Not the time for flaky changes This is not the time for flaky off-the-cuff policy changes, says Terry McCrann. A WEEK ago I wrote how we seemed to be living in two parallel universes. The share market was rising again, signalling good times ahead -- just as the data on the economy was turning gloomy. The jobless rate jumped to its highest point since the GFC. Last week it turned even more bizarre. The Chinese and the Americans separately said, to paraphrase: "don't worry, be happy." Meanwhile, our Prime Minister plucked three huge policy changes, unforeshadowed, undiscussed and basically, unanalysed, out of the hat. The floating carbon price was brought forward by a year. It will supposedly cost the budget $3.8 billion, in the 2013-14 year. The attack on salary-sacrificing employee cars, to supposedly raise $1.8 billion, which would not all be in that first year, will provide the lion's share of the funding. And the big one - winning the election in the western suburbs of Sydney - the deal with Papua New Guinea to send future boat people there. That was uncosted, with not the slightest sign of any policy analysis of the consequences, to say nothing of answering the basic question: does it have even a slight chance of working? In short and in sum, what we saw last week was the Kevin "Energiser bunny" Rudd of the first time around, back and running on steroids. The look on Treasurer Chris Bowen's face when the Prime Minister was making his over-blown claims about the carbon tax saving all-but said: "Uh-oh, what have we done? What have we inflicted - re-inflicted - on the Australian people? The messages out of the US and China were not reassuring. We need a Government that understands the world remains challenging and uncertain. We've got instead the greatest narcissist we've ever had as prime minister, embarked on campaigning, prepared to announce anything to further his desperate desire for victory. The consequences of what he announces are irrelevant. Hence, the fact that the FBT car changes might finish off the local car manufacturing industry, were ignored. In truth, they were never even thought about. But in any event, if it came to that, we could throw another billion or two of taxpayer money at Holden and Toyota. Meanwhile, the head of the US Fed, Ben Bernanke, calmed everyone, by promising yet again to keep the easy money flowing. He also stated the obvious: that it would stop flowing when the US economy picked up pace. Market punters only heard the first bit. They sent Wall St to another all-time high. The problem is, neither outcome looks good. The US economy stays weak, and easy money keeps flowing. Or the economy does pick up, and we get a shock (sic) interest rate cold shower. China announced that growth in the June quarter had come in at 7.5 per cent. That was smack on forecast and on target, and put to rest suggestions that growth in China was slowing too much. Earth to relieved commentators: look at the date. The June quarter ended barely two weeks ago. Do you understand the figure was nonsense, an invention of "China Inc?" What should be obvious is the impossibility of producing meaningful figures for GDP in an economy like China's, half of which is still in the 18th century, with half in a odd version of the 21st century. Chinese statistics are what the Chinese want them to be. The only numbers out of China that can be taken with any degree of credibility are those that involve actual transfers of money. Like export and import numbers. And then preferably, when we've got the numbers on the other side -- such as OUR export and import numbers. This is not to suggest that Chinese growth could have collapsed. China might be growing at 7.5 per cent. It's just that we don't know. And we are making a huge bet (of our entire future) on the growth continuing. Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton last week said they were on track to exporting an extraordinary combined 500 million tonnes a year, hopefully every year, of iron ore. Big chunks will go to Japan and Korea, but the bulk - and all the growth - goes to China. In short, this is not the time for flaky off-the-cuff policy changes. Or for cynically opportunistic, promise-anything, election ploys.