not 'gratuitous' at all - 1% would have been gratuitous. Anywhere between .5% and .75% would have sent the shot across the bows for the signal the bank wants to send - stop the house price madness - now.
.5% is a tad light on IMO -- it will cause a few Aussies to stop and look - but, .75% would have pulled them all up.
going a soft, gentle warning early is often not enough -- if we remember the Bush interest rate machine gun - quarter here, half there, another quarter - it seemed like every 2 weeks interest went up -
that signalled something - that government and banks were panicking, and serious.
this 0.5% is just a shade more than a tap on the brakes - it's a tap on the brake that would cause the passengers in the car to look up from their iphones --
but, to me - too light - they will look, then, they will resume the game on the iphone -------- which will mean - another tap soon
tap tap tap - until the passengers find the road too rough to keep playing
