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.
Ross Gittins
Education success is about more than money
Ross Gittins Much smarter ways of improving teaching could deliver big gains for a small cost.
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
More to life than going along with big bosses
Ross Gittins Keynes was wrong. He famously said that in the long run we are all dead. But since last week I've been an economic journalist for 39 years and I'm still alive to tell the tale.
Ross Gittins
Economy not likely to drag in the voters
Ross Gittins If the economists' forecasts are right - a big if - the economy is likely to be in worse shape by the time of the election.
Ross Gittins
Be a happy taxpayer - the system benefits you
Ross Gittins Listening to all the argy-bargy over the budget update makes you think - what strange things budgets are.
Ross Gittins
Stop grumbling about tax, we all benefit along the way
Ross Gittins Our tax system shows we live in a fairly caring and civilised society.
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.
Ross Gittins
Fat cats that got cream in super tax deal are breaking the bank
Ross Gittins One thing that gets me going is comfortably-off people who feel sorry for themselves: those who complain how hard it is to get by on $150,000 a year, or retired people who profess to be...
Ross Gittins
These well-off retirees' claims are a bit rich
Ross Gittins Tax concessions on super take a huge toll on the federal budget.
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.
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
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
Better teaching could make our students the world's best
Ross Gittins Thank goodness for that. David Gonski and his committee have produced a comprehensive review of school funding without setting off a bitter debate between the proponents of government and...
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...
Ross Gittins
There's so much more to wealth than money
Ross Gittins The figures for the growth in gross domestic product were out again this week, but for some time I have been concerned about our national fixation on GDP.
Ross Gittins
An ugly truth: it's time we raised taxes
Ross Gittins Smaller government means squeezing public services spending.
Ross Gittins
Don't judge government by its size
Ross Gittins In the early 1980s, not long after I got into the economic commentary business, Maggie Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were riding high and the great enthusiasm of the moment was the need for Smaller...
Ross Gittins
Robin Hood budget not before time
Ross Gittins So, has the budget led to an outbreak of class warfare? Only if Julia Gillard's a lot luckier than she's been so far. That is, I doubt it.
Ross Gittins
Spreading the love to buy votes? So what, it was about time
Ross Gittins Despite its critics, this budget is the most redistributive in years.
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...
