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, June 13, 2012

RBA governor: Aussie dollar is not too high--"would not wish for big fall"

In a speech right now, Glenn Stevens is arguing that we would not necessarily want to see a big fall in the Aussie dollar, which, he says, confers significant benefits on consumer purchasing power. He notes that in nominal terms the Aussie dollar is not historically high, and even in inflation-adjusted terms it is not way out of line to where it has been in the past. Why is he making this case? Because the RBA is worried about importing inflation via a depreciation in the Aussie dollar...And the RBA is worried that if the world muddles through the euro crisis without a major downturn, they have overcooked their rate cuts...