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They Kill Horses Don’t They? It is normal to have a gut reaction to ‘7.30’s’ revelations of cruelty to horses at Meramist abattoir in Queensland and Burns Pet Foods at Riverstone, New South Wales. But some of the suggested policy responses seem not to have moved far beyond that same gut reaction. A preliminary issue is whether an ex-racehorse has superior claims to live ...
Labor should call for cash stimulus Once again we watch the spectacle of our politicians lining up to “condemn” the failure of the four major banks to pass on Reserve Bank interest rates cuts in full. Yet both major parties supported the measure which facilitated the impotence of government to confront the monopoly power of the four large banks. The privatisation of ...
How dare you? It seemed easy really. How dare you? asks Greta Thunberg- How dare you steal my childhood? How dare you come to us young people looking for hope? If you know the science and deliberately choose to ignore it, then you are evil. I don’t believe that- at least not yet. But how dare you? Well, it seems it was all ...
What is seigniorage and how much non-tax revenue could it raise? 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 ensuring ...
China, the US and Intellectual Property Theft Allegations of intellectual property theft and forced technology transfer are one of the primary grounds that the Trump administration relies upon in the trade war against China. Of the many criticisms of China from the Trump administration, those on forced technology transfer have been among the fiercest. “Forced” Technology Transfer Forced technology transfer means that when a ...
La amenaza tecnológica al igualdad A lo largo de la historia, las clases altas siempre han alegado que su riqueza era resultado de su inteligencia, fortaleza y superioridad con respecto a las clases más bajas. Estas afirmaciones fueron, y siguen siendo, en gran parte, ilusiones. Las ventajas de las clases altas son socio-políticas, no “biológicas”. Pero con los nuevos desarrollos científicos, ...
La historia del Génesis y la interpretación agustiniana del pecado original El pecado original sostiene que todos nacemos pecadores. Todos tenemos la necesidad de hacer cosas malas y desobedecer a Dios. Según la enseñanza, el pecado original es la condición espiritual y psicológica normal de los seres humanos. Incluso un bebé recién nacido, que no ha hecho nada en absoluto, está dañado por el pecado original. La doctrina ...
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 ...