Category: Politics

Proposed here is whether the wise counsel of Jesus of Nazareth, Adam Smith, George Kennan and legions of other insightful souls might well provide a sound basis for solutions to the world’s self-made catastrophic disasters – a vitally crucial issue demanding action before ‘point of no return’ overtakes all.  (more…)

In 2016, Australia’s bilateral trade with China in goods and services topped AU$155 billion (US$122 billion), growing three times faster than world trade as a whole. China was Australia’s largest export market and largest source of imports. It was also the largest source of foreign investment for the third consecutive year. (more…)

Overspending on roads may be already damaging national productivity as well as adding to debt burdens of future generations.  (more…)

It was Tony Abbott who bestowed the appellation “best retail politician in the country” on Barnaby Joyce. Even now, some continue to preface their comments about him by claiming he is possessed of some form of political genius. It is true that Joyce has been successful at the time-honoured Nationals tactic of demanding handouts for farmers despite a complete lack of policy rationale (beyond Joyce’s personal and, given recent events, now ironic vision of Australian agriculture as a rural idyll of white heterosexual families). Hundreds of millions of dollars have been wasted on irrigation infrastructure and concessional loans to farmers at Joyce’s behest. But a quick check of Joyce’s other career highlights suggests he has serially been a problem for his own side of politics.  (more…)

The latest incarnation of the identity politics so despised by the elites of the right (but vigorously embraced when it suits them) is the non sequitur that what people have done previously (even generations ago) can be used as an excuse for their current transgressions. (more…)

Are we heading for another Saturday Night Massacre? – Woodward and Bernstein.

The wall Street “correction” is a financial phenomenon, only loosely connected to the real economy. As ABC Business Editor Ian Verrender explains, “markets — and particularly Wall Street — disconnected from economic fundamentals years ago”.  High American share values have been driven by years of easy monetary policy, and more recently by Trump’s fiscal recklessness. Mild monetary tightening has caused a panic.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the ABC has kicked off its new program The Economists with a session on the economics of love.  Peter Martin discusses the economics of loyalty – to one’s companion, friends, children, country.  Such loyalty may not align with the “rational” economics of self-interest, but it has huge evolutionary advantages.

Fairfax journalist Jessica Irvine writes about corruption. No the brown-paper-bag-full-of-$50-notes corruption, but the corruption that emerges when governments regulate markets. She points out that  “rent-seeking, the practice of attempting to manipulate government decisions to earn profits above what would otherwise be required to stay in business, is now rife”.

Dispatchable wind and solar will be the death of coal and gas – RenewEconomy

Why not fund an Australian tobacco industry?  We’re doing it for weapons – Crispin Hull

Security agencies use their cock-ups to demand more power they don’t need – Jack Waterford

NSW minister altered Barwon-Darling water sharing plan to favour irrigators – the Guardian..

Why Antonio Gramsci is the marxist thinker of our times – New Statesman

Church leaders never fully acknowledged that the culture, structure, processes of the church were part of the problem – Fatima Measham

The family who owns Tasmania’s gambling industry – the Canberra Times.

An aspiring Democrat Presidential  candidate takes on a bank and wins – New Republic

Is private health insurance a con? The answer is in the graphs  – Greg Jericho

Tesla big battery is already bringing Australia’s gas cartel to heel – RenewEconomy

“Private health insurance rebates don’t serve their purpose. Let’s talk about scrapping them” – the Conversation.

On Saturday Extra with Geraldine Doogue this 10^th February: political controversy continues in Kenya that now has a President and a “People’s President”, guests Nic Cheeseman from the University of Birmingham and columnist with Kenya’s Daily Nation and Njoki Wamai, a Kenyan researcher at the University of Cambridge; how the manslaughter charge of a junior British doctor who has also been struck off the medical register has concerned the medical profession in Australia with former President of the AMA and former chair of the WMA Mukesh Haikerwal and health economist Stephen Duckett; the Winter Olympics have begun in South Korea and  Scott Snyder, from the  Council on Foreign Affairs compares today’s situation with that of the Summer Olympics thirty years ago in South Korea and North Asia expert Rana Mitter on the lingering tensions between Japan, China and the Korean Peninsula and the promising situation of an upcoming summit between these countries (sans North Korea). In a good news story, journalist Lisa du Bode discusses the success of women farming seaweed in Zanzibar. www.abc.net.au/rn/saturdayextra

 

 

 

 

Recently Iranian women started a movement  all over the country especially in Tehran . They stand on a platform, take their scarves off and drape them over a street sign. It is in protest again the Islamic dress code . In Tehran, 28 women have been caught and gaoled so far . The first woman arrested did it in Tehran’s Revolution Street so they are called “The Girls of Revolution Street.”  See photos. (more…)

Recently in P & I the question has been raised as to how we can get better government – parliamentary reform, more professional public service, changes in economic policy and so on. But it is the answer to the question above which seems to have got lost.  (more…)

To save $204.7 million, the Government plans to impose draconian sanctions on those needing income support who miss appointments, or work interviews, or who don’t take up the jobs proposed for them. That can’t be the real reason, since the dollar savings count for nothing against the inestimable human and economic costs of these impediments. So much for “mutual obligation”.  (more…)

The ABC’s treatment of what it calls one of the “biggest national security breaches in Australian history” is a disgrace. It put the identity of its source at risk, but reported very little from the documents, preferring to talk at length about how it got them and handed them over to the government. (more…)

We will make better decisions on all the great issues of the day and for the century to come, if we better understand the past. – Gough Whitlam

The celebration of the “Queen’s birthday” in Australia is a perfect reflection of a fading, remnant, relationship. Commemorated in the Australian states as a public holiday on three different days – none of which is her birthday – and honouring an event of dubious significance, the “Queen’s birthday” reminds us that, despite our national independence, the symbolic ties of colonial deference remain. (more…)

A dreadful start to 2018 for Sydney transport made NSW Minister Constance the unwelcome centre of attention.  The spotlight will turn to the Premier who was formerly the Minister for Transport. (more…)

Every February, the Australian Electoral Commission releases data on political donations for the previous financial year. The data routinely show that among the ffbiggest corporate political donors are mining, infrastructure and defence companies and groups. (more…)

The Turnbull Cabinet is upset because some of its secrets are outed through incompetence. The filing cabinet papers so far reveal some hypocrisy and the untruths of Government Ministers past and present. (more…)

The big story about this week’s political donations disclosures is how little they really tell us. Over the last decade the major parties have routinely only transparently disclosed 10-20% of their incomes as donations. (more…)

As our mining boom has receded, Australia has seen unprecedented sums flow to transport infrastructure projects -mostly in our two biggest cities. But we have a real mess on our hands. (more…)

Pressure is mounting to overcome the ridiculous anti-competitive constraints on Newcastle port. (more…)