Kim Beazley had some nice
rhetorical flourishes in his reply to the Budget and clearly feels
deeply about his arguments. But I’d be very suprised if his alternative
plan for “fairer” tax reform gets any traction. The bottom line is that
Beazley cannot deliver his plan and the treasurer can deliver his. Even
those who would prefer Labor’s approach are likely to recall that the
best is often the enemy of the good.

The press has not been kind
– even Labor sympathisers think it would have been better to register
opposition in principle to the government’s tax plan and emphasise the
need to do more to improve infrastructure and skills. There is also the
question of whether the budget injects too much stimulus into a growing
economy, as argued by Tim Colebatch but not Kim Beazley.

Another
poor lead from Wall Street is likely to hit regional bourses today. US
retail sales were strong, but a fall in oil stocks (and prices)
apparently supported the weak US-China story.

Read more on the Henry Thornton website here.