Some things in life are easy but working out what the words of Australia's central bank imply about its plans for interest rates is not one of them.
The heart of problem is that, with the economy running hot in parts and cold in others, some indicators showing strength and others in the doldrums, there's something to back any view.
If you think interest rates are going up soon, then you have a high headline inflation rate of 3.3 per cent, the mother of all investment booms in the mining sector - what Treasury calls Mining Boom Mark II - and an inflation-accelerating unemployment rate of 4.9 per cent.
You also have the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) forecast of above average economic growth, falling unemployment and rising measures of underlying inflation.
Underpinning all this is soaring export commodity prices, and the promise of more to come, with China's growth surge going strong and India's just getting going.
But if you think the RBA is going to stay on the sidelines for a while longer, then you can point to the economy's slowdown from above-average growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in the first half of last year, to below average in the second half and, in all likelihood, contraction in the flood-soaked first quarter of this year.
You could point to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showing the trend in employment growth swinging from well above to way below normal since September.
Or the fact that if not for a drop in labour force participation, the unemployment rate would have risen from 5.2 per cent in November to 5.5 per cent, not fallen to 4.9, in April.
Or you could point to shell-shocked households saving the biggest slice of their disposable income since the 1980s.
Or the ABS survey showing business investment outside the mining sector will probably be lower,as a proportion of GDP in 2011/12 than it was during the early-1990s recession.
Or the simmering debt crisis in Greece, which threatens to start a chain reaction of anxiety and - potentially - GFC Mark II.
There is indeed something for everyone to seize upon to support their opinion on interest rates.
Amid the cross-currents, economists might turn to the RBA's board for some guidance in the minutes of its May 3 monetary policy meeting, published on Tuesday with the usual two-week delay.
Unfortunately, the guidance is as clear as mud.
"Members noted that the significant divergences between different sectors of the economy presented challenges for policy-making, but that monetary policy had to be set for the needs of the overall economy.
"In this respect, members judged that if economic conditions continued to evolve as expected, higher interest rates were likely to be required at some point if inflation was to remain consistent with the medium-term target," the RBA said in the minutes.
Just how long conditions would have to "evolve as expected" before "some point" is reached remained tantalisingly elusive.(source : news.ninemsn.com.au)