A strong economy will allow Kevin Rudd again to campaign as a fiscal conservative, as well as the messiah who protected Australia from world depression, correction, severe downturn, writes Henry Thornton.
Interest rate rise
Interest rate rise small change for mug punters
Yesterday’s interest rate rise was, in monetary terms, roughly what we spent yesterday per head losing on the Cup. And if we just offset the cost of all the hats and champagne with the lost working hours spent on office sweeps…
Forget mortgage holders, every rate rise hurts business
Why is the media so fixated on mortgage holders? More concerning is how much power the Big Four banks now hold over the economy, and how SMEs are struggling to get finance.
Gittins: Have a flutter on the economy
If we can afford to gamble A$137 million on the Melbourne Cup, then we can afford to raise interest rates 0.25 percentage points, says Ross Gittins. Especially since we probably won’t see another rise until February.
Gottliebsen: The Australian dream is over
Yesterday’s rate rise, coupled with recent changed to Australia’s superannuation policy, locks us into a nation-changing situation: we will soon be a nation of renters, says Robert Gottliebsen.
Did RBA jump the gun?
Was the RBA’s decision to end the cutting cycle and raise rates to 3.25% a step too far? Australia’s leading economists weigh-in.
Glenn Stevens’ high wire act on rates
Is the Reserve Bank chief softening up public opinion in preparation for an interest rate rise? Sinclair Davdson investigates.
A recipe for disaster: tightening the mortgage belt
Crikey lists some of the ingredients turning an interest rate rise into a big old mess, writes Dara Conduit.
Woolies booming; stand by for a rate rise
Woolworths has shown why 2007 was a boom year for it and most of its competitors with a 28% rise in first half profit. Not the sort of news you want headlining a week out from a Reserve Bank board meeting that will consider another interest rate rise, writes Glenn Dyer.
The interest rate rise has helped the rich at the expense of the poor
I’m unimpressed at the interest rate rise. This rise will not affect the better off at all - quite the reverse - it makes them more money. For the large percentage of Australians who are cash rich, with low and no debt, an interest rate rise just gives them more money to spend, writes Democrat Senator Andrew Murray.
Richard Farmer’s political bite-sized meaty chunks
Meaty snippets from the home of government plus the daily reality check and the pick of other people’s political coverage. Richard Farmer writes.
Is raising interest rates the right response?
The RBA will today decide whether it will raise interest rates to combat a growing inflation problem, but is it the best response? Thomas Hunter spoke to a group of Australia’s leading economists.
Morning Market Report
The highlights and lowlights of this morning’s sharemarket activity.
Mungo: This is the week where it all starts happening
And this, as they say, is where the story really starts. The government is officially back to work preparing to launch itself across the uncharted seas of its election promises, writes Mungo MacCallum.
Blogwatch: the Big Banks edition
Swan should have gone in harder … Make the switch? Not so easy … Swan an interventionist leftie.
The too-strong economy challenge
Choking on the prosperity of the moment that ranks as our biggest risk for 2008, says Access Economics Chris Richardson. How will the Rudd governemt handle the challenges ahead for the economy? Christian Kerr investigates.
The Kevin conundrum
The most interesting poll appears only after a federal election. It is the Australian National University’s Australian Electoral Survey, writes Christian Kerr.
Kevin Rudd, growth and the ‘you too’ campaign
It’s not the narrowing, but nor is it annihilation. It is an election in Australia, writes Christian Kerr.
Comitatus: Females saving Howard from a three figure drubbing
The cumulative breakdowns of the last two Newspolls have been released and what is interesting between the headline result and the state based figures is the different number of seats they suggest would fall, writes Possum Comitatus.
Crikey Cabbie Panel: Was Howard’s launch a vote grabber?
With another $9.4 billion for voters, was yesterday’s Coalition campaign launch enough to shift momentum in the campaign back to Howard? We took the question to the Crikey Cabbie Panel.
Farmer: Me Too is a two way street
The Coalition’s campaign launch was a very old fashioned, plain and low key event… not even an orangutan to provide some light relief, writes Richard Farmer.
Mungo: A world class exhibition of weaselling
Last week’s interest rate rise effectively destroyed our Dear Leader’s credibility. The whole of his 2004 campaign was exposed as a lie and his continuing claims of superior economic management revealed as fraudulent, writes Mungo MacCallum.
Comitatus: Polling the economy
The key to understanding the way “the economy” seems to be working as an issue in this election is to not to fall into the trap of seeing it as a single holistic thing, writes Possum Comitatus.
Andrew Murray: They give fiscal conservatives a bad name
We can afford some tax cuts and benefits increases without fearing inflation - but it is the sheer and growing scale and quantum of Liberal/Labor promises that is dangerous and irresponsible, writes Democrats Senator Andrew Murray.
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