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Albanese Backs Gas Industry Over Ordinary Australians

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In: corruption, democracy, economics, featured, Government, latest post, politics, power

Labor is in the pocket of the Gas Giants, obviously, why else would they rather kick off 160, 000 disabled Australians from the NDIS than properly tax the gas industry to improve the budget bottom line. The facts are that the LNG export sector is worth tens of billions of dollars annually but the majority of the companies involved have not paid corporate tax for years and years. Most of the gas is sold royalty free and the PRRT fails to derive tax from LNG sales, according to the current rules in place. The whole thing is a scam. Why do our governments  support this ripping off of the Australian people in favour of foreign multinational companies? It is a combination of politics over good policy, revolving door corruption and stupidity. Albanese backs gas industry over ordinary Australians.Continue Reading

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The RBA Funded Right Wing Think Tanks For Decades

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In: economics, featured, Government, latest post, media, politics, power

We hear a lot about the independence of our central bank, but not so much of their political bias. The RBA funded right wing think tanks for decades. These are the intellectual influencers dedicated to promulgating neoliberalism and anti-unionism downunder. If you want to know why the gap between rich and poor has widened so immensely in Australia look no further than  these institutions and their influence upon the Aussie economy over the last 30 years.Continue Reading

Albo The Zombie Neoliberal PM

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In: democracy, economics, featured, Government, latest post, politics, power

Anthony Albanese and his Labor government have not addressed the housing crisis. Too afraid to offend anyone; they are hoping to shift the neoliberal economic levers to relieve the situation. Hoping to increase housing stock and have supply reduce the high price of demand. This is not working, however, as there are too many roadblocks in the way in Australia. Not enough tradies to build the needed homes and recalcitrant councils holding up planning and building approvals are just some of the intransigent problems. How many years are poor renters going to have to suffer exorbitant rents on homes? Meanwhile, the price of residential property in Australian cities continues to surge. Albo the zombie neoliberal PM.Continue Reading

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The Political Party Peddling Anti-Immigration Poison

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In: economics, featured, Government, latest post, politics, power

The political party peddling anti-immigration poison is the same party that promotes deregulation wherever possible. The LNP Coalition, who governed Australia federally for a decade, prior to the Albanese government, let in the same number of immigrants as Labor when you adjust for the Covid bumps to the figures. This right wing beat up over immigration is another misdirected blame game strategy. The actual reasons why so many working Australians are struggling economically and why we have a  housing crisis are not because of high immigration. It is a confluence of economic policies, initiated originally by LNP governments.Continue Reading

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Economics Is Anti-Community

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In: democracy, economics, featured, Government, latest post, morality, politics, power

Have you noticed that we have all become economists over the last 30 odd years? That economic-speak has become the lingua-franca of our modern world? We talk about the supply and demand of things, the dollar value of everything, and make all our decisions based upon economic principles to a large degree. This has not always been so. Prior to the American conversion to all things economic, which began with the Rand Corporation in the 1960s, governments and ordinary people did not bang on about economics. Economics is founded upon certain assumptions about individual behaviours driven by self-interest. Indeed, economics is anti-community.Continue Reading

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emergency signage

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In: economics, health, latest post, politics

Private equity investments are bad for health. These American style investments are incredibly unhealthy for the vehicles they, often, drive into the ground. Healthscope: The private equity fail for hospitals in Australia. What private equity does is saddle the thing that they buy with all the debt raised to purchase it in the first place. Then, it liquidates whatever juicy assets in the possession of the targeted investment vehicle. In this case, it was selling all the real estate upon which these dozens of private hospitals reside. This raised billions for the private equity firm. Following this all the hospitals had to pay commercial rents to the new owners of the land. Making operating the businesses more expensive.Continue Reading

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close up shot of iphones

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In: book review, brands, democracy, economics, featured, Government, latest post, politics

If I told you that Apple has invested around US$55 billion every year in China since 2016 would you be able to grasp the enormity of that sized investment? Comparisons include the Marshall Plan after WW2, scaled up to into today’s money, which was the US investing in Europe to rebuild it after the destruction of nearly a decade of war. The Apple investment in China is twice this on an equivalent dollar scale. This is how Apple made modern China.Continue Reading

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boy in black and white sweater covering his face with his tow hand

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In: corruption, economics, featured, Government, latest post, media, politics

It is important to note that economic and political cycles do not usually coincide. Australia remember what 10 years of the Coalition brought us. There is a considerable lag between policy and outcomes. A decade of the LNP Coalition federal governments saw the acceleration of housing unaffordability in Australia. Now, you might think that inflation driving up the prices of residential property is a good thing and your chance to get rich, but home owners, I have spoken with, see it differently. They invariably say, that sure having your house worth a lot of money can appear to be wealth but if you sell it you just have to go out and buy another one which is equally as expensive. Housing affordability has jumped from 5 times annual income up to 13 times in Australian cities, according to respected economic journalist Alan Kohler.Continue Reading

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the politics of energy in Australia

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In: featured, Government, latest post, politics

What you have to understand about the current energy debate happening are the politics of energy in Australia. Renewables offer a largely free energy source from the sun and wind with battery storage to cover when the sun goes down overnight. We are in the midst of this transition with renewables powering around 40% of Australia’s electricity supply. This is growing as we speak.

“Key statistics from the Clean Energy Australia 2024 report:Continue Reading

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white bus on road near in high rise building during daytime

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In: democracy, economics, featured, Government, latest post

Do you know who is driving the bus? By this I mean, who is leading our societies and who is making the important decisions that we all follow? It is not the obvious candidates and by this I refer to the politicians. Business leaders make the decisions which effect our lives and livelihoods. These profit driven CEOs are laser focused on the bottom line for their companies and shareholders. A major shift has occurred over the last 35 years, where workers and consumers have been shunted to the back of the queue and shareholders have become everything to companies under the guidance of their boards and CEOs.Continue Reading