Economy
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What does China’s electric vehicle rise mean for the global market?
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi recently unveiled its first electric vehicle (EV), the SU7, igniting a spark of excitement. At the launch event, Xiaomi’s founder and CEO Lei Jun, whose vision includes creating “a dream car on a par with Porsche and Tesla,” said that from design to batteries, intelligent driving to cockpit controls, the SU7 Continue reading »
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NDIS and Aged Care; from rights first to budget first
When she introduced the first NDIS legislation to the House of Representatives in 2012 Prime Minister Julia Gillard said it was to replace “A system that metes out support rationed by arbitrary budget allocations, not real human needs”. It was a radical break with other forms of welfare assistance because it put the human rights Continue reading »
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Sharing the benefits of technological progress
This is the first of three articles discussing how the benefits of technological progress are shared, and thus determine the distribution of income and influence our economic and social structures. This first article focuses on how these benefits have been shared historically. Continue reading »
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The notion of China as “uninvestable” is simply wrong
Despite challenges, including the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and structural concerns, voices from within the business community underscore a robust economic outlook. Continue reading »
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XR blocking arteries of capitalism labelled “catastrophic inconvenience”
One month ago, three Extinction Rebellion protesters led by Deana ‘Violet’ Coco blocked the Westgate Bridge to deliver a desperate plea to all Australians. ‘Climate Breakdown has Begun.’ Continue reading »
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The guiding criminal lie in economics
A criminal is one who seriously breaks the law. By that measure Albanese, Dutton and most pollies across Australia are criminals together with their supporters. Continue reading »
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It will take hope, inspiration and action to save the earth
I see humanity as at the mouth of a very long, very dark tunnel. And right at the end of that tunnel, there’s a little star that’s hope. And it’s no good sitting at the mouth of the tunnel folding our arms and hoping that the star will come. Continue reading »
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Nuclear energy everywhere costs an arm and a leg
The contribution of nuclear power to electricity generation is the lowest for thirty years and its price twice that of renewables. Continue reading »
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AUKUS and military escalation – Who pays and who benefits?
On 12th March, IPAN ACT held a webinar in Canberra entitled AUKUS and Military Escalation – Who pays and who benefits? View the must-watch speeches from Alan Behm, Hugh White, Sue Wareham and Michelle Fahy below. Continue reading »
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US-China electric vehicle dispute shows old trade rules imperil climate action
“The climate crisis is too urgent for the U.S. or any country to allow outdated trade rules… to distract us from enacting bold climate policies,” argued one campaigner. Continue reading »
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Lunacy: Australia pays the US billions to “keep those Chinese at bay”
When Canberra told us we had to join the US in its cruel attempt to prevent a Vietnamese peasant army from overthrowing a US-armed Saigon government, some of us thought the politicians were plain stupid. Continue reading »
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America’s latest move to block China’s economic rise
US lawmakers have introduced a bill that would bar US mutual funds from investing in indexes that track Chinese stocks (Bloomberg). According to Bloomberg “The legislation targets mutual funds that invest in indexes tracking primarily Chinese stocks, rather than those investing in indexes that only include some Chinese companies, according to Sherman’s office. However, the Continue reading »
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Australia’s AUKUS tributes
Of course, at this time of rising living costs, economic uncertainty, and impending climate disaster, subsidising the British and American submarine construction industrial bases is the obvious priority. At least it seems that way to the Albanese government. Continue reading »
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Have we passed ‘Peak China’?
Saul Eslake, the renowned and independent economist, has updated his China chart pack which was last prepared in January 2023. The chart pack gives a bird’s eye view of the economic challenges China needs to address. By using the term ‘Peak China’, he does not mean that China will collapse, but that its future economic Continue reading »
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Why are Liberals trashing relations with WA’s biggest export customer?
