Paul Keating has called on the Reserve Bank to help the Federal Government with fiscal spending. Normally governments offset their spending through either taxation or borrowing. But taxation is deflationary so is not an appealing option at the moment and there is a concern (largely exaggerated) about increasing government debt. Keating has essentially called for […]

Financialization means that today’s capitalism is fundamentally different from the capitalism that governments had to regulate 40 years ago. The financial sector has always been important to capitalism. And the work of French economist Tomas Piketty shows capitalism has always had a general tendency to increase inequality absent corrective government interventions. This is simply because the […]

Every day during the pandemic, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has updated us on the state of play with the Corona Virus. Case numbers, deaths, numbers tested, mystery cases, clusters and hotspots. It’s not a soapbox occasion by any means. He’s not trying to win anyone over to any political agenda. He mostly pleads with people […]

In May 2020, the ACTU released a document on rebuilding the economy and jobs beyond the COVID crisis. it urges the adoption of 2 million additional secure jobs by the end of 2021. By secure jobs, it means “jobs where permanent roles are the norm. Employees are entitled to at least a living wage, paid leave, […]

Secret ballots may certainly be necessary to ensure democracy in certain situations. But everything depends on the context. In some contexts, a secret ballot is clearly regarded as anti-democratic. We insist on open voting in Parliament and on Local Councils.  In these contexts, a secret ballot would be regarded as anti-democratic. We hold that members of […]