Editor’s Letter – Mar/Apr 2024
At the best of times, I possess the general social skills of an amoeba. But these aren’t the best of times. For some reason, I have lately developed a debilitating conversational illness that is sure to ruin any first impression. With one simple question, I can turn even the most engaged pockets of a sauve gathering into a desolate wasteland of half-empty wine glasses and half-eaten hors d’oeuvres.
It’s simple. Let me guide you through it. I just wait for the most inappropriate time during the flow of a really interesting dialogue about something like the top plays of the Super Bowl and how rugby is a superior display of sportsmanship to gridiron to interrupt with, “So, those interest rates eh?” And if that hasn’t ruined the conversation completely, I hammer the final nail well and truly into its coffin by continuing on a ramble about the linked elements of immigration, employment rates and stubborn inflation data on the Reserve Bank’s decision-making about the OCR. I then go on to lament the fact that like frogs in boiling water, we have become acclimatised to a long run of quantitative easing that has maybe given us a false benchmark of the value and the cost of capital.
By this point, I am only talking to a waiter who just came to offer me a tissue but is now with fear in his eyes backing slowly away from my macroeconomic ponderings.
Of course, I know why this subject clears a room. Firstly, it’s kind of boring but also, a lot of us are feeling the bite of inflation, of mortgage rates, of rising petrol and power prices. We don’t need to have it shoved in our faces on a nice night out. There’s also not a lot that we can do about international and domestic monetary policy. But the downstream impact of this has very real implications for households and businesses.
At the same time, there is also an AI wave that will be disruptive for many industries. There will be new opportunities that are leveraged from this tech and forged during an economic environment that demands an understanding of product market fit and efficient execution. I think we will see some amazing businesses and even new industries emerge during this period. As well as ways for us to ditch unnecessary things and carve out more defined time to drive economic productivity, and have more time with friends and family and to do more of the things that make us human. By the time I get to this point, I am talking to myself though.
On another note, if ever you get the chance try the ricotta and roasted grape crostini hors d’oeuvres, they are really good.