Andrew Hastie and Tony Abbott are trying to install a candidate in WA who has written a fictional book to scare people about a Chinese invasion of Australia. Continue reading »
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BYD says plug-in electrics will exceed 50 pct of new car sales in China in next 3 months
The CEO of BYD, the Chinese giant challenging Tesla as the world’s biggest electric vehicle maker, says sales of New Energy Vehicles (NEVs), including battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), will make up more than half of all new cars sold in China within the next three months. Continue reading »
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Geopolitical grand larceny and its risks
One of the Ten Commandments says, with awkward bluntness: Thou Shalt Not Steal. Predictably, some are inclined to read certain qualifications in to this prohibition. As it happens, this sort of adaptive-thinking underpins arguments made in a recent article in the leading US journal, Foreign Policy. Continue reading »
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South Australia’s world-leading renewable transition is attracting flood of new industry
Will a grid based around wind and solar kill manufacturing and industry? It’s what the naysayers – the Coalition and conservative agitators – want you to believe, but the experience in South Australia, which leads the world in the uptake of wind and solar, proves the opposite. Continue reading »
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The campaign to destroy the GST
Australia’s system of GST distribution — despite some serious mutilation by WA — remains one of the most effective and fairest in the world. That’s why the NSW government wants to blow it up. Continue reading »
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Universities make astounding discovery: AUKUS lacks a social licence!
A not-so-happy anniversary: Usually, a first anniversary is an occasion for all-round rejoicing and back-slapping. So, it was to be expected that there’d be universal self-congratulation on the first anniversary of Anthony Albanese’s, Rishi Sunak’s and Joe Biden’s announcement on 13 March 2023 that Australia would purchase nuclear-powered attack-class submarines from the US as part Continue reading »
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The Impact of AI on the labour market and equality
In future AI is the new technology which is likely to have the greatest impact on our economy and our society. But how AI is used and developed is a choice, and so far AI has been predominantly focused on continuing the emphasis on automation. To realise the full potential of AI and minimise its Continue reading »
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China’s quiet energy revolution: the switch from nuclear to renewable energy
There is now a policy dispute about the roles of nuclear and renewable energy in future Australian low emission energy systems. The experience of China over more than a decade provides compelling evidence on how this debate will be resolved. In December 2011 China’s National Energy Administration announced that China would make nuclear energy the Continue reading »
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Everything Chinese is a national security threat to the United States
After the battles over 5G, social media and advanced microchips, Chinese electric cars are the new front line of US economic warfare. Continue reading »
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China warns foreign hackers are infiltrating ‘hundreds’ of business and government networks
Top spy agency urges Chinese citizens to step up cybersecurity as attacks by overseas agencies have been ‘rampant’ in recent years. The message comes as Beijing broadens scope of anti-espionage law to cover online attacks and prepares to expand penalties for data violations. Continue reading »
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Global economic and financial review
The American economy is strong, Australia’s economy has slowed to a standstill, and Xi Jinping is proving to be a dry economic rationalist rather than a warm indulgent socialist. Read on for this week’s global economic and financial review. Continue reading »
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The sordid geopolitical saga of TikTok
The US considers TikTok a national security threat. It wants to ban TikTok or transfer its ownership to an American company. In doing so, it is displaying the very behaviour that that it ascribes to China and of which it does not approve. Continue reading »
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How our tax system is making the rich richer. And the poor poorer
Australians frozen out of the housing market cannot expect that government is going to do anything that effectively closes the gap between current house prices and what most of the unhoused could afford as a deposit. Modern politicians of all stripes are all agreed that their political survival depends on doing the maximum to sustain Continue reading »
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America is dumbing itself down. Banning TikTok won’t halt the slide
The US has created the conditions for the decline of its own society. Continue reading »
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Changing mindsets: From wealth creation to delivering retirement incomes
Australia’s superannuation system is based upon defined contributions, largely because that avoids the main weakness of many overseas systems based on defined benefits of rising costs for future generations. Continue reading »
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China’s falling exports to EU, US signals West’s economic decline
We have all no doubt have seen the bad news that China’s exports to the EU have reduced, China’s exports to the US are declining rapidly and, as a result of it, we’re being told by Western media that China is on the verge of collapse. Continue reading »