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In yet another sign that the people that are supposed to know what they are doing, don\\u2019t, the Funding for Lending programme came to an end yesterday.
\\nIt was cheap money from the Reserve Bank to the retail banks to get cash out into the economy.
\\nAnd in another of those "whoops, with the benefit of hindsight we would have done it differently" comments, they now say that they should have put more flexibility into the programme.
\\nWhy?
\\nBecause the need for banks to access discounted money has long been over, and we are now in the middle of an inflation crisis because of cheap money, lavish spending and no labour and closed borders.
\\nIn other words - whatever it is you do, do it for the period it needs to be done and no longer.
\\nSo why did it go longer than needed?
\\nBecause, 1) The Reserve Bank didn\\u2019t put any flexibility in.
\\nAnd, 2) Once they realised that, they argued it is better to keep to your word if you said you would do something.
\\nIt reminds me of the wage subsidy programme by the Government. They swore black and blue that all that mattered was to get money out there to save jobs. And as a headline, as a broad concept, it wasn\'t a bad idea.
\\nBut what about the detail? What about the flexibility?
\\nHow hard would it have been for the Reserve Bank to say "this is the deal for now but given none of us has a clue how this all unfolds, we retain the right to change things if matters require us to".
\\nHonestly, is that hard?
\\nSurely someone at some point thought about that?
\\nEqually, the Government\'s wage subsidy - should you in future not actually need the help, should over the next financial year you turn out to be profitable, you will need to pay back some, or all, of the money.
\\nNot every business was going to suffer. Some businesses were going to do well.
\\nOnce again, how hard would it have been to hand the money out with a rider?
\\nHow many meetings were held where a bit of basic common sense was clearly completely absent?
\\nAnd as a result, how many billions have been funnelled out for no good reason for the next generations to have to try and pay back, because the people with the power and the responsibility never took the job seriously enough? Or if they did, never had the skills to execute it properly?
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