Whacko stuff. Friday morning Kouk was in high dudgeon about lack of stimulus:
The social and mental health costs of this dismal state of the labour market is huge. The economic costs are similarly large.
The good news is the problems can be addressed and with good policy settings, fixed.
…Which brings us to the policy outlook.
There are policy levers the government can pull and push to underpin better economic conditions.
In simple terms, injecting cash into householder pockets will support spending and with that economic activity. Government funded spending on housing, transport infrastructure, local government and regional projects, incentives for business investment are all candidates for policy action.
But by lunchtime he was pounding away at the Government for its profligate latest borrowing:
Government debt just hit a record $719.4 billion:
An increase of $448 billion since the debt & deficit disaster election in September 2013. pic.twitter.com/pA0oAUc4Mi— Stephen Koukoulas (@TheKouk) July 17, 2020
Then this morning he’s out with this, which could bridge the obvious contradiction in his first two outbursts, but won’t:
A lot of the MMT fanatics getting very sniffy when you ask them to explain exactly what they would advocate to the Treasurer. It’s getting more and more absurd and frankly pathetic.
— Stephen Koukoulas (@TheKouk) July 19, 2020
Err, you know, this:
“In simple terms, injecting cash into householder pockets will support spending and with that economic activity. Government funded spending on housing, transport infrastructure, local government and regional projects, incentives for business investment are all candidates for policy action.”
Alan Kohler continues to do far better:
@AlanKohler discusses #MMT on @abcnews last night.
A fantastic brief explainer on how government financing actually works. Government budgets aren’t like household budgets.
A crucial piece in the context of the economic response to coronavirus#auspolhttps://t.co/LHBwKaE8OF
— Daniel Bleakley ✊🌿🌿🐝🦎🐅 (@DanielBleakley) July 19, 2020
Please stop tipping petrol on yourself, Kouk.