The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Friday, June 18, 2010

RBA myth busters explode debt headlines

From the SMH's Michael Pascoe:

"Reserve Bank deputy-governor Ric Battellino quietly destroyed a bunch of major myths this week – turns out we're actually good savers, our household debt isn't a problem, the housing affordability crisis has been exaggerated and our foreign debt is sustainable. In short, most of the usual scary headlines about the domestic economy are rubbish.

You'd think that would be worth a few headlines, but the RBA made a couple of mistakes in the timing of what is really a very good news story."
at 4:40 AM