Ross Gittins
Ross Gittins is economics editor of the SMH and an economic columnist for The Age. His books include Gittins' Guide to Economics, Gittinomics and The Happy Economist.
Lies, damned lies and Labor claims
Ross Gittins I guess you've heard the news: the Gillard government has obtained new analysis of data from the Bureau of Statistics showing that Tony Abbott's election commitments inflict brutal damage on working...
Ross Gittins
The four industries that rule Australia
Ross Gittins Like most, I believe in democracy. But I also believe in capitalism, and though the two have usually been seen in the West as a good fit, of late I'm having doubts.
Ross Gittins
Upside to economy's downside
Ross Gittins Pessimists who saw an economy in bad shape are finally being vindicated, and an election win may be their reward.
Ross Gittins
Pessimists may finally get it right
Ross Gittins As far as the economy's concerned, 2013 will be the year when many people's dreams come true. For at least the past two years, many of us - business people and consumers alike - have been convinced...
Ross Gittins
A warning as market pipes tune in America
Ross Gittins Just as it's taking the world a lot longer to recover from the global financial crisis than we initially expected, so it's taking a lot longer than we might have expected for voters and their...
Ross Gittins
Opportunity knocks, but the door has to open both ways
Ross Gittins When governments make grand policy unveilings, as Julia Gillard has with her white paper on the Asian Century, it's terribly tempting for people in jobs like mine to sit back and criticise.
It's official, the boom is not over
Ross Gittins Have you noticed how joyfully the media trumpet the bad news they seek out so assiduously? The latest is that the resources boom is finally busting. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
Ross Gittins
The boom has bust? It's only just started...
Ross Gittins Have you noticed how joyfully the media trumpet the bad news they seek out so assiduously?
Ross Gittins
It's great to have a conscience, now tell us how we'll pay for it
Ross Gittins You may not have noticed, but last week was among the most significant of the Gillard government's term.
ROSS GITTENS
Messy end to spend after fiscal bulimia
Ross Gittins It's taken me too long to realise it, but when I retired for a quiet meal after the federal budget lock-up this month, it struck me: there's truth to the opposition's charge that Labor is a big...
Ross Gittins
With fingers down the throat, Labor gorges and splurges into the future
Ross Gittins A thirst to spend and a desire to stay in surplus cohabit uneasily.
Bad-luck budget won't win any friends, but nor should it
Ross Gittins This is a deceptively tough budget. It won’t impress people – either with its parsimony or its generosity - but that’s not the measure of a good budget.
Ross Gittins
Prudence is back - and it's about time, too
Ross Gittins One of the first lessons economists teach us is that the economy moves in cycles of boom and bust. A second, trickier lesson is that although most of the changes going on in the economy at any moment...
Ross Gittins
Dear prudence, you've come back to stay
Ross Gittins It's better for businesses to adapt to the way the world now works.
Ross Gittins
Change is the price of affluence
Ross Gittins When I was a kid marbles were the rage. When you played at home with your brothers and sisters, mum made sure that, whoever won, everyone got their marbles back when the game was over.
The good, the bad and the long delayed are here
Ross Gittins The government has taken to announcing changes in taxes and benefits long before they take effect. But that day has to come eventually and a host of changes - big and small, good and bad - are set to...
Ross Gittins
Rates gap a fair price to pay for safer banks
Ross Gittins As I'm sure you've gathered, a surprising number of our industries are going through a painful, job-shifting process economists euphemistically refer to as ''structural adjustment''.
Ross Gittins
Damned lies and economic modelling
Ross Gittins One of my resolutions this year is to spend more time trying to prevent lobby groups from using dodgy economic ''modelling'' to mislead my readers.
Ross Gittins
We're still holding steady, even as jobs go
Ross Gittins Economists don't have a good record on forecasting what will happen to the economy, but here's a prediction I make with great confidence: whatever happens, it won't be as bad as you think it is.
Ross Gittins
Think smart is way ahead
Ross Gittins THE fall in the Herald-Lateral Economics index of wellbeing is telling us Australia has come to the end of its good luck and from now on further improvement in our wellbeing will rely on good...
