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, March 23, 2012

RBA Gov: independent bank moves create "additional complications" for monetary policy

The Gov' put it straight, although he neatly side-stepped the important question I raised about the trade-off between efforts by the RBA to neutralise the banks' "margin widening" (nb: this was the Governor's characterisation) and the absolute quantum of monetary policy ammunition the RBA has given it faces a zero lower bound with rates. On the bank moves, he says:

[I]t's just an additional complication that we have, and it's certainly an additional complication from an explanation point of view, as you will have seen if you observe the debate at home.
at 9:07 AM