Santa on Steriods has a great ring to it, but this budget is more deceptive than generous. Many commentators are pointing out the what the Treasurer provides the Treasurer has previously removed, specifically

- university funding had been curtailed in previous budgets and this funding is just catch up

- the previous rebates for installing solar panels on community buildings had been rolled back since about 2002

- families with young children don't want to collect a childcare rebate 18 months after they have spent the money, low income families need the money as they spend it

- spending on Murray Darling Basin water initiatives is slated to start in 2 years not this year

The only glimmer of light is the adoption of New Zealand Tax ideas to simplify the preparation of e-tax for the majority of tax payers.

Professor Joshua Gans at http://www.economics.com.au/?p=830 suggests that any one be able to use the Future Fund for their superannuation payments

I am still disgusted at the lack of real immediate action to ammeliorate the impact of global warming on our continent.

Yea bring back Gough Whitlam when unemployment was sky high, the country was literally broke and interest rates were high.

re:
"[The Treasurer's] big idea this year was the $5 billion endowment fund for universities. That's a lot of money. Interviewed on Tuesday evening, he boasted: "The endowment I set up tonight doubles everything the university sector has saved in endowments in the last 150 years."

It is indeed a lot of money. I am surprised no-one has had the impudence to ask exactly, in public, how and where this $5 billion is going to be invested, or what might be the expected rate of return on the investment.

Nor have I heard anyone say how many millions per year "the universities" are expected to get.

What percentage of the per annum returns will "the universities" get, and what percentage will annually go to the administrators and/or others? And which others?

Taking 5 billion as 5 thousand million, one percent per annum gives us 50 million per year. Even .1% of 5 billion is a reasonable income in these days of low inflation.

Which portion of the Australian economy does this five billion dollar's worth of "endowment" pump up, or maybe prop up? What kind of investment is actually being made?

You'd think it was genuinely rude to talk about money, wouldn't you?

The annual, post-budget comments are always so boringly predictable. If you don't like the government of the day, the budget will be bad no matter what it contains. If you do like the government the budget of the day it will be good no matter what it contains.

Pleased to see 'runner' reminding us of what happens when the ALP gets near the money-box, though. It wasn't just Whitlam. It was Hawke and Keating, those great friends of the masses, too, who really demonstrated gross ineptitude when it came to administering the economy.

How about Rudd wanting to give tax back to foreigners?

Peter Saunders' first sentence asks the pertinent question: "What was the overall rationale driving Peter Costello's 12th budget?" Surely he knew the answer: to bribe enough people to vote for his government in November and to con as many others into believing the Coalition still has a few ideas after 11 years of Howardism. 'Perfectly targetted', said one commentator - targetted to keep as many Coalition members in Parliament for the next three years.

I predict there will be little 'bounce' for the government in this budget, and what 'bounce' there is will quickly fall back to earth.

The Costello budget does very little to address real concerns of ordinary Australians - global warming, renewable energy, real jobs rather than casul make-up jobs, family povery, Indigenous health, pre-schools, staff to police the revised unfair IR laws, red tape for small business, skills shortages, HECS debt, national borrowings, serious tax reform, broadband speeds - the list could go on.

And there is no vision for Australia's future. What drives Australia's political life is short-term expediency - this budget is a perfect illustration.

With Costello now with a grimacing smile like an SS trooper and Julie Bishop wih eyes like a lamplight fraulein, and a rumour that the Uni Humanities is all to be downsized looks like Howard and Costello won't need a Night of the Long Knives to begin their new agenda - all because we have such a dumb public.