The weak economy is at a painful turning point, one that might finally prove to be unspinnable

Which of the following economic narratives accords with reality at the moment?

That an irresponsible Labor government recklessly encouraged inflation with its big-spending budget and fake anti-inflation measures?

Or that an irresponsible Labor government has allowed economic growth to fall into near-negative territory, and is wrongly blaming the Reserve Bank?

Or that greedy, lazy workers are demanding too many pay rises without matching productivity increases, risking a wage-price spiral? Or that wages growth has slumped as consumers retreat?

All of those narratives have been on offer from right-wing economists and the Financial Review recently, with the gloom-and-doom ones coming to the fore this week as the latest economic data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics — ahead of Wednesday’s June quarter national accounts — suggests the economy barely ticked over in