Interest Rates, page-7

Courtesy ABC daily round up extract:

Today, the Prime Minister visited Perth (he tends to return there compulsively, like a tongue to a dental cavity, and this is unlikely to be the last time) where he announced some money for two Evolved Cape Class patrol boats and, in an unrelated development, was greeted by a group of people dressed as Neanderthals chanting "Ooga Booga!"

He has also announced a mild expansion to the Home Guarantee Scheme, in which the Government underwrites first home buyers to edge out into substantial debt in a thrilling game of chicken as the Reserve Bank ponders raising interest rates.

I mean, while we are reminiscing about past election campaigns, does anyone recall 2004, in which the correlation between reckless Government spending and interest rates was so hyper-fetishised that poor old Mark Latham had to sign a giant cheque labelled "Labor's Low Interest Rate GUARANTEE"? Back then, it was felt that budgetary restraint was the key to keeping interest rates low.

No mention of that sort of unpleasantness in 2022, a year in which we hand out money to drive housing prices higher while magnificently ignoring our $78 billion deficit and look forward to breaking even sometime in the 2060s.

This is like a game of chicken. For some their feathers will be ruffled courtesy ScoMo.