and our economy won't grow as we continue to trip it up with a lot of short-term gimmicks from washington, d.c. and many of the problems that we face can be trace to misguided beliefs by politicians that the american economy is something that can be controlled or micromanaged or positively influenced by government intervention and borrowing. meanwhile, the u.s. treasury secretary says defaulting on debt payments would be catastrophic for the global economy. andrew? let's get back to the australia budget story. the country may be in for serious belt tightening. treasury secretary who is in effect the finance minister, wayne swann will release a budget just hours from now. australia avoided recession but