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, February 23, 2011

RBA's Glenn Stevens argues for greater swings in fiscal balance

In a generally very bullish speech, the RBA Governor, Glenn Stevens, today argued for higher public and private savings, less near-term consumption, and greater "swings in the government's fiscal balance" [in the Q&A] than you would ordinarily expect as insurance against adverse outcomes should the terms of trade boom not persist (or should any other bad things come to pass). This is basically a nice way of saying: be more cautious today and you will save the central bank some of the heavy lifting on interest rates. Interestingly, the RBA Governor also commented that a "stablisation fund was an option worth thinking about" [Q&A] subject to your views of future risks.
at 9:49 AM