After ten years of the worst central banking in the world, unable to forecast what time the sun was coming up, we will get bugger all reform:
The Coalition will block Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ attempt to create a new specialist interest rate-setting board at the Reserve Bank over concerns the government could stack the committee with Labor-aligned figures after he accused the central bank of “smashing the economy”.
The decision means Dr Chalmers’ efforts to complete an overhaul of the central bank are all-but-dead unless the government accedes to shadow treasurer Angus Taylor’s demand that all existing RBA board members retain their role setting interest rates, without exception.
The loony Greens are now dealt in:
Senator McKim has spent months pressuring Dr Chalmers to amend the RBA overhaul legislation to ensure the laws maintained the federal government’s never-before-used power to overturn the central bank’s interest rate decisions.
Will they insist on genital mobility for all central bankers?
Meanwhile, is anybody discussing why Australia has stagflation uniquely among developed economies? An inflation problem owing to rents and energy from excess immigration and a gas cartel?
Nope, it’s just about who’s fault it is:
Inflation and higher taxes are eroding household incomes by triple as much as elevated interest rates, undermining Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ claim that the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monetary policy is “smashing” the economy.
Analysis from market economists and the RBA show that household disposable income has been mostly squeezed by steep price rises for goods and services since the central bank imposed its first of 13 interest rate rises in May 2022.
Or, stupid point scoring:
The Reserve Bank is acting like it’s afraid of the government. And governor Michele Bullock and deputy governor Andrew Hauser speak like they’re scared of it. But why? Isn’t it an independent institution with nothing to fear?
In June, Bullock told the Senate Economics Legislation Committee: “That’s what’s driving inflation. So, growth in demand in the economy had to slow in order to bring it back more in line with supply.”
Or great distractions:
Anthony Albanese will impose minimum age access to social media platforms before the election under sweeping laws inspired by Peter Malinauskas’s legislative push banning kids under 14 from setting up online accounts.
The real drivers of Australian economic deterioration are so far from public discussion that we might as well be reporting on Mars.
