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A good source of daily Aussie economic comment can be found here:
http://www.henrythornton.com/diary.html
I check it out every day or so for a bit of non-mainstream opinion. Not in-depth, but a good read.
For example:
Henry, 19/10/01. The World Economic Forum has placed Australia 5th in its "world's most competitive nation" rankings. Only Finland, the US, Canada and Singapore have better prospects for productivity improvement. Imagine how well we would rank if our personal tax system was globally competitive.
"Noodle nation sucks" says Treasurer Peter Costello, or words to that effect. "Where is the money coming from?" he asks with an air of resignation. "What would the opposition do differently?" is the next question and this is hard to answer. The Government has learned well from the Kennet government, which left lots of money lying about in hollow logs for Labor to spend. "The cupboard is bare and how are you going to fund Rollback?" let alone the other promises we have seen so far.
We will learn more today when Labor launches its eagerly awaited GST "Rollback" Presumably they will tell us how it is to be paid for without the budget slipping into deficit - since Kimbo has been sticking firmly to the "no deficit" line. "Eliminating Government waste and inefficiency" is likely to be the line, but everyone else has tried that with a distinct lack of success over the past century.
Henry has been seeking support for his plan to cut income taxes to unleash a flood of work, savings, investment and entrepreneurial activity following President Reagan's bold approach in the US - and accepting the inevitability of a temporary budget deficit. Yesterday he asked the nation's top tax economist what he thought about all this. "It is possible Reagan got it right" the economist opined, "but I am too busy to work it out." How to incentivise this bloke, that is the question.
A good source of daily Aussie economic comment can be found here:
http://www.henrythornton.com/diary.html
I check it out every day or so for a bit of non-mainstream opinion. Not in-depth, but a good read.
For example:
Henry, 19/10/01. The World Economic Forum has placed Australia 5th in its "world's most competitive nation" rankings. Only Finland, the US, Canada and Singapore have better prospects for productivity improvement. Imagine how well we would rank if our personal tax system was globally competitive.
"Noodle nation sucks" says Treasurer Peter Costello, or words to that effect. "Where is the money coming from?" he asks with an air of resignation. "What would the opposition do differently?" is the next question and this is hard to answer. The Government has learned well from the Kennet government, which left lots of money lying about in hollow logs for Labor to spend. "The cupboard is bare and how are you going to fund Rollback?" let alone the other promises we have seen so far.
We will learn more today when Labor launches its eagerly awaited GST "Rollback" Presumably they will tell us how it is to be paid for without the budget slipping into deficit - since Kimbo has been sticking firmly to the "no deficit" line. "Eliminating Government waste and inefficiency" is likely to be the line, but everyone else has tried that with a distinct lack of success over the past century.
Henry has been seeking support for his plan to cut income taxes to unleash a flood of work, savings, investment and entrepreneurial activity following President Reagan's bold approach in the US - and accepting the inevitability of a temporary budget deficit. Yesterday he asked the nation's top tax economist what he thought about all this. "It is possible Reagan got it right" the economist opined, "but I am too busy to work it out." How to incentivise this bloke, that is the question.
