No interest, Reserve Bank bored.

from The Northern Rivers Times Edition 146

Hash Brown French Onion Cottage Pie

Everyone agrees the Reserve Bank needs a shake-up. All they do is put interest rates up or down every second Tuesday of each month, except January, inficting pain on either mortgage holders or pensioners relying on high interest rates to fuel their Lotto obsession from meagre investment earnings, or proft-obsessed banks.

Actually, pain is never inficted on banks, who somehow justify raising interest rates a millisecond after any

Reserve Bank rise, while taking months to adjust them when rates go down, and don’t get me started on the account name issue where clearly Australian banks are somehow profting from the $5 Billion per annum money scamming industry, but I digress.

The real issue is the Reserve Bank not knowing what it’s doing and creating another committee to make rate decisions is completely useless.

The Reserve Bank already uses the best economic, fnancial, and political brains. Lining up another half a dozen won’t do doodlysquat, however you spell it.

Economists are fantastic at telling us what just happened, but completely useless at predicting what is about to happen.

The best economic forecasters in the world failed to predict (or chose not to) the Wall Street crash of 1929.

No forecasters since have predicted any recession or other economic disasters during the interim including the Global Financial Crisis.

So perhaps when calling for expressions of interest the government could ask ‘Only those who predicted the recession in 1989 and the GFC need apply”. Surely a quick selection process.

But there is a solution; simply compose a board with a representative from all groups likely to be affected by interest rate changes, including therefore, a mortgage holder (Ms L. has offered her services), a couple of lotto obsessed pensioners, an unemployed person, a couple of indigenous elders, a manager of a Vinnies store, a hospital cleaner, a farmer, and an aged care worker.

Surely, they’ve got their fngers on the pulse of the nation’s economy and anyway, they

Max Crus

couldn’t do any worse than the boards we’ve had for the past ffty years could they?

Hmm, maybe the farmer representative could be from the wine industry, that wellknown litmus for the country’s economy –when things are going well, people celebrate with wine, when things are going badly, they can just have a glass at home instead of going to Noma during a skiing holiday to Denmark.

Max Crus Wine Guide

Brown Brothers Milawa ‘Patricia’ Commemorative Limited Release Pinot Noir Chardonnay (Extended Lees) 2010, $160. Only bankers and scammers can afford this which is a shame as it’s possibly the best bubbles we’ve had since the GFC. Complex without being complicated and too serious, just like a reserve bank deliberation.

9.8/10

Brown Brothers Milawa ‘Patricia’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, $70. Another lovely tribute to the Brothers Brown matriarch, perfect for family gatherings with Mum, Nana, or the Reserve Bank Gov’. The wine’s class belies its weight (14.5 per cent), just like Grandma. 9.5/10

Rusden Vine Vale Vignerons Barossa Valley

‘Boundaries’ (Cabernet Sauvignon) 2020, $65. This is most un-Barossan and unexpected. Light (13 per cent), bright, vibrantly fruity and an altogether different cabernet, and just the sort of person you want on the Reserve Bank board. 9.6/10.

Rusden Vine Vale Vignerons Barossa Valley

‘Chasing Daisies’ (Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Clairette). 2022, $28. What a wonderful description of RB behaviour, Chasing Daisies, and with such an unusual grape combination just the sort of quirky thinking required by the board, which nevertheless produces a result that is normal yet interesting white wine. 9.4/10.

Farmer’s Leap Padthaway ‘The Brave’ Shiraz, 2021, $45. (Bottle No.6152). ‘Fortune favours the

97 Years of Country Hospitality

Enjoy some quality country hospitality when you book accommodation at Tyalgum Hotel. Our renovated pub rooms offer new bedding and linen complemented by the vintage furniture pieces, which remain true to the heritage of the hotel, established in 1926 as the finest public house in the district!

There are thirteen rooms ranging from Doubles, Queen and Family rooms offering ample shared bathroom facilities, guest lounge, complimentary tea and Nespresso coffee and stunning views of the Border ranges. With genuine country hospitality on offer the Tyalgum Hotel is the perfect spot for your next stay in the Tweed area.

The village offers a range of activities from high tea at Flutterbies, regular markets, Jewellery making courses and of course the famous Tyalgum Music Festival.

Or just relax and enjoy the views of the stunning caldera.

brave’ suggests the label, reminding us how brave farmers are. Not sure many would agree that fortune has followed but this is as good a shiraz as any to toast their courage, show some gratitude and enjoy their labour’s fruits. 9.5/10.

(Farmer’s Leap) Random Shot Padthaway Shiraz 2021, $20. The Netfix measure of a wine should be more widely implemented. The number of episodes you can watch in one go determined by the interaction of quality and power of the wine. This rests comfortably in the goldilocks zone of three ep’s. Great value for the price of two months subscription. 9.2/10.