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Category Archives: Economy
PERCY ALLAN. How to Avoid a Recession – why QI should replace QE
Both the IMF and the OECD say that monetary policy is largely exhausted so fiscal policy should now be used to ramp up economic growth held back by the triple Ds of high Debt, ageing Demographics and disruptive Digitisation (including … Continue reading
Posted in Economy
6 Comments
MARTIN WOLF. Legacy of Bretton Woods is under threat (Financial Times 11.7.2019)
Trumpian populism is destroying 70 years of global economic co-operation. What can we put in its place?
Posted in Economy
Comments Off on MARTIN WOLF. Legacy of Bretton Woods is under threat (Financial Times 11.7.2019)
KIM WINGEREI. Facebook Libra Pitching for World Domination
Facebook’s Libra launch has the potential to propel Facebook into a major player in consumer payments and credit services and may turn out to be one of the most profound change to world’s financial systems since the abolishment of the … Continue reading
Posted in Economy
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JOHN MENADUE. Here we go again- attacking unions and ‘red tape’.
With no policy agenda and with the economy sagging, the Morrison government(‘We are the good economic managers’) intends to take us back to what Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey offered us six years ago, an attack on the trade unions … Continue reading
Posted in Economy
5 Comments
MUNGO MACCALLUM. Morrison cranks out surplus fetish
Scott Morrison has a new obsession – the budget surplus. In spite of his assurances to the contrary, this has not actually been delivered, and there are growing doubts that it will be – the storm clouds, the head winds … Continue reading
Posted in Economy
11 Comments
SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts in other media
Posted in Economy, Politics
2 Comments
MONIQUE ROSS. Why the Pharmacy Guild is the most powerful lobby group you’ve never heard of (ABC News)
It’s been called the most influential lobby group in Australia, and some believe it has the power to bring down a government if it really flexed its muscle.
MICHAEL KEATING Why the Stage 3 tax cuts will need to be revisited.
In previous articles I argued that Stage 3 of the Government’s proposed tax cuts should be opposed (see Pearls & Irritations, 30 May and 24 June). However, the Government appears to have the numbers to pass its proposed tax cuts … Continue reading
MIKE BRUCE. No jobs here: Penalty rate cuts fail to fire up employment growth (New Daily)
Jobs growth in the retail and hospitality sectors has more than halved since the introduction of Sunday penalty rates, a new study has revealed.
JOHN KERIN. Trump’s latest Farm Bill and Implications for Australia’s Farm Exports.
Trump’s trade policies and reaction to the rebound of them has resulted in another increase of $23b subsidisation on top of the $12b supposedly one-off package last year for US farmers who are ‘collateral damage, as a result of his … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, International Affairs, Politics
Comments Off on JOHN KERIN. Trump’s latest Farm Bill and Implications for Australia’s Farm Exports.
BRIAN LAWRENCE. The Government’s tax package and Labor’s response: the perspective of a cleaner
The Government’s tax package is unfair to low paid workers. In response, the Labor Opposition has just announced that it will support Stage 1 of the package, within which is embeded much of that unfairness. How might we reduce the … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Industrial relations, Politics
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ANDREW PODGER. More Carefully Designed, a Stage Three Tax Measure Could Be a Responsible and Genuine Reform
At the time of last year’s budget, I wrote a [1] revealing how neither the Government’s nor the Labor Party’s then proposed tax changes would simplify the personal income tax system or offer genuine long-term reform. This was largely because … Continue reading
JOHN WILLOUGHBY. Reflections on the average health of average people
I’m writing this, in the concluding years of a career in neurology and neuroscience, concerned for humanity. What do I conclude about the human condition at this time? In a nutshell: we are what we are: overbreeding mammals headed for … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Environment and climate
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MICHAEL KEATING. Lies, Damned Lies and [tax] statistics.
