Using the US as an example of why Australia needs to reform can only occur in a space where words such as reform and productivity occupy lost all meaning Earlier this week,Malcolm Turnbull sought to present himself as being on the economic front foot by calling a snap economic summit to seek a consensus on “reform priorities”. That anything other than symbolism could be achieved in a two-to-three hour mini talkfest is debatable, but one major step forward would occur were the new prime minister to announce the banishment of the word “reform”.The exhaust of reform has long been one of my greatest bugbears. The word is so loaded with spin that it is meaningless. And yet such is its power that, or to paraphrase Godwin’s law (call it Jericho’s law of economic debate),“the longer any speech or opinion article on Australia’s economic future goes, the greater the probability of the speaker calling for reform”.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com