this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2024

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Greens demand hostile takeover of RBA in exchange for passing board reforms in likely death knell to treasurer's bill (www.abc.net.au)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

This seems pretty wtf.

What sort of precedent do they want to set? Whether or not you embrace neoliberal ideology political interference with monetary policy has not typically gone well, no matter what or whom you want to blame for that.

Am I missing something, or are they just going off the rails here?

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

If politicians can dictate to the RBA idiots like Morrison would have dropped the rate just to win an election and what do you think the chances of the new government raising them?

It would be a disaster and we would be running at Argentinian levels of inflation very quickly

Is the RBA perfect with 20/20 foresite? No

Is it better than having politicians running the levers to suit their short term agendas? Fuck yes

This is Pauline Hanson levels of stupidity from the Greens. I had hoped they would be much better than this.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Politicians apparently can, like there are supposedly legal powers to do so which is what this is about.

However they don't. Although Keating came close to doing it once.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

That’s right I think, which goes to show the Greens want to do something that even Paul Keating baulked at. A very bad precedent to start.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The official rate doesn't matter anymore anyway. The banks are usually way above the official rate. Scavenging psychopaths.

[–] Cypher 4 points 5 months ago

And it has been proven repeatedly that mortgaged up home owners aren’t the ones spending, and that most of the inflation hike we have experienced is run-away corporate greed.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

This is bonkers. The RBA needs to be independent.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah, I don't think they're onto a winner with this one. I could be wrong, though. People are hurting with interest rates where they are.

Maybe this should be interpreted as simply sending a message that the Greens know the pain mortgage-payers are feeling. Staking such an unorthodox position means that it grabs headlines and that message reaches people.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

I think it's pretty clear interest rates aren't exactly fixing shit because the burden isn't falling on the cashed up folks. We can see a lot of spending by the rich during this.

But that doesn't exactly suggest relax rates to me. In the absence of a comprehensive wealth redistribution program (☭ intensifies) I fail to see what this would really do beyond cheapen politics and set garbage precedents.

But basically all pollies have multiple houses, so expecting them to have principles might be going a bit far.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah, I usually follow the Greens and warm to MMT thinking, but using interest rates to improve housing affordability is just a really big misuse of a big lever with broad consequencess.

Now, they didn't talk about it at all in their media release and maybe it hasn't even been considered by Aus Greens, but a big theme in The Green New Deal in the US is looking at fiscal policies that may reduce inflation, like continuing to reduce dependence on petroleum through electrification and public transport infrastructure (every person who catches PT is reducing oil demand), and improving healthcare through universal healthcare like we do here. Of course construction may be the limiting factor when it comes to inflation, but a wartime-style focus on construction supply is basically what is being proposed by MMT proponents.

Back to Australia and the Greens, if they were talking about price stability and alternatives to higher interest rates I might be more supportive. I can think of another political candidate also calling for lower rates in the US - Donald Trump. The reality is that it's politically popular to deliver lower rates risking future price inflation.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Yeah samesies. I'll listen to criticism of neoliberal economic doctrine and monetary policy all day because well gestures at everything but it's a mistake to take potshots at a system without replacing it with something.

I'm on board for bold experimentation, the current system is not working and causes horrific suffering, but I want to have the experiment laid out.

So you attack the rba and... then what? Nothing systemic changes and now a precedent of fiddling with currency for short term political reasons is established. I see that working out really well.

[–] Mitchie151 1 points 5 months ago

Who in the greens to I email to explain how utterly outrageous and stupid this demand is?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Jesus christ they've gone hexbear