Last Saturday the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) published an article, which purported to show that “Middle and high-income earners will face some of the highest tax rates in the English-speaking developed world unless the Morrison government’s $158 billion tax plan … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
6 Comments
SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts in other media
GAY ALCORN. Call to arms: how can Australia avoid a slow and painful decline? (The Guardian)
Australia has been warned it risks ‘drifting into the future’ if it fails to respond to challenges in a fast-changing world
Posted in Economy, Environment and climate
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ROBIN SMIT, JAKE WHITEHEAD, NIC SURAWSKI. Australians could have saved over $1 billion in fuel if car emissions standards were introduced 3 years ago (The Conversation)
When it comes to road transport, Australia is at risk of becoming a climate villain as we lag behind international best practice on fuel efficiency.
Posted in Economy, Infrastructure
Comments Off on ROBIN SMIT, JAKE WHITEHEAD, NIC SURAWSKI. Australians could have saved over $1 billion in fuel if car emissions standards were introduced 3 years ago (The Conversation)
C.J. POLYCHRONIOU. Noam Chomsky: Trump’s “Economic Boom” Is a Sham (Truthout)
Donald Trump ran a campaign — and won the 2016 presidential election — based on unorthodox tactics, whereby he used irrational provocation to defy traditional political norms and make a mockery of established beliefs on both domestic and international issues … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, International Affairs
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SATURDAY’s GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts in other media
KATE FINLAYSON and TIM BUCKLEY. Queensland government about to make poor economic decision on Adani mine.
Following the Labor party’s defeat in May’s general election, the Queensland Labor government seems keen to approve the development of the Adani thermal coal mine as quickly as possible. However, a report released this week by the Institute for Energy … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Environment and climate, Politics
6 Comments
SANDI KEANE. The bank cat is out of the bag.
The cat is out of the bag. Bank shares have shot up since the surprise election result as new investors pile onto the great franking credits bandwagon.
JOHN MENADUE. Spare us the details!
In the last election campaign I agreed with almost all of the ALP program, but clearly not enough of the public did. There was just too much to explain and communicate. The ALP did not succeed in telling it’s story … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
14 Comments
TRACEY WEST. 3 lessons from behavioural economics Bill Shorten’s Labor Party forgot about (The Conversation)
The Australian Labor Party’s 2019 election campaign showed a depth and breadth of economic policies rare for an opposition party to present. Its policy agenda was boldly extensive. But in developing these policies over the past five years, it seems … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
2 Comments
IAN McAULEY. No wonder the real-estate agents went against Labor
A glance at movements in share prices since the election shows who expects to do well out of the Coalition’s win. (Spoiler – it’s the finance sector.)
JULIAN CRIBB. On the Need for an Earth Standard Currency.
In an age of existential emergency, when the future of human civilization depends on how successfully we manage to solve the ten global threats which are of our own making and which now confront us all, it is important for … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, International Affairs
4 Comments
ROSS GITTINS. Morrison’s miracle election may turn out to be the easy bit. (SMH 19.5.2019)
The great risk from Scott Morrison’s miraculous victory is that it will lead politicians on both sides to draw conclusions that worsen our politics and our policies. Bill Shorten offered us a chance to change the government and change the … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
2 Comments
MICHAEL KEATING. The Morrison Government’s Economic Policy
The Morrison Government has been returned – and it is the Morrison Government – which has been returned without the semblance of an economic policy. And this lack of a credible economic policy did not stop Morrison winning an election … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
3 Comments
MICHAEL MAZENGARB. Global fossil fuel subsidies reach $5.2 trillion, and $29 billion in Australia (Renew Economy)
New analysis commissioned by the International Monetary Fund has shown that global fossil fuel subsidies continue to grow, despite the growing urgency of the need to decarbonise the global economy.
Posted in Economy, Environment and climate
1 Comment
MICHAEL KEATING. This election offers a very real choice. Part 2
In a previous article (posted yesterday) I compared the Coalition and Labor fiscal plans. The credibility of these plans, as well as their value, depends significantly on whether the underlying economic parameters upon which the plans are based are sound, … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Politics
2 Comments
MARK CROSYBY. Trick question: who’s the better economic manager? (The Conversation)
In 1995 I co-authored a paper with Diane Brown and Louise Malady which examined economic outcomes under Labor and Liberal governments in Australia to that time.