I often make the point in talks that the fictional world that mainstream economists promote leads to poor decisions in the real world by our policy makers. We saw that in the 1980s and 1990s with the large scale privatisations of public enterprises, touted as employment-enriching, productivity-boosting strategies to provide ‘more money for government to…
politics
As the Times faces scrutiny for its coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, it has capitulated to the pro-Israel media watchdog CAMERA.
The post New York Times Puts “Daily” Episode on Ice Amid Internal Firestorm Over Hamas Sexual Violence Article appeared first on The Intercept.
Late last year, a colleague sent me a letter decrying some of my writings about China, notably the last newsletter of 2023. This newsletter is my response to him. The situation in China is the cause of a great deal of consternation amongst the left. I am glad you have raised the issue of Chinese Continue reading »
Notwithstanding calls to divert supply lines from China this is not happening except for America. An Oxford Economics research report funded by the Hinrich Foundation made the following surprising discoveries: Asia’s supply chain trade is growing and diversifying, even as the US and China decouple; Decoupling remains largely a US-China phenomenon, and to a lesser Continue reading »
There can be no question of the National Security Law being repealed. Likewise, I imagine there is no question of your government repealing its National Security Act (2023). Dear Prime Minister, In re: Letter to Lord Patten of Barnes Greetings, from Hong Kong. I refer to your letter to Lord Patten of Barnes, dated January Continue reading »
Liberal democracy is facing its most perilous time since the rise of fascism a century ago. Between the Global Financial Crisis and now, the number of liberal democracies has fallen by a third, as the drift towards populist authoritarian leadership gathers pace. Two visceral emotions drive the affairs of democratic societies: hope and fear. Of Continue reading »
For some years Asian Americans have strongly favoured the Democratic Party with their votes. The main reasons for this were that when they came to America, they settled mostly in large cities run by the Democratic Party in Democrat states. The Democratic Party claimed them as minority people that were part of the Democratic coalition Continue reading »
Michael Gawenda, former editor of The Age and Walkley award-winning journalist, published his memoir ‘My Life as a Jew’ last year. Actually, it’s only part memoir, since much of it is reserved for polemics against Jews and Gentiles who are critical of Israel. The rest traces his life journey from an anti-Zionist Bundist youth to Continue reading »
On February 20, Julian Assange, the daredevil publisher of WikiLeaks, will be going into battle, yet again, with the British justice system – or what counts for it. The UK High Court will hear arguments from his team that his extradition to the United States from Britain to face 18 charges under the Espionage Act Continue reading »
Regularly, Western media claims that China’s run is near an end and that collapse is just around the corner. So constant has this become, it is like a broken gramophone record. Recently predictions of this collapse have been couched around the indebtedness of some major players in the Chinese property market. The ‘inevitable collapse’, however, Continue reading »