From Victoria Thieberger:
One of the trickiest tasks in keeping the Australian economy growing into a 25th year is preventing shaky business and consumer confidence sliding into bleak pessimism, despite clear signs of a cooling housing market.
The Reserve Bank knows this, and the government knows it. There are tentative signs that PM Turnbull’s positive tone is starting to supplant the poisonous, relentlessly negative vibe of his predecessor.
…Gail Kelly, the former chief executive of Westpac, told a select audience in New York this week that she is feeling more optimistic now than she was six months ago about Australia’s prospects in transitioning the economy from the easy gains of the resource boom into a more durable form of growth.
“That’s because I actually think in our new PM, Malcolm Turnbull, we have someone who is smart, who is experienced, who is pragmatic in his approach, and centrist from a policy point of view.
“Most importantly, he started out with a message of confidence, a message of optimism, a message of positive energy for the future and that’s what Australians want to hear,” Kelly told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
The dumb bubble is hitting the disco biscuit hard today!
Wayne Swan spent years pepping confidence and only did himself and the economy harm. The RBA has spruiked ceaselessly and fruitlessly for three years. Abbott did not destroy the economy, the economy destroyed Abbott because he totally failed to explain why living standards are falling.
If Malcolm Tunbull does the same thing then he will suffer the same fate because he will raise expectations when the economy is heading south owing to structural headwinds and will thus be blamed for it when his rosy outlook fails.
Did these people all attend the pretty lights school of economic and policy management?
As for Westpac, the comedy is complete:
- hikes rate and raise equity to see off hedge funds;
- recent CEO celebrates as the economy is shocked, triggering hedge fund interest;
- nobody tells Bill Evans, who is still calling rates to hold.
Wow, man, those lights are amazing!
