There was also a clear need to stop red tape

His comments come after several business leaders have warned Mr Rudd that putting off the election is hurting the economy.

Mr Stevens stressed the need for “clarity of policy frameworks and objectives, consistent application of policies towards well-understood goals; and, attention to avoiding doing things that can dampen confidence unnecessarily”.

In the address to a room packed with more than 400 economists in Sydney yesterday, Mr Stevens said a recent higher-than-expected inflation report was no barrier to further interest rate cuts.

“We have been saying recently that the inflation outlook may afford some scope to ease policy further if needed to support demand. The recent inflation data do not appear to have shifted that assessment, he said.

Mr Stevens warned that Australia’s twin booms in mining and consumer credit were now over, meaning slower growth ahead.

Commodity prices had fallen rapidly and the Australian dollar was likely to go down with them: “It would not be a major surprise if a further decline occurred over time,” he said.

For the first time, Mr Stevens declared that Australia’s boom in mining investment had peaked,aluminum foil tape meaning a faster and bigger pick up in non-mining sectors like home building and retail was needed.

But despite lower interest rates, Mr Stevens said households had yet to respond dramatically by reducing their savings and increasing their spending. This was happening but “not, to date, by so much that we see a serious impediment to further easing” of interest rates.

Mr Stevens said he had received letters from angry savers wanting him to keep interest rates higher. But the point of cutting rates is to get people to spend their money, not save it.

A concern among economists is that by keeping interest rates low, this might fuel an unsustainable housing debt boom.

But Mr Stevens said Australians were still reeling from lower house and share price growth and had, as a result, discovered a new love of saving.

“People’s sense of wealth has not been rising at anything like the pace that it had been up until the financial crisis,” he said.

Shares had risen from their lows, but the value of non-financial assets ― mainly houses ― “is lower today in real per person terms than it was five years ago”.

Economists said the speech cleared the way for a pre-election rate cut next Tuesday. Mr Stevens controversially raised interest rates in the month before the 2007 election.

There was also a clear need to stop red tape, or in his language “the accretion of regulatory actions”, from strangling business confidence and ability to create new products, make investments or hire people, he said yesterday.

To help address this, the House of Representatives recently passed H.R. 1848: the Small Aircraft Revitalization Act. The goal of this legislation, according to its authors, was to create a more streamlined regulatory process for small airplanes that will improve safety and decrease certification costs while spurring innovation and technology adoption by using “performance-based regulations” instead of those based on weight and type of propulsion.

It also gives the FAA’s Small Airplane Directorate 18 months to reorganize certification regulations, based on ARC recommendations, for so-called “Part 23” airplanes, which range from single-engine piston planes to multi-engine jets. The FAA’s Part 23 Reorganization Aviation Rulemaking Committee is made up of aviation experts and industry representatives, and the recommendations were made with input from over 150 government and industry experts from around the world.

Airplane manufacturers have made it no secret that meeting the costs of existing Part 23 regulatory requirements forced them to price certain aircraft higher than they would like, passing on these extensive certification costs to buyers. Supporters of H.R. 1848 say a revised Part 23 should double safety measures while cutting certification costs in half, which will allow manufacturers to lower aircraft prices and increase sales.

The bill’s lead sponsor, Representative Mike Pompeo,reportedly spent two years working with the FAA to address concerns the agency had with his plan. Despite his efforts, many in the aviation industry have accused the FAA of foot-dragging when it came to implementing the ARC recommendations, and that the advances in aviation technology have eclipsed the original intent of Part 23 as written.

“They (the FAA) are holding back important safety features from pilots and aircraft owners,” said Craig Fuller, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA). “Revising the regulations will make our aircraft safer and more affordable, and it will allow pilots and aircraft owners to more easily upgrade to avionics that offer features like collision avoidance and real-time weather.”

Pompeo said the legislation will help cut through red tape and help the small aircraft industry thrive by removing barriers to investment in new aircraft designs. The law will create more effective, consensus-based compliance standards that will stimulate new aircraft designs and put additional lifesaving equipment into existing planes in a more cost-effective way.

“Today, all our manufacturers, especially our general aviation manufacturers, compete all around the world,” said Pompeo. “Their ability to get their products to market faster … is incredibly important. Their capacity to make that happen and do it in a way to keep airplanes safe and sell products quickly aids in their ability to compete.”

The bill has support from many aviation trade groups, including the National Business Aviation Association, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the Experimental Aircraft Association, and the National Air Transportation Association.
Click on their website www.sdktapegroup.com/Double-sided-tape_c546 for more information.