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. So when ‘modern’ mainstream economists use their models — standardly assuming rational expectations, Walrasian market clearing, unique equilibria, time invariance, linear separability and homogeneity of both inputs/outputs and technology, infinitely lived intertemporally optimizing representative agents with homothetic and identical preferences, etc. — and standardly ignoring complexity, diversity, uncertainty, coordination problems, non-market clearing prices, real […]

Today (May 17, 2023), the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the latest – Wage Price Index, Australia – for the March-quarter 2023, which shows that the aggregate wage index rose by 0.8 per cent over the quarter (steady) and 3.7 per cent over the 12 months. The media are touting how strong the wages growth…

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Here’s a short thread from Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post spelling it out in a nutshell: What’s in this supposedly commonsense bill McCarthy is demanding in exchange for not destroying the global economy? Here’s my handy guide, for those interested in the substance of the legislation and not just political gamesmanship. 1. Unspecified across-the-board cuts to nondefense discretionary spending, down by one-third on average in 2024, after inflation. The cuts would then expand to roughly 59%, on average, by 2033 Does this mean WIC? Border security? Pells? FBI? No one knows https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/25/mccarthy-national-debt-limit-budget/ 2. Defund the tax police – make it harder for IRS to collect taxes legally owed by wealthy/corporate tax cheats, and set back the agency’s other IT upgrades. (Would also increase deficits) https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/20/gop-defund-irs-debt-limit/ 3. Medicaid work requirements – which sound nice, but are a solution in search of a problem.

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“Ukraine’s neoliberalism on steroids, Europe’s economic suicide,” Geopolitical Hour 9, May 15, 2023.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bF3QkHIB7I RADHIKA DESAI: Hello everyone and welcome to this ninth Geopolitical Economy Hour, the fortnightly show on the political and geopolitical economy of our times. I’m Radhika Desai. MICHAEL HUDSON: And I’m Michael Hudson.  RADHIKA DESAI: And today we have a special Continue Reading

The post Neo-Liberal Machine Corners Ukraine, EU first appeared on Michael Hudson.

As Australia’s new suburbs continue to accommodate much of the country’s population growth, it becomes crucial to adapt housing and services to meet the evolving demands of their growing share of maturing families and single...

Parliament is spending £100 million a year – a staggering £2 million of taxpayers' money every week – patching up repairs, while next steps on its renovation are still to be decided

By 2041, our forecasts show Australia will have 624,000 more school-aged children than it did in 2021; 252,000  primary school-aged (5-11), and 372,000 secondary-school aged (12-17). And every one of these children will need...

Mr. “Never Back Down” backs down These Republicans are too much. You wonder if they really think they can win this way and then realize they don’t. They’re just hoping he ends up in jail or embalmed: The leading pro-DeSantis PAC surprised the political world with a single tweet after Donald Trump’s CNN town hall last week. It bluntly called out the former president for his answers on January 6th, his “rigged” election claims, “the sex abuse case” he was found liable for damages over, “his defense of his comments about grabbing women by their genitals,” and investigations into “his stash of taxpayer-owned classified documents.” “How does this Make America Great Again?” the tweet from the official account of Never Back Down concluded. This was the kind of all-out critique of Trump that Ron DeSantis — and most of the 2024 field — have never made themselves. Don’t expect to hear it again, though: The tweet generated some heated internal pushback at Never Back Down, while multiple prominent conservative commentators piled on publicly.

KILTS on and bagpipes blown up, the Coffs Harbour Pipe Band members headed off recently to attend and compete at the Australian Celtic Festival in Glen Innes over the weekend of 4 – 7 May. 23 Members played in various bands, including the NSW Highlanders, Murrumba Pipe Band and Grafton Pipe Band. This, the 31st...

The post Coffs pipers play at Australian Celtic Festival at Glen Innes appeared first on News Of The Area.

Unemployable former PM, Scotty from marketing, has suffered another setback after being turned down for a job with Engadine Maccas. This comes hot on the heels of bad guy consulting company PWC also turning Scotty down for a job, saying... Read More ›

Success in nature and culture depends just as much on timing as it does on brilliance.

The post The World Is Full of Sleeping Beauties appeared first on Nautilus.

Syrian-American journalist Hekmat Aboukhater traveled across Homs, Lattakia, Tartous, and Aleppo this April, reporting for The Grayzone on the devastating impact of Western economic sanctions on average Syrians. Throughout 2023, a series of anti-Syrian refugee bills, a failing economy, and anti-Syrian rhetoric have deepened the plight of the two million Syrian refugees living in Lebanon. Hate crimes against Syrians suspected of living in the country illegally have skyrocketed, while at least 130 refugees have been deported. Weekly Israeli strikes have […]

The post Immiserated, humiliated, yet resilient: how Syrians survive America’s economic siege appeared first on The Grayzone.

Republicans have repeatedly teamed up with Democrats to oppose progressive candidates in recent years.

The post Republicans Step in to Fund PAC Attacking Philadelphia Mayoral Candidate Helen Gym appeared first on The Intercept.

Will the media correct their hysterical reaction? Probably not. They are clearly rooting for a horse race and frankly, they seem to want to take Biden down a peg for reasons that elude me. (He doesn’t abuse them to their faces the way they like it?) Whatever he case they went crazy over that poll that showed Trump Beating Biden even though it’s conclusions were called into questions and they polled “adults” which is a very sloppy way to poll a presidential race. Anyway, a number of polls have come out since and they haven’t said much about them. I suppose it’s because

The governor’s 2024 money chase could run up against a federal pay-to-play rule that’s previously tripped up other GOP candidates.

Lance Walnau, a prominent Apostle/Prophet in the Neo-Charismatic New Apostolic Reformation, had an unusual Easter...

Jon Schwarz with a review of Hawley’s new book is headlined “Josh Hawley won’t let go of his manhood.” Lol: ACROSS THE AGES, right-wing politics has had an enduring fixation: manliness, whatever that means exactly. You may remember that Hogan Gidley, the press secretary for former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign, declared that Trump was “the most masculine person ever to hold the White House.” Before that, there was Trump’s runner-up in manliness, George W. Bush. When Bush delivered his “Mission Accomplished” speech on an aircraft carrier, convicted Watergate felon G. Gordon Liddy said Bush’s flight suit “made the best of his manly characteristic.” Bush’s one-time chief speechwriter Michael Gerson described him as possessing “a manly humor.” Then there was the Vietnam War, a manly endeavor prosecuted by the Nixon administration’s manly men. When Henry Kissinger’s assistant Anthony Lake objected to the intense U.S.

Sealed inside its bubble, America today is steadfastly walking the unhappy, steady and confident gait of the Soviet Union. All happy empires are alike. Each unhappy empire is unhappy in its own way. The happy empire believes the gods smile on its homeland. Its civilisation is uniquely endowed with gifts to see further than other Continue reading »

On 10 May New Zealand and Chinese military officials met in Xi’an, China for their 11th Strategic Defence Dialogue, the first after a Covid gap of three years. The press releases from both sides were brief, anodyne and uninformative. The Chinese Ministry of National Defence said: “The two sides candidly exchanged views on international and Continue reading »

The progressive Move Forward Party has crushed its pro-military rivals and beaten the party that has won most votes in every other election since 2001. But its anti-establishment policies mean institutional resistance is inevitable as it tries to form a government. Thailand’s national elections were a triumph for pro-democracy forces and a repudiation of the Continue reading »