Australia has just completed major reviews of two of its largest public expenditures – the NDIS and Employment Services. Each program manifests problems predicted by two lesser-known economic theories: the Jevons Paradox in the case of the NDIS and Goodhart’s Law in the case of employment services. Neither were mentioned in either review. Today I Continue reading »
politics
Josh Burns, Labor MP for Macnamara, in Victoria, has been visiting Israel. During this visit he did not even follow his own party’s weak calls for a ceasefire. He said there must not be a ceasefire in Gaza. We live in Macnamara and the following poster appeared at the Sunday rally protesting the obscenity of Continue reading »
Western nations are always ready to proclaim their system of governance as superior, particularly in regards to China, dismissed as being authoritarian. Increasingly however, ‘western liberal democracy’ finds itself under scrutiny with trust in government falling. Growing numbers feel alienated, believing that the democratic system has been taken over by elites with little or no Continue reading »
Among the superstitious political elites in Japan, recent events like the earthquake, the plane collision at Haneda and the arrest of a lawmaker in a major political slush fund do not bode well for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, already unpopular. AUKUS can be another nightmare for Fumio Kishida, albeit external in nature. The decision for Continue reading »
The final months of 2023 pierced our sense of hope and threw us into a kind of mortal sadness. Israel’s escalating violence has killed more than twenty thousand Palestinians to date, wiping out entire generations of families. Horrifying images and testimonies from Palestine have flooded all forms of media, stirring a deep sense of anguish Continue reading »
Terrorism is a global problem, we could talk all day and night about whether a terrorist is a freedom fighter, an oppressed person struggling for recognition or a cold-blooded murderer but whatever the reasons, everyone must agree; innocent people deserve protection from terrorists. China had a terrorism problem and acted – in doing so, they Continue reading »
Henry George (1839 – 1897) was a remarkable, self-taught radical American political-economist who developed a theory of land taxation, which evolved to become, in essence, a programme for applying a single, substantial annual tax on all land – but not on improvements to the land such as buildings – while abolishing all other taxes. George Continue reading »
As Australia approaches that time in January again, we see the unedifying picture of Peter Dutton’s team driving his post-referendum Base into a flag-waving orgy of aggrieved patriotism. Similarly in the USA, compulsory patriotism is part of the Atlas Network’s plan to control the future of America through directing the next administration. One of the Continue reading »
For many young military recruits, it is a shock to learn that a religious minister is their first port of call beyond the chain of command if they are having any issues at recruit school. Although many Australians never have anything to do with pastors or priests in their real lives, the Australian Defence Force Continue reading »
2023 saw a disturbing rise in support for extreme right-wing parties across several European countries. With a series of major elections in large and significant countries due in 2024, including the USA and Russia, it will be interesting to see whether parties in the established democracies respond effectively to the rise of the ultra-right, and Continue reading »