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Created
Thu, 10/08/2023 - 18:00
Marco Garofalo, Simon Lloyd and Edward Manuel The economic consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war have brought the importance of sharp changes in commodity prices, such as oil, to centre stage. While many have focused on understanding the impact of these developments on the central projection for the macroeconomic outlook, this post investigates the balance of … Continue reading Fuelling the tail: inflation- and GDP-at-Risk with oil-supply shocks
Created
Thu, 10/08/2023 - 15:37

This food timeline started as a way to explore the revolution in Australian food that has occurred during the baby-boomers’ lifetime, but has since expanded to include more about the previous decades (and century) as well. Also included are overseas events and trends that had an impact here. The entries are brief, but there are lots of links if you want more information.

Created
Thu, 10/08/2023 - 12:00
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…
Created
Thu, 10/08/2023 - 12:00
The Simplest Thing You Need To Understand About Climate Change

The amount of warming is based primarily on how much CO2 there is in the atmosphere.

This is what is known as a STOCK. Think of it like the water in a sink.

The amount of climate change gases we are putting into the atmosphere is a FLOW. Think of it as the net amount of water going into the sink.

So, when you read an article talking about how much gas is being produced, if it says that amount is going down, what that means is that warming is still increasing.

If we want to reduce the amount of warming, we have to get to a negative amount of gasses going into the pool; into the stock. The flow needs to be negative, like turning off the water and pulling the plug.

Created
Thu, 10/08/2023 - 08:30
A Utah man was shot and killed during an FBI raid early Wednesday morning, the FBI confirmed to ABC News. The raid was in connection with an investigation into alleged threats against President Joe Biden and others, according to two officials briefed on the case. One of the officials told ABC News that the investigation began in April and the U.S. Secret Service was notified by the FBI in June. In addition to threatening posts, the official said, the man under investigation suggested online he was making plans to take physical action. The threats had been deemed “credible,” the official said. The FBI in Salt Lake City said the shooting occurred around 6:15 am. local time while special agents attempted to serve arrest and search warrants at a residence in Provo. “The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force members seriously,” the FBI said in a statement. “In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under review by the FBI’s Inspection Division.
Created
Thu, 10/08/2023 - 07:00
Hugh Hewitt says that voters in Ohio yesterday were confused: Abortion was not on the ballot – not at all!  The measure was the only thing on the ballot and the measure was about the ballot measure process.  While it is true that a ballot measure concerning abortion is pending that is not what this election was about.  And so, voters were (mis)lead to vote about something that has much broader implications based on something very immediate.  And so, in pursuit of abortion rights in Ohio much mischief entirely unrelated to abortion will unquestionably ensue. They weren’t confused. They knew that the ballot measure was immediately about abortion but that the Republicans were trying to make it harder to amend the state constitution so they could continue their increasingly unpopular minority rule. Abortion is the issue that symbolizes what these throwbacks are trying to do generally: deprive Americans of their freedom and their rights in service of their base voters’ grievance and anger at democratic norms that force them to share power with people they don’t like.