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Created
Fri, 14/03/2025 - 10:30

“Mr. Trump has acknowledged, despite all his confident campaign predictions that ‘we are going to boom like we have never boomed before,’ that the United States may be headed into a recession, fueled by his economic agenda.” — New York Times. March 13, 2025

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Listen, I’d love it if we could create a society that worked perfectly for everyone, but that’s not the reality we live in. In real life, you have to make choices—choices that lead to terrible outcomes for everyone.

I’m not anti-immigration. You think I relish the sight of families torn apart, my neighbors terrified to show up for work or send their kids to school for fear of an ICE raid? If I could wave a magic wand and no one would be deported, I’d do it in a heartbeat. But when I see the precipitous downward dive the stock market is taking, I know all that pain and suffering was worth it.

Created
Fri, 14/03/2025 - 08:59
Every time I start writing something about The Situation, it seems pointless. Both the media environment and the world itself seem to be spinning out of control. The bubble of Boomer Realism has been popped. The weirdness which has been bubbling since 2008 has flooded the territory; old maps seem worse than useless. I’ve got nothing […]
Created
Fri, 14/03/2025 - 04:59
Peter Dutton does not really believe in Medicare. He is more interested in Trump-type culture wars than the health of Australians. He matched the $8.5 billion the Australian Government pledged for Medicare, not because he cared about the health of Australians but because it was a way to neutralise government Medicare policy. He refuses to Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 14/03/2025 - 04:58
Reports on the financial distress of Landbridge, the Chinese-owned company with a 99-year lease for the Port of Darwin, lack perspective and analysis. Penny Wong goes soft on China and ASPI goes unchecked. Is the Port of Darwin on the chopping block? No need to hold your breath, we’ll dispose of Victorian LNP Senator James Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 14/03/2025 - 04:57
In 2024, in a context of declining R&D and productivity, the government appointed an independent expert panel to lead a “strategic examination” of Australia’s R&D system. In February the first discussion paper was released along with invitations to make submissions. Unfortunately, the discussion paper is poor, bereft of insight, a-historical, a-theoretical and a-political (in the Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 14/03/2025 - 04:56
Government funding increases for Catholic and Independent schools have outstripped those for public schools since 2009 and entrenched a major resource advantage for them. New figures published by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority show Catholic and Independent schools have a much higher income per student than public schools across Australia and in nearly Continue reading »