Open economists’ letter on Labor’s stimulus
John Quiggin has published an open letter from 50 academic economists arguing that the stimulus package prevented Australia from going into recession:
Austerity, depressions, and the worries of Paul Krugman
Nick Gruen at Troppo is apparently a tad bored by yet another column by Paul Krugman on his fears of a “long depression” To quote Krugman: We are now, I fear, in the early stages of a third depression. It [...]
Lib Dems to decide: Labour or Tories? #ukvote #ge210 #dontdoitnick
The Guardian is reporting that Nick Clegg will announce within 24 hours whether the Liberal Democrats will go into Coalition with the Conservatives or support a minority Tory administration or join a “Progressive Alliance” comprising Labour, the SNP, Plaid Cymru [...]
The politics of risk and uncertainty in an election year
Writing in Crikey yesterday, Guy Rundle described the Greek imbroglio as the second wave of the Global Financial Crisis: So let’s try and make it as clear as possible — the second wave of the 2008 GFC has begun, and [...]
"He can't tell a kiwi from a kangaroo"
Tony Abbott’s been claiming again that New Zealand is an object lesson in why we don’t need the level of economic stimulus delivered by the Rudd government. Abbott, who said in an interview in 2003 that he found economics a [...]
Recession update
Last November, we had a fascinating discussion about the then-impending recession’s effects on the LP readership community. Six months on, the macroscale picture in Australia is not great, but not as calamitous as it might have been either. Despite a [...]
Labor research on a Costello leadership switch
I’ve made the point a number of times over the years that leaks of internal polling are usually accurate, and also made very deliberately for strategic reasons. It’s always worth remembering that contrary to some perceptions, every staffer and her [...]
Costello on Q&A
After appearing on Sky News this morning to warn of the impending economic doom of the world now that he’s no longer Treasurer, $weetie’s popping up on the ABC’s Q&A panel tonight. I think we can now formulate the iron [...]
The politics of the Senate vote on the stimulus package
Possum has done an admirable job of spelling out the political implications of the stalling of the stimulus package in the Senate [see also Rob's earlier posts]: The real irony here is it’s the bloke in the middle [Malcolm Turnbull] [...]
Are you feeling stimulated?
OK, the stimulus arrives. The big-ticket items? School maintenance and building construction, new public housing, free insulation for owner-occupiers, and a general showering of cash on anybody with a pulse. Initial thoughts – a big tick for the insulation plan [...]
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