Reserve bank cuts OCR to record low
The Reserve Bank just cut the OCR to a historic low of 2%. And no it’s not good (economic) news.
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Interest rates and banks
Yesterday Andrew Little criticised the banks’ failure to pass on the cut in Official Cash Rate (OCR) to we the people via mortgage / interest rate cuts. Naturally the political right went ballistic.
Polity: Armstrong on National on Labour
It isn’t a new ploy from National or its supporters. “Mortgage rate rises under National: Good. Mortgage rate rises under Labour: Dreadful!”. I’ve seen David Farrar argue both that a recession is the perfect time to cut taxes because it stimulates the economy, and a recovery is also the perfect time to cut taxes to provide a dividend. It reminds me of that old chestnut, most recently applied to Don Brash: “The answer is tax cuts. What is the question again?”
Bollard raises OCR, notes weak recovery
Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard has lifted the official cash rate from 2.75 to 3 per cent, while expressing concerns about the weakness of New Zealand’s economic recovery.
We can do better
By and large the Right are refusing to defend their neoliberal monetary policy system. The currency is causing chaos, the housing bubble is […]