Thus, no-one will mind much at all. Besides, investors (and that's the vast majority of Australians through their superannuation funds) should be too busy cheering to notice. The first two days of this week have taken up where the corporate reporting season left off last week. The scorecard that AMP chief economist Shane Oliver keeps showed that, after the first 20 per cent of the ASX had reported, profits and dividend growth were running very nicely and strongly ahead of last year. What's more, the analyst community had been caught out being too pessimistic, with 55 per cent of companies exceeding expectations, compared with an average of 43 per cent over the past decade. Some 73 per cent of companies have reported higher profits, compared with an average of 66 per cent over the ten years, and a massive 78 per cent of companies have increased dividends. If these trends hold - and they seem to be - there are a number of implications ranging from the impact of dividend hunting on boardrooms to a lower peak in unemployment and Joe Hockey being able to go into the next election with the promise of a surplus in 2015-16.

First, the big picture: more evidence that the Treasurer's dour mid-year economic and fiscal outlook (MYEFO) delivered two months ago is seriously out of date. The Reserve Bank belled that on February 7 when it upgraded its economic forecasts. The economy was turning the corner in the December quarter while the official forecasters were still trying to make sense of the soft September period. Treasury's MYEFO documents explained why it was drastically downgrading the budget outlook from August's PEFO (pre-election fiscal outlook): "A softening in the economic outlook has resulted in significantly lower nominal GDP, which has largely driven the reduction in tax receipts by more than $37 billion over the forward estimates." It had mainly been a fall in corporate tax receipts that had undermined Swan's quixotic 2012-13 budget plan. Given the amount of stick Treasury copped for being too optimistic, it looks like they have erred on the pessimistic side this time. They have certainly factored in miserable times for Australian business, but we're not seeing that reflected in this reporting season

They have certainly factored in miserable times for Australian business, but we're not seeing that reflected in this reporting season. MYEFO shaved PEFO's forecast of receipts this financial year from $369.5 billion to $364.9 billion and then predicted receipts would only grow by 4.9 per cent in 2014-15. The trend of lower wages growth accounts for some of that, along with December's belief that household consumption was sliding - the latter now not substantiated by more recent data. More specifically, PEFO's company tax forecast of $69.2 billion was trimmed to an even $69 billion - but Shane Oliver reckons the current crop of results from Australia's listed companies show they are on track to at least deliver the consensus forecast of 13 per cent earnings growth on the back of the massive turnaround by resources stocks and banks doing very well. He also interprets the surge in dividend increases as a sign of companies being confident about the business outlook. That would tie in with the NAB's business conditions and confidence survey being on the up, but increased dividend payments also supports the belief of Bell Potter's Charlie Aitken that dividend hunting by the self-managed super army is pushing boards to reward their shareholders that way.

That in turn has the effect of focusing the minds of boards and management to make the best use of what profits they retain, instead of blowing cash on hero takeovers. Some of the profit growth has come from cutting costs - a reality that shows up in the headlines about job losses and helps explain our lack of jobs growth over the past year. But employment remains a lagging indicator - stronger, more profitable, more confident companies and consumers enjoying the wealth effect of appreciating assets have a history of subsequently spending more and creating employment. As today's RBA board minutes state: "Members recognised that conditions in the labour market tended to lag economic growth, and that the labour market had remained weak following the period of below-trend growth in activity. "If the economy evolved broadly as expected, the most prudent course would likely be a period of stability in interest rates."

In any event, the better-than-expected results indicate stronger economic growth in the year ahead. The RBA is saying an extra quarter per cent of real GDP growth on top of the MYEFO predictions in 2014-15 and an extra half a per cent for 2015-16. Combine the higher profits with that forecast and you have the best economic news in nine months - but our Treasurer and Finance Minister remain strangely silent about it. Loading It doesn't fit their budget preparation narrative. Michael Pascoe is a BusinessDay contributing editor.