Teh Kouk kicks out at Abbott's economic credentials and Pure Poison follows with a boot to the rear

Stephen Koukoulas of Market Economics had this response to the Australian Leader of the Opposition’s Budget Reply Speech on his blog on 10 May 2012:

ABBOTT: People who work hard and put money aside so they won’t be a burden on others should be encouraged, not hit with higher taxes.
FACT: The tax to GDP ratio of the first 5 Labor Budgets averaged 21.1%. The lowest ever tax to GDP recorded under the Howard government was 22.2% and the average was 23.4%. The last time a Coalition Government delivered a tax to GDP ratio below 21.1% was in 1979-80. Cannot see where the “hit with higher taxes” statement fits these facts in the current Budget context.

ABBOTT: And people earning $83,000 a year and families on $150,000 a year are not rich, especially if they’re paying mortgages in our big cities.
FACT: Average annual earnings are around $53,500 in NSW and $51,500 in Victoria. Maybe they are “not rich”, but someone on $83,000 is earning around 60% above the average wage whether they have a mortgage or not.

ABBOTT: Madam Deputy Speaker, from an economic perspective, the worst aspect of this year’s budget is that there is no plan for economic growth; nothing whatsoever to promote investment or employment.
FACT: After registering a 19^th straight year of economic growth in 2010-11, the Budget shows Australia growing at 3% in 2011-12, 3.25% in 2012-13 and 3% in 2013-14. Having risen a Chinese-type 18% in 2011-12, business investment is forecast to rise a further 12.5% in 2012-13. Employment is forecast to rise by 1.25% in 2012-13, which will see the creation of around 175,000 new jobs from now until June 2013.

Read the rest here.

The full transcript of Tony Abbott's budget reply (containing no specific economic/funding information concerning his own inchoate policies) can be found here.

Over at Pure Poison they are wondering when the press gallery is finally going to call Abbott out on the rubbish he's spouting:

Contrasting the GFC deficits with the pre-GFC boom as if there wasn’t a GFC – surely someone could ask Abbott if he even noticed the existence of a global financial crisis or if he’s a weirdo conspiracy theorist who thinks the rest of the world just made it up.

The “cuts to defence” line, which are mainly to do with delaying the disastrous Joint Strike Fighter that’s running late and is a step backward anyway. Could someone ask Abbott whether he’d insist on going ahead with it right now while other buyers are backing away?

The “we’ll find savings” line – could someone ask Abbott just why any Australians should believe that he’ll find $70 billion savings in a way that none of us will mind? And why he thinks we shouldn’t all be very worried that something we or a family member or friend rely on might not be one of the things he slashes in order to give “incentives” to big polluting companies?

How about his “trickle down” theory, where you don’t need any actual plan for growth other than slashing taxes for big business (except when Labor proposes them) and the super rich?

You could question his complaints about not enough money going into the NDIS and dental care given that the Liberals haven’t promised to put in any more either.

How about asking him to reconcile his demand for “growth” with his previous fixation on interest rates being low? Is that suddenly not important now that interest rates are lower under Labor than they ever were under the Coalition?