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Labor’s economic policies and modern monetary theory In some ways the policies Labor took to the last election were the most progressive policies it has adopted for years. But in other ways Labor policies conformed to economic orthodoxy. For example: the federal government’s budget should return to surplus as soon as possible; in order to be economically responsible, all new spending programs must be ...
Los tres gigantes de la filosofía griega Los tres gigantes de la filosofía griega son Sócrates, Platón y Aristóteles. Sócrates no dejó ningún trabajo escrito. Era un destacado crítico de los sofistas, muchos de los cuales eran defensores profesionales quienes sostenían que no existe una verdad absoluta y que toda moralidad es relativa. “Sofistería” ahora se define como el uso de argumentos inteligentes pero ...
El pensamiento único de Yuval Harai Hay varios libros de historias cortas del mundo e historias de la filosofía. ¿Por dónde empezar? Algunos historiadores simplemente escriben bien sin centrarse necesariamente en temas particulares: el históriodor Australiano Geoffrey Blainey es un ejemplo. Ian Morris y Jarod Diamond exploran por qué el occidente se desarrolló antes que otras partes del mundo. Jarod Diamond defiende la ...
Three Long Years Some time, around 2005 or 2006, Bill Shorten was seeking to knock off the sitting member for Maribynong Bob Sercomb. They were both members of Labor’s right. But for various reasons the left, or parts of it, wanted to block Shorten’s pre-selection. Shorten gained a front page headline in ‘The Australian’ calling for Australia’s top marginal ...
Labor May Need Price Controls for Childcare Policy Labor may need to refine an important aspect of its childcare policy. Extra subsidies to parents will not be of sufficient benefit to parents if they result in price hikes from childcare providers. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) cannot be relied upon to prevent these price hikes, at least given its current suite ...
Animal welfare or animal rights? (This article is a slightly revised extract from a longer article entitled ‘Animals’.) Modern debates about how humans should treat animals can be traced to the ancient world. Aristotle thought that human beings were superior to other animals because only human beings are capable of reasoning. Jewish, Christian and Islamic teaching is that that God gave human ...
Letter from 40 Organisations to US Congress Dear Members of Congress, We, the undersigned groups, wish to express our grave concern regarding the Trump administration’s dangerous and destructive regime change strategy targeting Venezuela. Broad economic sanctions unilaterally imposed by the administration since August of 2017 have caused great hardship and loss of life for many Venezuelans. The latest round of sanctions announced in ...
Venezuela constitutional crisis- can war be averted? A constitutional crisis forms a part of Venezuela’s wider political crisis. The current constitution of Venezuela was drafted in mid 1999 by a Constituent Assembly created through a referendum. It was strongly promoted by Hugo Chavez and became law in December 1999, supported by 72% of voters. An English translation of the entire document can be found ...
The Barrister, the Cardinal and Mick Gatto-Did Richter Err In Not Calling Pell? “Everyone who is arrogant of heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured he will not go unpunished.” Proverbs 16:5 Robert Richter is one of Victoria’s most experienced and renowned criminal barristers. But was it a mistake not to call George Pell to give evidence in his trial for sexually assaulting two choirboys at St ...
Tribute to Barney Cooney (Published on my blog with agreement from Justin Cooney) I wanted to write something on the passing of our dear friend Barney Cooney. I won’t try and recount Barney’s numerous achievements in the political and legal fields about which others are better qualified to comment. My focus will be on Barney’s wonderful personality. I knew Barney through ...
The US and the risk of war in Venezuela US Imperialism in Latin America There is no point mincing words. The USA’s history in Latin America is one of aggression and imperialism. Some attribute US excesses, including support for right wing military dictatorships, to the Cold War. But US imperialist attitudes to Latin America have a continuity that reaches from the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, the ...
Original Sin The Genesis story and the Augustinian interpretation of original sin Original sin holds that everyone is born sinful. We all have a built-in urge to do bad things and disobey God. According to the teaching, original sin is the normal spiritual and psychological condition of human beings. Even a newborn baby, who hasn’t done anything at all, is ...
Nicaragua Dividida The Left is divided over Nicaragua. The divisions have become more manifest since protests, which broke out against the Ortega government in April 2018, became violent, leading to a disputed number of deaths and injuries. According to Amnesty International and other human rights groups, between 270 and 300 people have been killed. A UN Human Rights Council ...
The Insurrection- Personal Revenge or Ideological? Former adviser to John Howard and Peter Costello, Nicki Savva is a journalist who is usually a reliable commentator regarding the internal workings of the Liberal Party. But her comment on telly during the week that the actions of the Right wing of the Liberal Party in destroying the Turnbull government were based on personal revenge, with ...
ALP National Conference Delegate speaker’s notes on ‘Creation of new money in the economy by private banks’ Speaker’s notes Until 1844 commercial banks in Britain could print their own banknotes. In 1844 the Conservative Government of Robert Peel passed the Bank Charter Act 1844. This gave exclusive powers to the Bank of England to issue paper money and coins. Likewise, the Reserve Bank of Australia “designs, produces and issues Australia’s banknotes, with the objective of ...