Macrobusiness have a number of phrases that might seem daunting to the newcomer. This page should help bring you up to speed with the latest terminology.

Boganairres

50% bogan, 50% billionaire, 100% self-centred and narcissistic. More than willing to dedicate their time and money to pushing poor policy to enrich themselves at the expense of fellow Australians.

Boganomics

The strange nexus between anti-competitive corporations and gullible but patriotic battlers. The proposed company tax cut which will primarily benefit foreign shareholders and international companies is a fine example of Boganomics in action.

Bullhawk:

The bullhawk is an occult animal that juxtaposes incompatibles. It is half interest rate hawk and half housing bull and from its great eyrie amongst the glassy peaks of Sydney’s CBD, it swooped upon an unsuspecting public and struck the fear of God into them about a thousand year run of interest rate hikes.

The public ran screaming for shelter. Yet some business commentators were mesmerised by the bullhawk’s razor sharp beaks, their magnificent plumage and their wild cries for rate hikes. These unfortunate souls clambered up the glittering slopes and joined the flerd (flock + herd) where, for a moment, they surveyed their new domain. And, like baby bullhawks, they joined the shrill cry for rate rises.

But, once in the eyrie, the full horror of their situation dawned. They were consumed, torn to shreds by their own audacity, as the rate hike hysteria that echoed from the glittering mountain top died in the high atmospheres, far from earth.

These creatures roamed freely from 2010-2012 before being crushed by falling commodity prices and weak wage growth.

In late 2017, reported sightings of bullhawks have increased, coaxed forth by low headline employment figures. If cornered by one of these creatures, pretend to be high underemployment, low inflation or low wages growth – the bullhawk will not be able to see you.

Disleveraging

The idea that falling credit growth can be sustained forever without ever tipping into outright debt-deflation.

Futureboom! 

The concept of an ever expanding future mining boom that gets bigger the worse immediate data becomes.

Game of Mates 

MB Blogger Rumplestatskin AKA Cameron Murray co-authored a book on the steady corruption of Australian institutions by a small subset of the Australian society. Explains how a range of industries now depend on favourable licence awards or re-zoning decisions from “mates” and how society bears the cost.

Invisopower! 

The mysterious fog that surrounds the details of Australian banks’ offshore borrowing. A cloak deployed by regulators.

Macrobated

The fascinating shift from in the main stream media towards views expressed first at MacroBusiness.

Pascometer:

For those that don’t know, the MB office has a red strobe light on the ceiling that we call the Pascometer. It is an impeccably reliable buy and sell indicator that relies upon doing the opposite of any Michael Pascoe column.

A relentlessly reliable indicator following the financial crisis, the Pascometer has lost its predictive power and hence we’ve pretty much unplugged it. What used to be a screaming contrarian signal-generator is today a house price spruiking megaphone stuck on repeat. Sadly, it almost never ventures beyond this safe Domainfax territory, barely wandering even into policy. MB is to blame and for that we apologise. We brought the glare of accountability to the Pascometer and the glass cracked, mechanism fouled and busted springs spouted from its shattered shell.

The siren has lost its power, now no more than a soured and discordant whine, twisted around a self-obsession with bears that devour its dark, inner workings.

It is a shame to lose such a reliable contrary machine. In its place we’ve installed a parrot trained to repeat “house prices only go up” over and over. It gets a bit tedious but at least we know it’s not paid to say it.

Politico-housing complex 

The great public/private partnership of the Australian housing quango that has virtually nothing in common with either capitalism or a “market”.

Sleaze Bank:

Commonwealth Bank. Lurching from financial planners burning through client money in chase of commissions to accepting drug money through its ATMs.