Hugh White Hoists Up AUKUS White Flag
Australia has a lousy record when it comes to submarines. It seems submarines bring out the worst in our defence force and our national security aspirations. Hugh White hoists up AUKUS white flag in recent essay. Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at ANU, Hugh White knows a thing or two about this topic and Australian national security capabilities. Younger Aussies may not remember our ongoing challenges with the Collins class submarines. They may not be au fait with our dalliance with the French in regard to supplying us with submarines pre-AUKUS. The Japanese were in the running there for a while too. Basically, submarines and Australia have a perpetually sinking relationship, it seems.
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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.
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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.
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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.
The Secret Life Of Money
It may seem strange to talk about the secret life of money when a lot of people devote their lives to it. It’s not really when you consider the same thing has been happening around God for many millennia. Human beings have a propensity for this sort of thing, it seems. Money has a secret life because most of us do not understand what it is and how it actually works. Modern economies on the national scale are very large and complex things. Macro economics does not operate in the same manner as our own individual financial set up functions. This is why most people struggle to grasp how money and the economy as a whole really work.
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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The Truth Is Too Boring
The truth is that governing is a mixture of boring details and long hours – it essentially involves a lot of deal making. The truth is too boring. To engage the voting public in the political system those charged with the task make up a bunch of contentious stories. They craft a narrative where a group of people are to blame for many of the frustrations that the dominant cohort experience in their lives. Exaggeration is the order of the day when it comes to pinning the tail on the donkey or scapegoat. Emotive issues are called upon to rile up sections of the electorate. Gay people or the more collectively referred LGBTQIA are often in the crosshairs of the conservative minded parties. Gender identity and sexual preference are Rubicon’s not to be crossed in the minds of many. Therefore, these folk get the blame morally and, also, economically because diversity costs money according to the straight and narrow batting for the social conservatives. This all appeals to the very un-Christian like hardline Christian groups who maintain an exclusive door policy as to who gets into their idea of heaven.
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Big Ears Had To Bow Out From Noddy: The Woke Conspiracy.
‘If you don’t know, vote No!’ This tag line from the recent Voice referendum captures succinctly the political stratagem of the conservative right. Turning ignorance and indifference into celebrated public virtues in a bid to capture the vote of the dominant white cohort. The sustained attack on all things ‘woke’ is part and parcel of this 21C campaign. Identifying examples of woke in workplaces and public life have been vote winners for socially conservative candidates and parties. I remember it began with things like the apparent banning of racially offensive terminology from children’s books. Niggers and gollywogs were the first to get the chop. White folk were upset about the removal and amendments of characters and aspects from much loved stories from their childhoods. Big Ears had to bow out from Noddy: The woke conspiracy. Roald Dahl stories were full of inappropriate and politically incorrect characters and terminology. There was this air of ‘how dare they!’ The majority white view was – can’t these people take a joke. Of course, this is the problem in a nutshell, because unless you are in the shoes of those being racially slurred you have no idea what it feels like.
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Trump Evangelicals Are Not Really Christians
A new study has revealed the fact that many Trump Evangelicals are not really Christians in the sense of church going folk. Their evangelical badge is more a cultural identity as white Christian nationalists than a true faith based calling. It is a very American transition that their Evangelical identity is more of a brand thing in the 21C. Many of these folk do not regularly attend church and their understanding of the gospels in the bible seems scant. How else could they match Trump with Jesus if not by blind ignorance about what is written in the gospels. Similarly how could they justify their guns and threatening behaviours if they were truly Christians?
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Housing Crises Happening All Over The World
There are housing crises happening all over the world. Rents have sky rocketed and property prices are unaffordable for many citizens. Market forces are not meeting the needs of the people. Some operators within the industry are telling us that it is all about a shortage of housing stock. However, houses and property are so expensive now it is no easy thing to just build more houses. Quite simply, the current set up is not working. Providing shelter is a basic prerequisite for governments in their role of looking out for their citizens. The economic settings are making some people wealthy via property ownership and another section of the community poor because of their omission in this regard.
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The Politics Of Grievance
America is the great democratic experiment. Although, this is getting on for some 250 years now. This nation is in the grip of the politics of grievance. Partisan politics in America is more about hating the other side than particularly loving the side you are voting for. Americans have been encouraged to focus their attention upon their grievances via decades of negative campaigning and attack ads. Demonizing ‘the other’ is the favoured political pastime in the 21C. Identity politics and social values are the main game these days. Economic issues are now seen through this ideological filter.
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Nikki Hayley Don’t Mention The Civil War
The white supremacist Republican Party doesn’t recognise slavery. Hey, that is critical race theory! The warped and distorted truth according to the GOP exists in another dimension entirely from the rest of the world. Nikki Hayley don’t mention the Civil War. The Trumpist GOP marches to the beat of an election denying and coup trying demagogue. A compulsive liar who has spun so many mistruths he is a deflecting destroyer of democracy. The loathsome racist past of America is emerging from the shadows to once again dance on the graves of its many victims. Wilmington, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the decades of lynchings in the South. Memories of the time before!
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