World

Created
Thu, 20/02/2025 - 04:53
With this year’s federal budget supposedly brought forward to 25 March, the seasonal peak in business bulldust has come early. Last week, Canberra kicked off an annual ritual little noticed in real-world Australia, the call for “pre-budget” submissions on what the government should do in its budget. I’ve never known any of that free advice Continue reading »
Created
Thu, 20/02/2025 - 04:54
The decline in manufacturing jobs is common to most developed economies and is not unique to the US. Further, Donald Trump is nothing if not delusional, and his tariffs will only damage both the US economy and others as well. Employment in US manufacturing peaked a long time ago back, in June 1979. Since then, Continue reading »
Created
Wed, 19/02/2025 - 04:53
Five years ago, J.D. Vance, who is now the vice-president of the United States, received the Sacraments of Initiation at St Gertrude Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Dominicans to whom the parish has been entrusted presumably instructed him regarding the basic tenets of Catholic Christianity, stressing that love is the basic reality of the universe Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 18/02/2025 - 04:59
In Australia at the federal level of government, we have some of the shortest election cycles in the world: often barely three years. This mitigates against even medium-term planning. A new government takes a year to learn the ropes of office, another year to govern before preparing for re-election in the third. And even if Continue reading »
Created
Fri, 14/02/2025 - 04:52
In assessing which Trump appointment is more dangerous, Russell Vought freshly confirmed to helm the Office of Management and Budget is a contender for the worst. Vought wrote one of the chapters from Project 2025 (an “authoritarian incubator”), but his other revelations expand on the threat. As director of the OMB, Vought has “total control Continue reading »