The local and international economies aren’t as bad as many claim, and the RBA should hold off on cutting rates.
Economy
Consumers open wallets wider, so why do we need to cut rates?
Can anyone explain why the Reserve Bank needs to cut interest rates, as quite a few economists, media writers and industry leaders say it will, either next month, or December?
As the economy improves, Labor’s ownership of it deteriorates
The stronger the economy seems under Labor, the less Labor gets any credit for it. Labor should be pondering why and front and centre in any such inquiry should be Wayne Swan.
Labor’s life is in foreign hands …
A gathering economic storm overseas may wreck Labor’s entire political strategy, write Bernard Keane and Glenn Dyer.
Essential: voters increasingly gloomy about the economy
Voters are significantly more worried about the economy, according to today’s Essential Report. And the Coalition has stretched its already big voting intention lead.
Crikey Says: Australia can afford to have vision
As a nation we’ve never been better placed to tackle long term issues like health, our ageing population, transport, sustainability, communications, superannuation, climate change and the growing gap between rich and poor.
Crikey Says: Good question, prime minister
Julia Gillard has always been good at calling a spade a spade. And that’s exactly what she’s done in her letter to the Business Council of Australia today.
Inconvenient labour data for the deregulationistas
February unemployment data shows more solid growth in the economy, and the forecast rise in industrial disputes hasn’t materialised.
Everyone’s hoping this was a mere “bump in the road”
It’s in everyone’s interest to explain away today’s weak GDP figure as a one-off — in spite of nagging evidence that the economy outside the mining industry isn’t quite as strong as we’d all like to think.
Pricing our 5% emissions target
While the debate over our emissions reduction target flares, the problem of how to meet it is the subject of a new report.
Crikey Says: Crikey says: it’s about confidence, isn’t it?
So did it or didn’t it? Can’t someone say definitively, once and for all, if the Rudd government’s stimulus package kept Australia out of a major recession?
If you’re finding it tough to make ends meet, it’s not because of inflation
Yesterday’s CPI figures showed what an extraordinary load of rubbish this “cost of living” campaign focus is from both sides.
Postcard from Gladstone, a small town in a big world
The Queensland town of Gladstone may seem sunny and laid back, but its future hangs on the precarious movements of the global commodities market, with thousands of jobs in danger. That’s if the environmentalists don’t get to them first.
Government tests the power of positive thought
Can the government’s efforts to keep public discourse on the economy positive minimise the impact of the recession? asks Ross Gittins.
Protectionism is fine when it comes to people
The idea that immigration adversely affects employment is the “big lie” of Australian politics, writes Charles Richardson.
Japan? No. Try Russia, and the sick men of Eastern Europe
Every economy in the East is tanking: with Russia and the Ukraine probably the most damaged, writes Glenn Dyer.
Comitatus: Economic Security Package worked. Shock.
The $10.4 billion Economic Security Package not only worked, but worked nearly exactly as Treasury had forecast it would, writes Possum Comitatus
Of pointless pressers and partisan politics
A confused and irrelevant Opposition and a Government bent on playing partisan wordgames. Just what we need right now, writes Bernard Keane.
For heaven’s sake Julie Bishop!
Australia’s economy is on a knife edge…
What was the RBA advice on guaranteeing deposits?
The predictable consequence of the Government intervening in the financial market to guarantee loans and deposits – that those not afforded the same guarantee are competitively disadvantaged – didn’t take long to emerge, writes Bernard Keane.
Rudd’s package stimulates talkback
Has Rudd’s package left punters sufficiently stimulated to go forth and spend, spend, spend? Talkback has the answers.
Does the bank guarantee do enough?
Is the government’s plan to guarantee all bank deposits really the most equitable response? By David Lewis.
