Some sort of preamble and a pic
Fábrica Americana (American Factory) Si pensaste que la ventaja que tiene China en la fabricación es por causa de la manipulación de su tasa de cambio o por el robo de tecnología extranjera, hay que ver la película ‘American Factory’. Sea cual sea la importancia de un yuan bajo, o el robo de tecnología, en la dominación china de la ...
Responding to Corona Virus and Pre-Existing Economic Issues Prior to the CVP Australia’s economy was already afflicted by significant economic problems including the following: Stagnant real wage growth and high incidence of insecure employment; Falling investment and stagnant economic growth; Increasing economic inequality; Increasing gender inequality– Over the last 12 years, Australia has fallen from a rank of 15th to 44th on the World Economic Forum’s Global ...
Federal Labor will need a new narrative around funding further fiscal stimulus (Tony Dalton assisted me with the contents of this article) Australia, like the rest of the world, faces a very serious situation. The coronavirus pandemic (CVP) and the ensuing economic crisis are unlikely to be short-lived. Despite Australia’s remarkable success in limiting the spread of the virus so far, Covid-19 is extremely contagious with high lethality and ...
A resurrection reflection On this day a few thousand years ago Jesus was resurrected into everlasting life. Except that he already presumably had everlasting life because he was already a part of the Holy Trinity. Anyway, where did he go and what is it like there? The Quran gives a very clear vision of what heaven is like. There are lots ...
What is a ‘reasonable doubt’? Many people think the law is something that has some kind of objective existence. But it is often more like a series of somewhat vague or elusive concepts that are required to be applied by courts, as consistently as possible, to a myriad of different circumstances. The concept of “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” has ...
Federal Labor and the Coalition’s Package Federal Labor has done a good job by pointing to holes in the Coalition’s coronavirus economic package. The communique today from Anthony Albanese to ALP members stated: “Parliament has just passed a wage subsidy – something Labor has spent weeks calling for. Support is on the way for millions of Australians – and as a result, millions ...
It is Corporate Debt not Government Debt that is the problem. Government debt A government that issues its own currency cannot go bankrupt. It can choose to offset its spending by raising taxes or by borrowing (issuing government bonds). But it does not have to. It can just credit the accounts of the recipients of government spending. The only limit on the amount a government can spend ...
How can the Government “afford” the Corona Virus package? On 30 March, the Government announced the $130 billion JobKeeper Payment to help keep Australians in jobs as we deal with the significant economic impact from the Coronavirus. This brings the Government’s total support for the economy to $320 billion across the forward estimates, representing 16.4 percent of annual GDP. How can the government afford this when we have ...
COVID-19 and Climate Change- Similarities and Differences The parallels between the COVID- 19 and climate change crises are as follows: Both crises are global problems requiring global action but also requiring changes to the individual lifestyles of billions of individuals; Both crises demonstrate the importance of strong leadership by governments. While individuals, or even communities, can initiate or agitate for change, only government can ...
Are the rules now clear enough? I don’t think so Governments are still not giving clear enough messages to the community on social distancing and the virus. The message from all leaders is that if you do not need to go out then stay at home. But it is not clear enough what “need” means. It is clear enough that we need to go out to buy ...
Coalition ‘leadership’ has failed on Corona Virus Everybody wants to conform to the call for national unity and to avoid resorting to political point-scoring in the face of a national crisis. But the fact is the Federal Government has provided poor leadership in this crisis. Here is Daniel Andrews’s clear message on what to do. It is simple- stay home. If you can stay ...
Atracción y Evolución ¿Química? ¿Qué causa la atracción en primer lugar? La gente dice “la química”. ¿Pero, qué quieren decir? ¿Es verdad? ¿O la química es solo un mito o una construcción social? Me interesé en este tema cuando tres amigas, todas feministas fuertes, me confesaron que preferían que sus parejas sexuales masculinas fueran más altas que ellas. ¿Habían internalizado ...
American Factory If you thought China’s advantage in manufacturing was due to manipulation of its currency, or its theft of technology, you need to see ‘American Factory’. Whatever role a low Chinese yuan, or technology theft, has played in China’s dominance of manufacturing, this film shows that even if neither of these factors was present China would ...
Identity In his book, ‘Identity’ Francis Fukuyama traces the historical development of identity in Western culture. His book is an important read for those on the left who seek to understand why many people seemingly vote in ways that do not advance their own economic interests. Fukuyama says that contemporary free-market economists, and Marxists alike, maintain that history ...
Keynes v Hayek and Friedman- a very brief summary Keynes v Hayek and Friedman Since at least the mid-1930’s the two main competing economic models within Western democracies have been the neo-liberal model of Frederick Hayek and Milton Friedman and the model proposed by John Keynes. Keynes was more favoured by policymakers following the publication of his General Theory in 1936 through to the 1970s. Basics of Keynes ...