policy.

Labor has increased the chances of an early election with its poor judgment over Andrew Wilkie.

All politicians now need to accept that we face significant fiscal challenges for years to come. Bernard Keane and Glenn Dyer report.

The government has unveiled a range of spending cuts but they won’t stop a big blowout in this year’s budget deficit.

While the mining boom continues to power the Australian economy, the news from offshore continues to worsen.

Forgetting cutting emissions - the carbon price package has a shorter term benefit for the government. There’s one minister relieved that the carbon pricing package is locked in, and not for anything to do with emissions abatement.

Despite widespread agreement that the government doesn’t need to return to surplus next year, one figure wants us to go harder and faster.

The debate over the flood levy is one of those moments that makes you want to cry over the mediocrity of our leaders.

There’s something faintly absurd about a government with a budget loaded with superfluous spending and the lowest debt levels in the developed world insisting that it needs a new tax to pay for the impact of natural disasters.

Labor’s abandonment of economic reform after 1996 has left it adrift and the party’s adherence to its promised 2012-13 surplus reflects how it let its enemies define its economic credibility.

Rather than simply getting budgets into operating surplus — mostly a very good thing — Australian governments have embraced the notion that all debt is bad, writes Nicholas Gruen, CEO of Lateral Economic.

Today’s Mid-Year Economic Forecast (MYEFO) shows an appreciable acceleration in economic growth this year, but as expected the higher dollar has hit government revenue.

Joe Hockey misses the point in his cut’n’paste effort today about our reliance on commodity prices. Australia has always ridden commodity booms. The real issue is the strength of the dollar.

Australians have grown accustomed to politicians with deep pockets, prepared to woo voters with their big-spending election promises. But in 2010 the latest fad is not to spend. This may be admirable, writes Jessica Irvine, but will good policy fall victim to fashion?

The Government is using a brief lull in the political cycle to junk everything that will get in the way of its re-election strategy. Maybe Caucus will have other ideas?

New economic data suggests an economy marking time — not what the government needed to hear as it works out how heavily to slash expenditure in the Budget.

Today’s GDP growth figure shows an economy moving from stimulus-supported growth to private-led growth, which frees up the Government to get back to managing a growing economy.

With the stimulus packages fading, it’s not at all clear that the economy is going to spring back to normal growth. Good luck framing the next budget.