Two lean years coming up, to pay for 2010's massive splurge

"Save now, spend later" is The Age's headline quote for its budget coverage, although they never explain who exactly they're quoting. Let's, for the sake of my shortly needing to be somewhere else, assume it's something Swan's said.

A $21.7 billion dollar surplus? I think we understand a little too well what they mean by "Save now, spend later" - they mean they're adopting the Coalition's election-cycle method of approaching government expenditure.

"Save now" - ie cut spending when the election's three years away; "Spend later" - ie splurge just before the election.

So every three years we have two very lean years of Government hoarding our money, followed by one year of stupid spending all over the place as they try to buy our votes. And it looks like the ALP's more than happy to play that game.

Who can blame them, though, really? It's what voters seem to want. Or think they want at election time, forgetting that two lean years are sure to follow if they fall for it.

Depressing, really.