Episode 15 of my – Podcast – Letter from The Cape – is now available. In this episode, we consider the recently released White Paper on Full Employment by the Australian government, which purports to define its labour market policy agenda for the foreseeable future. We juxtapose it with the 1945 White Paper on Full…
Podcast
Episode 14 of my – Podcast – Letter from The Cape – is now available. In this episode, we consider the so-called Intergenerational Report, which the Australian government released this week. These Reports are released every few years and are designed to scare us into believing that unless the government cuts spending and services now…
Episode 13 of my – Podcast – Letter from The Cape – is now available. In this episode, we consider the concept of productivity and discover that the mainstream bias towards a narrow interpretation – where a productive worker is only one that generates profits for a private capitalist – prevents us from fully understanding…
Episode 12 of my – Podcast – Letter from The Cape – is now available. In this episode, we discuss the ‘debt bomb’ narrative, which is used by neoliberals to impose political costs on governments that dare use their spending capacity to improve the conditions of the poor through welfare spending. We learn that governments…
Episode 11 of my – Podcast – Letter from The Cape – is now available. In this episode we reflect on the recent Royal Commission report in Australia into the Robodebt scandal where conservative government ministers and senior public servants designed and implemented a scheme that was knowingly illegal, and, which imposed untold harm on…
Episode 10 of my – Podcast – Letter from The Cape – is now available. In this episode we learn why it is pointless for the government to set fiscal targets in terms of size of deficits etc. The purpose of fiscal policy is not to achieve any preconceived financial numbers. Rather, the government should…
Episode 9 for my – Podcast – Letter from The Cape – is now available. Qu’ils mangent de la brioche – Let them Eat Cake. The rally cry of the elites when confronted with the reality that the peasants in France did not have any bread to eat. In this episode we examine modern variants…
Episode 8 for my – Podcast – Letter from The Cape – is now available. In this episode we examine the veracity of the progressive call to ‘Tax the Rich’ which proponents think will provide the government with more spending capacity to improve health and education services. We learn that there is no zero-sum game…
Episode 7 for my – Podcast – Letter from The Cape – is now available. In this podcast, we discuss the dangers that arise when we are lured into thinking that our experiences as households of our financial constraints and our budget somehow provide us with intelligence to assess the spending opportunities of our national…