It’s not asking too much…
That’s the title of the Salvation Army’s latest National Economic and Social Impact Survey. Epithets such as “disturbing” and “alarming” are being used. In the light of our unwillingness to pay more tax, you might add “obscene”. One child in [...]
Ford goes – and how much does it matter?
To the surprise of almost noone, Ford has announced that it’s planning to shut down Australian production in 2016. Ford has been the weakest of the local manufacturers for some time. Nick Gruen – who worked with Hawke government industry [...]
What is Abbott up to?
Max Gillies Smith thought the Abbott budget reply a series of stumbles. These include the promise that peoples “fortnightly budgets will be under less pressure as electricity prices fall and gas prices fall and the carbon tax no longer cascades [...]
Trolling coal: jobs, climate and the Iron Lady
The pre-recorded televised tributes have ended. The street parties are over. In Britain, the outrage that swelled in some quarters over the Baroness Margaret Thatcher’s faux state funeral has died away, leaving in its wake the dull, tedious thrumming of [...]
Raising the GST
In a sane world, Labor would also be contemplating the possibility of raising the GST. It seems that Joe Hockey, who circle-squaring challenge seems to get greater every time Tony Abbott opens his mouth, is at least broaching the idea, [...]
The best place in the world to be a mother
It’s not Australia, although we came 10th. Finland, of course! And, we are told, the scores of the top ten are closely clustered, so we are right up there. Every year the Save the Children put out a State of [...]
Budget expectations 2013
I’ve gathered together some links to show what some commentators have been saying about the Swan song budget to be delivered tonight. Starting with Laura Tingle and Alan Kohler we find that Swan’s credibility is shot and it doesn’t much [...]
The Royal Mail to be sold off
Australian governments of the left and right have privatized any number of formerly state-owned enterprises. Politically, the process has seen responses between grudging public acceptance to vehement opposition; the outcomes have been similarly mixed. But while everything from the Commonwealth [...]
NSW coal generation under pressure
Well it is if the country stays on its present policy trajectory. Sophie Vorrath at RenewEconomy comments on the latest pitt&sherry electricity emissions update (April data). Back in 1998 coal used to supply 90% of NSW’s National Electricity Market (NEM) [...]
The Costello Commission redux
Newspoll continues, with sad predictability, to suggest that Coalition are heading towards a thumping victory. While I continue to hope for a turnaround by election day, it remains very likely that September 14th will result in Tony Abbott becoming Prime [...]
Sexualising Keynes: Not just about Niall Ferguson
British historian Niall Ferguson recently made some very stupid claims about Maynard Keynes: that Keynes’ sexuality and childlessness led him to ignore the long-run consequences of deficit spending. Ferguson, who started off as a historian of finance but who has [...]
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