Things are returning to normal in the tabloids after the excitement of Utegate, with rugby league and sex back on the front page.
Treasury
Political snippets: Media returns to business as usual
Godwin Grech: the loneliest man in the world
Grech, a man of almost Dickensian visage and name, chose absolute honesty in talking about the Utegate affair, an approach that, unless you’re very confident in your own evasive skills, is probably wisest.
The little recession that couldn’t
For the Government and Treasury, this is as close to vindication of its stimulus approach as it will get. And all thanks to 0.4%, in black, rather than red.
Back off Hockey: Treasury stands by its forecasts
Treasury has blunted the Opposition’s attack on the validity of the Government’s Budget forecasts.
Koukoulas: don’t mess with Treasury forecasts
It’s a mug’s game to quibble with the Treasury forecasts that underpin the Budget revenue and outlays estimates.
Treasury’s positive outlook is a false vision
A downturn that the Budget papers describe ad nauseam as “the most severe since the Great Depression” is expected to be over faster than the recession. So which is it? asks Steve Keen.
Berg: Never mind the deficit, look at the spending
There’s a weird - almost creepy - sense of confidence surrounding Wayne Swan’s second budget, writes Chris Berg.
Budget tries to sell unattainable growth rates. Why?
About the only certainty that I get from this Budget is that our economic circumstances will not unfold as forecast, writes John Hewson.
Budget backdrop is chaos and crisis
The usual Treasury imperative to restrain desperate politicians, still as great as ever, is tempered by a need to be careful not to depress everyone.
Budget to RBA: you complete me
Today’s Reserve Bank forecasts complete the likely picture that will emerge on Budget night next Tuesday.
Crikey Says: Rudd and Treasury vindicated as unemployment falls
Behind the rise in employment — revealed today — is a deliberate strategy taken by a Government that has consistently moved earlier than expected to deal with the impacts of the financial crisis.
The brave new world of disinflation
Get set for a burst of disinflation as the much forecast fall in price pressures starts turning up in official statistics.
Political snippets: The banks’ time will come
Banks might think it is very clever to protect their profit margins by not passing on the cut in official interest rates but their time will come. Treasury officials and politicians have long memories.
Greenhouse niggard to review treasury ETS modelling
Climate action opponent Brian Fisher should have automatically been excluded from any “independent” review of the modelling, writes Bernard Keane.
“You went too far Malcolm.” Turnbull and the Oz c-ck it up
Turnbull’s Parliamentary skills are still a work in progress, and that his frontbench lacks either the experience or forthrightness to rein him in, writes Bernard Keane.
Julie Bishop’s gaffes taken to a new level
Even the suggestion of incompetence will be enough to put Julie Bishop under plenty of pressure, when it’s Wayne Swan who should be in the spotlight, writes Bernard Keane.
GST and fuel excise: A taxing argument
Every time there’s a new problem for the Government it gets whacked onto the tax review. Now it’s an investigation of the interaction of the GST and fuel excise, writes Bernard Keane.
Did the credit-crunch hit revenue? Don’t believe it for a second
Wayne Swan’s claims of a credit crunch hitting revenue are pure bunkum, writes Stephen Mayne.
How wrong will Treasury be this year?
Treasury has an appalling overall record in predicting the budget surpluses. How will they do this time? asks Stephen Mayne.
Not a good election to win?
Wayne Swan was sworn in yesterday as Treasurer. Swan has said that dealing with inflationary pressures in the economy will be the government’s “number one priority”. With inflation rising and the US heading for a possible recession, the prospects of a second Labor term depends on how Rudd and Swan handle what happens next.
You want the purse strings? Questions for the Treasurer’s debate
It might not be in prime-time. It probably won’t have a worm. And the audience will be filled with finance and political journalists. But don’t let that stop you from watching tomorrow’s debate between the current reigning title-holder, Peter Costello, and the fast-rising challenger, Wayne Swan.
What’s really gone down in the CBA’s Treasury? It’s confidential
Why two senior executives were departed from the CBA on Monday remains confidential and CEO Ralph Norris is keeping it that way, writes Michael Pascoe.
Real journalists write the story
That not being there is sometimes the best place for a journalist to be was something I learned early on in my career as a Canberra journalist.
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.
Howard’s NT rescue plan is in serious trouble
When John Howard announced his Northern Territory Aboriginal rescue plan less than two weeks ago he believed he was on an election winner. But already this misconceived, ill-advised, policy-on-the-run project is in serious trouble.
