Treasurer Peter Costello has
surveyed his handiwork and pronounces it good. Mr Costello said there was “no
more important job than managing the Australian economy in a sustainable
way”.

“People are going to be happier if
people can find a job, if businesses can make profits, if they know their
savings are safe and there are opportunities for their children,” he said.” No
sensible person can disagree with this. The Treasurer of course had a shot at
his predecessor, Paul Keating, who brought us “the recession we had to have” –
clearly unacceptable.

Of course, it was this recession
that “broke the stick of inflation” and the rise of China that was a major part of keeping inflation
low in Australia. Acknowledging those
influences would be politically unwise, but that is what the historians will
say, Mr Costello.

Read on at Henry
Thornton…

Also, Nick Gruen writes on the AWB;
how Government, AWB directors and a monopoly combined to create the current
mess. Don’t let AWB fatigue (the well-worn allegations of bribery and moralising
by the mainstream press) dissuade you from reading. This is a great article from
the economic perspective.