Why Ross and John treat the latest financial news with a hint of scepticism

RUMOUR FILE UPDATE

Not much bemuses Ross and John quite like stories about Australia’s economy.

It’s not that they don’t take seriously the state of the nation’s finances.

It is that the stories are always negative and based on speculation that is so often proven flawed.

Take today’s news: The International Monetary Fund has downgraded growth forecasts for Australia’s economy to 1.7% this year.

It was previously hoped the economy would grow by 2.8%.

Who made that forecast?

The IMF.

“So the mob that predicted it was going to grow by 2.8% now predicts it will grow by 1.7% and we’re supposed to believe on this occasion they’ve got it right?” Ross asked this morning.

“In other words, an organisation that has shown an incapacity to make a prediction about the economy has made another prediction about the economy.

“Why would we pay the slightest?”

Amid that finance news, it has been revealed Australians aren’t spending their federal tax cuts as much as hoped.

This was first reported by Ross Stevenson on the Rumour File last week.

Ross suggested it’s because tax cuts feel a lot less like the ‘free’ money Kevin Rudd injected into our bank accounts during the global financial crisis.

Nicki Hutley, economist and partner at Deloitte Access Economics, agrees.

“That’s something I’ve been saying for quite some time, and it’s being borne out by retail numbers, particularly,” she said.

Click PLAY to hear the boys discuss that and the importance of growth with Nicki Hutley, economist and partner at Deloitte Access Economics

(Image: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg via Getty Images)