Lifting the minimum wage isn’t reckless – it’s what low earners need
Stand by for something “reckless and dangerous”.
Articles from Peter Martin
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Why the RBA should go easy on interest rate hikes: inflation may already be retreating and going too hard risks a recession
One of the stranger things about the Reserve Bank’s announcement of why it’s lifting interest rates by 0.25 percentage points is that it suggests inflation will come down by itself.
“A further rise in inflation is expected in the near term,” the RBA says, “but as supply-side disruptions are resolved, inflation is expected to decline back towards the target range of 2-3%.
The 4 economic wildcards between now and election day
There are four economic wildcards between now and the election, and we know exactly when each will be played.
This model tipped the last 2 elections. It’s pointing to a Coalition win
This election will be won by the Coalition and Prime Minister Scott Morrison if the economic models perform as expected – and they usually do.
One issue matters more to top economists than any other this election: climate change
Offered a menu of issues to choose from as the most important in the May 21 election, Australia’s top economists have overwhelmingly zeroed in on one.
The super giveaway that gives more to the already-wealthy, tax-free
One of the strangest, certainly one of the hardest to justify, measures in last week’s budget was called “supporting retirees”.
A better title would have been “supercharging the wealth of those retirees who already have more than enough to live on”.
Budget 2022: Frydenberg spent big, but (on the whole) responsibly
Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND
Cut emissions, not petrol tax. The budget economists want
Overwhelmingly, Australia’s top economists would rather the budget funds measures to cut carbon emissions than cuts income tax or company tax.
They are also dead against rumoured cuts to petrol tax and the tax on beer.
Why Australia’s Reserve Bank won’t hike interest rates just yet
The biggest question relating to the management of the economy right now has nothing to do with next week’s budget. It has everything to do with the Reserve Bank and the board meetings that will follow it.
It’s hard to find a case for a cut in petrol tax – there are other things the budget can do
Cutting petrol tax to bring down the cost of living used to be the political version of a joke. Failed US presidential candidates John McCain and Hillary Clinton both tried it in 2008.