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Why You Are Feeling Poorer?

GDP is up, but most of us are still feeling that we have less than we want or need. Why are you feeling poorer? No less an economic boffin than Alan Kohler puts the onus on moribund productivity within the Australian economy. Now, that does not infer that you are not working hard enough, rather it is due to lack of investment by the companies at the heart of our economy. Why is this so? Have a look around at the markets making up our economy. They are largely controlled by one, two or a few giant corporations. Monopolies, duopolies and oligopolies abound. The distinct lack of competition in most sectors in Australia translates as neutered consumer power in the market place. These companies have no market driven need to innovate, as they have massive market shares already. Little to no innovation means they are not investing and that means productivity gains are not happening within the Australian economy.Continue Reading

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Stupid Right Wing Culture War’s Behaviours

Look around at the evidence of stupid right wing culture war’s behaviours in Australia. Those on the Right champion fossil fuels like diesel and coal, despite the economic savings now available via renewable energy and batteries. Australia has spent the last 30 years facilitating the investment and development of LNG. During that same time frame, successive governments subsidised diesel use to the tune of billions every year. Australia is one of the largest exporters of LNG globally, but our transport trucks run on diesel and not on gas. Australia imports oil and diesel. Predominantly right wing federal governments have overseen the energy policies followed in Australia during this period. The trucking industry itself has long been content to stick with what it knows rather than open its eyes to realities like global warming. Surely, it would be smarter to use our own resources rather than run our essential trucking transport infrastructure on imported energy.Continue Reading

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The Real History Of Australia

By Australia I refer to the European colonisation of this land mass. Terra Australis became Australia in 1817, although it had been referred to as New Holland prior to this by Europeans. The reality of its Indigenous heritage is far older and not the intention of this short essay to cover. It is, however, deserving of a deep respect by all who live here and who choose to visit. The real history of Australia is, then, limited to a more modest time span. It is my suspicion that many Australians are unaware that Australia began its British colonial life as a penal colony.Continue Reading

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A New Reason To Hate Orange

Now, there is a new reason to hate orange. Agent orange, of course, was chemical warfare evil. Fire ant eradication officers in orange marching around your backyard, also, pissed people off. And, as a former ‘orange person’ Rajneeshie, if truth be told, most of us hated having to wear orange. One Nation is the new reason to hate orange. These entitled, older, white folk whinging about immigration and taking Australia back for Anglo-Aussies have embraced the orange colour, as their political signature branding. Their leader, Pauline Hanson, has orange dyed hair or a wig emblazoned that colour. Could this be a redder amber warning light for Australia?Continue Reading

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Sydney Swans Stars Shit On Everyone Else

It can be a sad fact of life that as we age our lives become less in some sense. Perhaps, it is just that the hopeful factor thins, as the balance of time remaining tips the other way? Things like your tribal allegiance to barracking for your footy team can, somehow, become more important, as family grows up and leaves the nest. All of this preamble is trying to get to the point, which is that the Sydney Swans have seriously let me down on the very eve of the finals. And not just a single player but the cream of the team. And not via anything that has happened on the field of play. Rather, it is something, so insidious and unexpected that it has been hard to believe. The Sydney Swans stars shit on everyone else. What for? A mindless good time? Vanity? Ego?Continue Reading

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The Danger Of Land Ownership

Land property has become majorly expensive in Australia. The housing shortage crisis has impacted upon prices and land values across the board. Until very recently, property investment in Australia was a rolled gold investment and this has contributed to the sustained growth in prices over many years. The great Australian dream has been narrated around owning your own home and for many this has seemed unaffordable on the basis of the high prices for land and housing. Alan Kohler has shown us that home ownership now demands up to x13 years of average annual incomes in places like Sydney. The danger of land ownership is not only economic, however.Continue Reading

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Digital Imperialism: The New Colonialism

Have you been getting the message that machines do it better? That AI is smarter than you? Have you been replaced at work by some sort of artificial intelligence program? Digital imperialism: The new colonialism is here. Now, you get to experience what plenty of Indigenous peoples have had to deal with over the journey. The clear and present inference that you are not good enough and too dumb to matter. Your culture thrown on the scrapheap of progress and advancement. This time, however, it is humanity per se copping it in the neck via a form of Social Darwinism. Only a small group of investors matter, those who are shareholders in the Big Tech companies overlording the rest of us.Continue Reading

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AFL Is A Team Game Not An Individual Pursuit

AFL commentator David King blows hard over the stars of the game. King rhapsodises about these star factor players in his puff pieces masquerading as expert punditry. It is akin to the lead singer of a pop band getting all the acclaim, as the media ignores the rest of the musical group. Of course, without the bass and drums there is no band. Likewise, without the other footballers in the team there is no winning combination. Focusing on individuals is what PR machines and the media always do, it is the easy option when telling stories. It is not the real story though. It is one of the reasons why America is in the shit right now, with a lying, cheating king called Trump running the show. AFL is a team game not an individual pursuit.Continue Reading

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Pauline Hanson

These are the things that Pauline Hanson said at her National Press Club speech recently.

Australian workers are lazy! Always on their phones rather than working. No more pay rises for them under One Nation. No paid parental leave for any workers, either.

51.5% of the Australian population were either not born here or their parents weren’t. Despite this, Pauline Hanson wants an end to multiculturalism and a return to a white, Anglo-monoculture. Talk about pipe dreams in a population of 28 million Australians. This is neither feasible or realistic. In line with this, Hanson wants an end to SBS and the ABC, as government funded entities. The white supremacist racist wants to cancel any media in opposition to her reactionary agenda. A vote for One Nation means her way or the highway.Continue Reading

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Open book with text and portrait

Scientists have revealed the genome of Adolf Hitler, the most reviled man in modern history. Hitler is likely to have had Kallmann syndrome, which points to a micro-penis in his pants. It begs the question did Hitler’s small penis cost millions of lives? How so? The association between physical deformities and killers is well established in criminology studies. The burden of not measuring up in that most sensitive of areas would, in all likelihood, spur a lifetime of resentment. All that angry oration, Hitler was famous for, speaks of overcompensation.Continue Reading