Private Wealth Vs The Public Good
Life in Australia, a centrist Westminster democracy, and a mixed economy of both planned and free markets has always been a balance between private wealth and the public good. Today, however, we are seeing the uneven fruits of imbalance in the housing sector in particular. Ever since John Howard brought in the capital gains tax discount some 30 odd years ago – inflation in the residential property market has run riot. It has now reached an apogee of unaffordability for many Australians, most of them younger and losing the aspirational dream of home ownership in their lifetimes. Private wealth vs the public good – tough conversations need to be had to address the severe problems around this matter.Continue Reading
Supreme Court Fails America & The Rule Of Law
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has failed to uphold the rule of law when it comes to the insurrectionist actions of Donald Trump. It is a pretty worrying situation when the highest court in the land plays politics over upholding the constitutional laws of the land. Supreme Court fails America and the rule of law. America has ended up with an activist conservative majority of justices, who are hellbent on protecting Donald Trump by hook or by crook. These 5 guys have been placed in positions of unassailable power, at great expense to those with vested interests, to ensure that Republican endorsed values and politics get the nod.Continue Reading
The Financialization Of Essentials
During a cost of living crisis, which many in the world are now experiencing, it is easier to get in touch with the essentials necessary for living. Food, shelter, and energy are the essential ingredients for survival in our modern worlds. The financialization of essentials by capitalism is proving to be at cross purposes for those trying to survive in a cost of living crisis. What do I mean by this? The march toward a consumer society has meant that all these basic requirements of life are things you have to buy. Few of us go out and dig up or hunt for our food these days. Putting a roof over our head is an expensive purchase in the 21C. Plus, all of our devices and vehicles run on forms of energy which we have to buy. Neoliberalism promised to make things easier and cheaper for all in this regard but has manifestly failed to do so. We were told that if governments got out of the way and let private enterprise do what it’s best at we would all be much better off. Thirty years of this, ‘the market knows best’ ethos, has placed at least a third of working Australians in dire straits when it comes to affording the basics of life. Neoliberal economic policies have failed us in every essential market.Continue Reading
Anti-Science Trend Happening Within Conservative Movements
In the US, we are seeing the continuing power grab by extreme Christian Republicans in the recent IVF ruling by the Supreme Court of Alabama. This forms part of an anti-science trend happening within conservative movements, which first came to prominence during the Covid pandemic in America. People clinging to their beliefs in a Bronze Age God rather than following 21C scientific public health protocols. The GOP mined this protest against such things as vaccinations and mask wearing as grist for their politics of grievance. The US Supreme Courts discounting of Roe vs Wade has opened the door for more extreme demands by state based Republicans on the issue of women’s rights vs that of unborn foetuses.Continue Reading
Supermarkets Making Super Profits In Australia
Coles has some 8, 000 suppliers providing the supermarket lines they sell to their customers. Woolworths is in a similar situation re-numbers of suppliers. Supermarkets making super profits in Australia are hitting the news for all the wrong reasons. The nation is in the midst of a 2 year cost of living crisis with high inflation having stripped the savings from the working poor. A Four Corner’s expose shown on the ABC has shone a stark light on the state of play in our supermarket sector. Coles and Woolworths have some 65% of the grocery market share – this is a powerful duopoly, which puts all the advantages in their corner. Farmers supplying the duopoly are being squeezed into submission economically, as are many other suppliers of their grocery lines.Continue Reading
Is Peter Dutton Trying To Be Australia’s Putin?
Dutton is back on the border issue blaming a weak PM for a boat load of refugees on our northern border. Is Peter Dutton trying to be Australia’s Putin? Making out that he is the strongman of the Oceana region; keeping us safe from a few desperate people in search of a better life. Immediately, he is finger pointing at the bad guys – the people smugglers. This is the ‘out’ for locking up these vulnerable human beings in offshore detention. Australians are punishing the bad guys and not just the refugees – although it is them who pay the price of their liberty for who knows how long.Continue Reading
Russia Manipulating American Democracy
Vladimir Putin has been actively engaged in manipulating the USA through the dark arts of digital disinformation for at least a decade. Russia manipulating American democracy via social media and having bought Trump some time back is going swimmingly. A brief look at the state of the Republican Party and the Trump candidacy for President can confirm that. America has been split down the middle with progressives on one side and the MAGA led conservatives on the other. The cosy coalition between MAGA and Putin’s Russia would strike cold warriors from the 1950’s as completely bizarre. Americans backing the military aspirations of an eastern demagogue and his police state is what we appear to be seeing. WTF?Continue Reading
Negative Gearing Needs To Have Limits
Of course, negative gearing needs to have limits imposed upon it, as does the capital gains tax offset. It has only been political expediency, which has maintained these inequitable economic policies for so long in Australia. Yes, there will be howls of protest coming from those benefitting directly and indirectly from these policies. The real estate sector will be up in arms and crying that the sky will fall down upon us all if these changes are made. The aspirational voter (those who see property investment as their pathway to riches) will be dead set against any changes to either negative gearing or the capital gains tax offset.Continue Reading
David Graeber’s Debt
I have been reading the late David Graeber’s Debt: The First 5000 Years and what a wonderful book it is. This intellectually sprawling tome goes where few have gone before in terms of investigating humanity’s most loved things – money and god. The intersection between these two oft cited opponents may surprise some encountering Graeber’s insights for the first time. The intangible nature of both at their core should reveal the commonality between them, perhaps? What is money but an IOU. Who or what is god but another promise of highly questionable provenance. The anthropologist Graeber shares many illustrative stories from a variety of cultures and civilisations to entertain readers.Continue Reading
The Real America Is A Moral Maelstrom
Rich people in the United States tell poor people, especially poor black people, that their poverty is their own fault. The American ethos celebrates the self-made man. The great American delusion is that every individual has the opportunity to make something of themselves. To achieve greatness by pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. That this analogy represents something physically impossible and that it was originally coined as a joke is, perhaps, more telling about America than anything else. Especially as the white folk have rigged the game in their favour a long time back. The real America is a moral maelstrom.Continue Reading