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.
Carbon tax merely a blip in power price scandal
Ross Gittins Until a rotten system is reformed, the price of electricity will keep rising excessively, tax or no tax.
Carbon tax merely a blip in power price scandal
Ross Gittins Prime Minister Tony Abbott is right about one thing: the price of electricity has shot up and is now a lot higher than it should be. It's a scandal, in fact.
Australia risks becoming a fuel fossil
Ross Gittins Doing nothing about climate change will cost us much more than doing something.
Health report card reveals excellent grades
Ross Gittins One of the main jobs of the federal government’s Australian Institute of Health and Welfare is to produce a report card on the state of Australia’s Health every two years.
Mining boom policies dig a hole for economy
Ross Gittins It’s in the nature of the news media to focus on the new, on the bit that’s changing. So when people like me bang on about the resources boom – as we’ve been doing for about a decade – it’s probably...
How to be happy? Give away your money
Ross Gittins If I wanted to get more happiness into my life, I wouldn’t do it by trying to earn more money. I’d concentrate on spending more time with family and friends and getting more satisfaction from work...
More to public's dislike of the budget than simple selfishness
Ross Gittins Tony Abbott has turned out to be a chameleon. Before the election, he took the guise of a populist, opposed to all things nasty and in favour of all things nice.
HECS debt will soar, but it remains the best loan
Ross Gittins There is one glaring exception to the rule that Tony Abbott’s budget cuts are designed to protect higher income-earners at the expense of lower income-earners: the changes to university fees.
Shifting from entitlement to enterprise
Ross Gittins It has been easy for older people to see themselves as particular victims of this budget. And I confess I never expected to see any government courageous enough to pick on Grey Power the way Tony...
What's inside Joe Hockey's head?
Ross Gittins The harsh measures in the budget were directed towards one overwhelming objective: getting the budget back into surplus without increasing taxes to do it.
Audit commission's rationalist market approach a glimpse into a less caring future
Ross Gittins We will hear a few toned-down echoes of the report of the National Commission of Audit in Tuesday’s budget but, apart from that, the memory of its more extraordinary proposals is already fading.
Death of manufacturing nothing to whine about
Ross Gittins Many of our worries about the economy are misplaced, or based on out-of-date information.
Brighter future possible if we do the work
Ross Gittins It shouldn't surprise you that when the secretary to the Treasury, Dr Martin Parkinson, devoted half his major speech this week to "fiscal sustainability" - the tax increases and spending cuts needed...
Joe Hockey's budget will hurt your hip pocket
Ross Gittins If you think you're having trouble with the cost of living, wait until you see what the politicians have in store for you.
New ways needed to arrest indigenous imprisonment rates
Ross Gittins You don't need me to tell you that in a country such as America, with all its history of racial conflict, the rate of imprisonment for African-Americans is far higher than the rate for whites.
Think smart on infrastructure
Ross Gittins We get bombarded with economic and political news. Some of it is worth knowing, some isn't. Some gets much attention, some gets little.
Super illusions and the great workforce rip-off
Ross Gittins Compulsory employee superannuation exposes us to the predatory financial services industry, writes senior columnist Ross Gittins.
Superannuation's fat cats are here to stay
Ross Gittins A few weeks ago, when I offered my list of our top 10 economic reforms of the past 40 years, I was surprised by the number of people arguing I should have included compulsory employee superannuation...
Rumours of economy's death greatly exaggerated
Ross Gittins The loss of manufacturing jobs in Australia must be seen as part of the bigger picture.
Talk of job losses doesn't pay any attention to job gains
Ross Gittins I can always tell when people are getting anxious about unemployment - including their own. It's when a journalist thinks they'll be increasing the sum of human knowledge by adding up the number of...
