In The Australian today:

"Historically, American voters have responded less to the immediate state of the US economy than to recent trends: if the economy is improving, incumbents win. On that basis, Barack Obama should secure a second term in this week's vote. But whoever the next president may be, the US faces challenges its political system seems increasingly poorly placed to address."

In The Australian today:

"According to the "Asian Century" report, making our education system one of the world's five best is crucial to seizing the opportunities created by Asia's economic growth. Perhaps, but the real question is what that would involve. "

In The Australian today:

"On October 9, 2007, the New York Stock Exchange's Dow Jones index reached its all-time high of 14,164.53. Almost exactly five years of turmoil later, the International Monetary Fund's recently released World Economic Outlook warns that the "risks for a serious global slowdown are alarmingly high". With world trade virtually stagnant in recent months, the fund has downgraded its assessment of global economic prospects, while hedging even that projection with a chilling litany of possible downsides. "

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In The Australian today:

"Bad enough strangling the goose: they shouldn't get away with also gilding its eggs. For there are myths and there are facts. And while the myth is that superannuation savings are lightly taxed, the fact is that effective tax rates on long-term super savings are close to or even above the top rate of income tax."

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In The Australian today:

"It's hard to disagree with Ross Garnaut that China's slowing growth will place new pressures on our economy. But the implications he derives from that are wrong-headed. And that is unsurprising, as they are driven more by the politics of protecting the carbon tax than by sensible economic analysis."

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In The Australiian today (subscription required)

"This is a tale of deficits, deaths and deceptions. The deficit is that for 2011-12, which we now know was nearly $44 billion. The deception is the process by which the estimates of that deficit were massaged in the lead-up to the 2010 election. The death is that of budget honesty."

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