You may not know it but around 20% of the home loan market has just collapsed - the securitisation market. The banks are moving into the space and, as a result, rationing credit elsewhere. Below the fold is an op ed in the Age about it.  It introduces a theme you'll probably be seeing a little more of from me.

In a paper I published in 1997 (I think it was) I argued that while competitive neutrality was a good thing, it was possible to have too much of it - at least where it stopped us making the best possible use of the specific qualities of the public sector.  But an alternative and in many cases ultimately more compelling principle is the desirability of making gains through trade. There are some things the public sector does better than the private sector, and it should be able to do them - prudently and within appropriate institutional frameworks.  This column outlines one.  I will outline some others if and when I get the time.