Where are the voices defending the huge benefits that globalisation has brought to the world, asks Matthew Gwyther
Economy
This trade war is really a fight for the future of the dollar. 16/04/2025 Trump’s tariff bombardment has torn up the rules by which Western elites have lived for the last 35 years: the rules of a globalising economy under the benign guardianship of a Pax Americana. He is openly challenging opinion makers to change … Continue reading New Statesman: Could John Maynard Keynes fix Trump’s tariff crisis?
Treasurer Jim Chalmers pulled one unexpected rabbit out of his hat in Tuesday’s 2025-26 federal budget. This was a 1 percentage point cut in the bottom marginal tax rate, from 16% to 15% from 1 July next year, and a further 1 percentage point cut to 14% from 1 July 2027, resulting in a tax Continue reading »
Labor’s pre-election budget provides well-targeted cost of living relief within the bounds of responsibility, but the restoration of living standards is some way off. As widely anticipated Labor’s budget contained no surprises, except for the small income tax cuts. Apart from these, all the other major new policy proposals had been announced prior to the Continue reading »
The Chancellor could have turned this crisis into an opportunity for a radical shakeup of Britain's relationship with Europe and the world, but instead reverted to economic orthodoxy, argues Simon Nixon
The uncomfortable truth about Starmer and Reeves's economic project is it is grim for living standards, public services and recipients of welfare, and should be opposed by all, argues his former senior adviser Simon Fletcher
There is nothing "responsible" about forcing hundreds of thousands of people into poverty, while putting even more strain on those public servants who will have to pick up the pieces, argues Adam Bienkov
The critical issue in the May 2025 election is likely to be about the rising costs of living, with competing views about whether the Labor Party is responsible for them and which of the major parties is most likely to address them. There is a rational basis for the widespread feeling that standards of living Continue reading »
Why does a government release a highly critical report on the conduct of Woolworths and Coles on the Friday before a budget that will lead straight into an election campaign? Short answer: not for any worthy reason. One worthy reason could have been to show Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers really wanted to do Continue reading »
The Rockliff Government’s financial mess in Tasmania has been well explained by economist Saul Eslake, independent MLC Ruth Forrest, and others paying attention. It is now canvassing the sale of government assets in a desperate attempt to copy the errors of other governments rather than address causes. State governments have an obvious financial constraint governed Continue reading »