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."

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Paul Bloxham vs. Julia Gillard

HSBC's Paul Bloxham has delivered some fighting words to the Prime Minister in an AFR op-ed today. Bloxham, who only recently moved to HSBC after spending the last 12 years at the RBA, avers:

“[B]y choosing not to tighten fiscal policy sooner, the government has implicitly chosen higher interest rates than might otherwise have been the case.”

This also seems to reflect the views of Professor Warwick McKibbin, who sits on the Board of the RBA, and who has repeatedly called for the stimulus to be wound back more quickly than is currently taking place.
at 3:32 PM