Albo The Zombie Neoliberal PM

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 American Minimum Hourly Rate Disgrace

The US federal minimum hourly rate of $7.25 has not changed since 2009. That is 16 years; and have a think about how much stuff has gone up in that period. In Australia, the equivalent wage rate is $24.95. Even, with the dollar exchange rate factored in it is more than double. What kind of ‘so-called’ democracy gets away with exploitative shit like this? This is why many American families need food stamps (SNAP) and other forms of welfare because they allow greedy f****** employers to take advantage of vulnerable people. It is such a f***** up country that they look up to a king sized grifter like Donald Trump. The American minimum hourly rate disgrace.Continue Reading

The Americanisation Of Australia

I read in an ABC news report about a doctor earning $600, 000 a year. University vice chancellors on $1.5 million per year. Dentists earning half a million, whilst many older Australians cannot afford to go to the dentist because of the high cost involved. This is the Australia we now live in. A country, in which 20 of the last 25 years have had LNP Coalition federal governments. Inequity and inequality are riding higher than ever before downunder. This has Americanised us via the concentration of corporate ownership via mergers and takeovers creating duopolies and oligopolies in nearly every sector. This failure of the ACCC and ASIC, under the government’s watch, has stripped away consumer buying power and worker’s rights. The competition watchdog has been asleep at the wheel or paid off by nefarious means and the revolving door. This is the Americanisation of Australia.Continue Reading

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Economics Is Anti-Community

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