All lovers of quality political spin should go out right now and buy, or preferably steal, today’s edition of The Australian. It’s a keeper, writes David MacCormack.
Interest rate rises
MacCormack: John Howard can’t help himself, can he?
Howard was smart to say sorry on Wednesday. It may not have gained him a single extra vote, but it suggested he was aware of having dudded Australians in 2004. But in offering one of his trademark dips into the dictionary, he undid all that in an instant, David MacCormack.
Comitatus: Polling the economy
The key to understanding the way “the economy” seems to be working as an issue in this election is to not to fall into the trap of seeing it as a single holistic thing, writes Possum Comitatus.
Andrew Murray: They give fiscal conservatives a bad name
We can afford some tax cuts and benefits increases without fearing inflation - but it is the sheer and growing scale and quantum of Liberal/Labor promises that is dangerous and irresponsible, writes Democrats Senator Andrew Murray.
MacCormack: Howard embraces “faith-based reality” on interest rates
The Bush Administration’s practice of ignoring what’s happening on Planet Earth in favour of a more convenient narrative is driving the Government’s handling of interest rate rises, writes David MacCormack.
Woolies continues to ride the retail boom
A cautious first quarter sales report from the country’s biggest retailer, Woolworths but one that makes clear the retail boom we’ve been experiencing since the start of the year is alive and well and high petrol prices are no longer bugbear; while inflation seems to be easing for the retail giant, writes Glenn Dyer.
Comitatus: Howard’s Catch 22
The great problem for political parties that find themselves in government is how to reconcile the interests of their core seats that make up the organisational lifeblood of the party, with their non-core seats that provide the governing majority. Possum Comitatus writes.
Which comes first: the election or the rates rise?
Market economists expect another rates rise before the end of the year. The main question is when. Before, after or during the election campaign?
The Economy: Interest rates on hold
Yesterday there was another weak retail sales outcome, and this will have given the RBA board support for its fence sitting exercise on interest rates.
