Quick!  Where’s the next European diversion?

Can you see how it’s all unravelling?  There’s a new script under construction here: non-continental European nations didn’t have their very own real estate bubbles …. [er, unless it was somewhere in the distant past?]

Although the USA and UK remain in dire financial straits—and remember Australia’s mortgage debt is worse than them all—we’re transfixed as a diversion by the daily procession of events in Europe, instead of immediately putting comprehensive taxation reform into place to regenerate the economy.

Julia Gillard says we’re doing that, but raising income tax thresholds and the watered down MRRT doesn’t cut it.

The Henry Tax Review provided an imperfect but good template, but the Grattan Institute wants to backslide from such sweeping tax reform, believing getting women and oldies out to work–oh, and extending the GST–will fix things for us.

Meanwhile, let’s have a meeting in Brisbane to tell ourselves how lucky we Australians really are! It’ll save us from undertaking essential reform.

Let’s all stop being pessimistic, or else Europe will sink us.  We’re absolutely blameless.

Australia is different, because the mining boom is going to pull us through.  It’s just a matter of confidence (until the Labor government can get out of here).

Yep, the script says everything’s fine here.  Pity about Europe.  That’s the problem all right.

You can bet when Australia’s property market eventually turns extremely toxic, it’ll still be continental Europe wot done it to us, gov – regardless of what party is in power.

Tragic!