News // Greg Jericho
May 2023
The Reserve Bank’s decision to raise rates shows a total lack of coherency
Wages growth is rising slowly and inflation is falling faster than expected, and yet the RBA decided to hit the economy again with another rate rise.
April 2023
Latest inflation figures show the RBA was right not to raise rates in April
Inflation is falling steadily but hitting low-income households the most.
The Stage 3 tax cuts are bad economics combined with terrible politics. They should be dumped.
The Stage 3 tax cuts were always bad, but with the removal of the low-middle income tax offset, they become a terrible political strategy as well
Wealth inequality across generations will only fuel voter disenchantment
Millennials are not becoming more conservative as they age – and the rigged housing market is just one reason why
With the impact of rate rises still to come the RBA is wise to pause
Perhaps as much as a third of the rate rises since April have yet to fully hit the economy
March 2023
Stop the fear, give workers a fair pay rise
The whole point of public-sector wage caps is to keep all wages down
The housing market has cooled, but housing unaffordability remains a long way off
House prices are falling but housing unaffordability remains high
February 2023
Superannuation needs an objective and needs to be reviewed
Superannuation is too important for retirement to be allowed to be a tax dodge scheme for the wealthy. It is time to review the scheme and stop the abuses
With interest rates set to rise another 3 times, no wonder consumers are feeling grim
The Reserve Bank now forecasts real household incomes will take longer to recover than they did during the 1990s recession and is also projecting economic growth at historical lows. Australian consumers are right to feel worried about the future.
The Reserve Bank is betting that monetary policy is not powerful
The signs are already evident that household consumption is falling despite most mortgage holders yet to feel the full effects of the rate rises. The Reserve Bank however believes more pain is needed.
As interest rate rises bite, the Reserve Bank should not raise rates next week
The cost of mortgages is soaring and households are spending less in the shops – the Reserve Bank should hold off on raising rates again next week
January 2023
Inflation looks to have peaked but the RBA set to keep raising rates
Most economists believe inflation has peaked and yet the Reserve Bank is still expected to raise rates next month despite real wages falling by more than 4% last year.
The Reserve Bank needs to wait before raising rates again
Home loans have fallen sharply in the past year, and the rate rises are clearly having a major impact. As such the Reserve Bank needs to wait before raising them again.
A new tool reveals how badly the Stage 3 cuts mismanage the budget
The Stage 3 tax cuts will cost $300bn in their first 9 years. A new tool shows how we can spend the money better
December 2022
Inequality and poverty is a policy choice – and the Stage 3 tax cuts will make both worse
When you reduce the revenue available to fund government services, you inevitably increase inequality
The economy is slowing as the Reserve Bank hits the brake
The build up of savings during the pandemic is over – now we need strong income growth to keep the economy going as the Reserve Bank tries to slow it.
The Reserve Bank needs to watch that it doesn’t push the economy off a cliff
For most of this year, the warnings and news about inflation have been one of hope for the best but experience the worst. Predictions of future inflation growth have continually been revised upwards and with it has been the suggestion that interest rates need to keep rising.
November 2022
Rough times ahead for Australia’s economy as oil, gas and coal companies celebrate
The latest economic outlook from the OECD highlights the precarious path for Australia over the next few years.
Wages growth improves but real wages fall at a record rate
The latest wages price index figures show that for the first time since 2013 wages grew by more than 3% in the past year.
Gas companies are profiting off of human misery – we need a windfall profits tax
Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine caused a massive surge in gas and LNG prices that have enabled gas companies around the world, including Australia to make record-level profits.
With household incomes set to fall, we need to think about what matters in the economy
The current tightening of monetary policy is undoubtedly having an impact. While it may take some time for the slowing of inflation to flow through to the official CPI figures – especially given the level of inflation that is being imported – the economy is set to slow drastically.
Would further interest rate rises do more harm than good?
In the past 7 months, the Reserve Bank has increased the cash rate by 275 basis points. That is as fast as any time since the RBA became independent. Given the pace of inflation growth, the rises are not wholly without cause, but as policy director, Greg Jericho notes in his Guardian Australia column the main drivers of inflation are now easing, and wages are yet to take off. In that case, should the RBA continue to raise rates given it will only slow the economy further?
October 2022
Inflation is soaring and real wages are plummeting
On Wednesday the latest inflation figures showed that in the 12 months to September prices across Australia grew by 7.3% – the fastest rate since 1990.
Families change but the same problems remain
The latest data from the Bureau of Statistics on families shows that more than ever before couples with dependants are both working.
With a global recession looming the cure of inflation looks to be worse than the disease
This week the IMF released its latest World Economic Outlook. And the outlook is dire. Economic growth around the world was downgraded with recession-like conditions being predicted for many advanced economies including the USA, UK and much of the EU.
September 2022
The UK shows how bad the Stage 3 tax cuts will be
This week the UK government introduced massive high-income tax cuts – cuts that are not even as bad as the Stage 3 tax cuts here in Australia. And the reaction by the market was brutal. Investors saw the tax cuts for what they were – a redistribution of national income from the poorest to the wealthiest, that provided no economic growth. As a result the value of the UK Pound plunged.
They didn’t cause the inflation, but workers are expected to cure it
Last week before the House Economics Committee, the Governor of the Reserve Bank made it clear that the current rise in inflation has nothing to do with wages growth. And yet he also made it clear he expects workers to bear the brunt of the cost that comes from slowing inflation.
The latest data shows just how bad housing affordability is
Since the Reserve Bank began raising interest rates in May, the housing market has very much come off the boil.
The GDP figures show the ongoing shift of the national income to profits
The June quarter GDP figures released by the Bureau of Statistics showed that over the past year the economy grew a seemingly strong 3.6%.
The PBO reveals just how much the Stage 3 tax cuts favour the wealthy
The Stage 3 tax cuts, which will essentially create a flat income tax system, have always been clearly biased towards high-income earners. For those earning over $200,000, the tax cuts represent a 4.5% cut compared to just 0.6% for someone on the median income of $60,000. But this week, the Parliamentary Budget Office has released costings that detail just how skewed the allocation of money is to the richest in our society.
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