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MacroBusiness Friday, December 26, 2025 - 11:00 Source

  Peter Ziehan and the throttling of Venezuela and shadow oil fleets Sam Harris and Peter Ziehan on nation states DW on Trump and Venezuela Mearsheimer on oil Trump and Venezuela Yanis Varoufakis and Gillian Tett on demise of globalisation Rest is politics on the same ABC Australian Housing Morgans Australian economy Leith and Martin

The post Boxing Day Videos: 26 December 2025 appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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xkcd.com Friday, December 26, 2025 - 11:00 Source

Building Inspectors HATE This One Weird Trick

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Your Democracy Friday, December 26, 2025 - 08:42 Source

Playing into Putin's Hands: Europe & Trump /Patrick Henningsen & Lt Col Daniel Davis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MgrIpfWDv8

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MacroBusiness Friday, December 26, 2025 - 08:00 Source

If you listen to the masters of the financial universe, a revolution is upon us. In his 2025 letter, Larry Fink of BlackRock hailed tokenisation as the path to “democratisation.” The narrative is seductive: every asset—stocks, bonds, art, real estate—will live on a blockchain. Settlement becomes instant. Friction disappears. The gates of high finance are

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Your Democracy Friday, December 26, 2025 - 07:15 Source

A passage from Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale has been haunting me: “That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn’t even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn’t even an enemy you could put your finger on.” 

 

How the West Unpersons Its Critics:

Or about the Kafkaesque Europe

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Your Democracy Friday, December 26, 2025 - 06:55 Source

There’s no doubt that 2025 has been one of the most politically chaotic years of the 21st century.

Amid the domestic and geopolitical mayhem unleashed by Donald Trump’s return to the White House, powerful interests were busy enacting a radical anti-democratic agenda that has already changed our world and will continue shaping it for years to come.

 

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Your Democracy Friday, December 26, 2025 - 05:44 Source

 

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Your Democracy Thursday, December 25, 2025 - 20:03 Source

"I am standing here in this exquisite Chapel of St George at Windsor Castle, so close to where my beloved mother, the late Queen, is laid to rest with my dear father.

"I am reminded of the deeply touching letters, cards and messages which so many of you have sent my wife and myself and I cannot thank you enough for the love and sympathy you have shown our whole family.

"Christmas is a particularly poignant time for all of us who have lost loved ones.

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Your Democracy Thursday, December 25, 2025 - 19:40 Source

A recent article in the establishment security journal Foreign Affairs makes the case for nuclear proliferation among America’s allies. Not only are its arguments unsound, but they also understate the willingness of the US’s rivals to respond in kind.

 

 

The Return of Nuclear Proliferation

BY EMMA CLAIRE FOLEY

 

read more

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Your Democracy Thursday, December 25, 2025 - 19:31 Source

President Donald Trump has announced that the US will keep or sell oil confiscated from Venezuela – what precedent does it set?

"Thus far in 2025, governments are experiencing the Trump-Vance administration announcing, crafting, and implementing decisions perceived by the White House as within the confines of international law," John Kavulich, an American political scientist and expert in international politics, tells Sputnik.

 

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Your Democracy Thursday, December 25, 2025 - 10:24 Source

A city reveals itself only in motion; to stand still is to know nothing essential of it.

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MacroBusiness Thursday, December 25, 2025 - 09:00 Source

Why your “Green” fund might just be a lump of coal wrapped in expensive paper. Santa Claus was the original ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investor. He maintains a strict (checks it twice) database of global citizens, performs due diligence on their behaviour, and engages in negative screening (the Naughty List) and positive allocation (the

The post Santa’s ESG Problem appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Your Democracy Thursday, December 25, 2025 - 08:42 Source

Europe has repeatedly rejected peace with Russia at moments when a negotiated settlement was available, and those rejections have proven profoundly self-defeating. From the nineteenth century to the present, Russia’s security concerns have been treated not as legitimate interests to be negotiated within a broader European order, but as moral transgressions to be resisted, contained, or overridden.

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MacroBusiness Thursday, December 25, 2025 - 08:00 Source

From the Market Ear: Stretch-marks Eight straight green months. Hedge fund leverage above the 90th percentile. Sentiment stretched, cash at record lows, and strategists unanimously bullish. Ten indicators say the same thing: risk is too one-sided. Stretchy streak With the SPX edging back into positive territory for December, the monthly streak of positive closes remains

The post A 10-signal cluster-f*ck appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Your Democracy Thursday, December 25, 2025 - 06:55 Source

For the past 35 years, Carmelo Lombardo has never missed a Christmas working in the same stand at the Sydney Fish Market.

But this year, the last Christmas at the cornflower blue concrete structure before the new fish market opens next year, the 36-hour trading blitz feels bittersweet.

 

Last prawns for Christmas shoppers at the old Sydney Fish Market

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Your Democracy Thursday, December 25, 2025 - 05:44 Source

 

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has unveiled a 20-point draft peace framework which he claims Kiev has been discussing with the US, presenting the document as a proposed basis for ending the conflict with Russia.

Zelensky disclosed the details during a briefing with journalists on Wednesday, claiming the draft largely reflects a joint Ukrainian-American position, while several key issues remain unresolved.

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MacroBusiness Thursday, December 25, 2025 - 00:05 Source

The team at MacroBusiness thanks you for your support in 2025 and wishes you a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year. We will be taking a brief hiatus over the Christmas and New Year period, with only sporadic posting, and will return on Monday, 5 January 2026. We look forward to keeping

The post Christmas holiday links and media appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Your Democracy Wednesday, December 24, 2025 - 16:29 Source

Ursula von der Leyen’s perma-smile is morphing into a rictus grin.

2025 could have been the year the six-year Commission president made her long-held ambition to make the EU a geopolitical powerhouse a reality.

Instead, as this week’s failure to tap Russian assets for Ukraine showed, the EU will enter the new year cowed by big powers, and more divided than ever by its own internal far-right forces, who have been needlessly emboldened.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, December 24, 2025 - 15:00 Source

A quiet session for Asian share markets as we head into the low volume Christmas period with local shares the only dour note, falling back after a previously solid effort yesterday as the Australian dollar hits a new monthly high above the 67 cent level. Oil markets remain unstable with some errant bids seeing Brent

The post Macro Afternoon appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Your Democracy Wednesday, December 24, 2025 - 12:10 Source

WE ARE GOING TO EXPLORE THE VANISHING/RESURGENT PUSH FOR WOKEISM... FROM THE ONSET WE SHOULD STATE THAT THE LGBTi MOVEMENT DESERVES RESPECT AND ACCEPTANCE — AS WE HAVE DONE MANY TIMES ON THIS HONEST SITE... BUT THE MOVEMENT — A SMALL LOUD MINORITY — DOES NOT DESERVE TO RULE EVERYONE AS IT HAS TRIED TO DO.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, December 24, 2025 - 12:00 Source

It is easy to forget about Adelaide when discussing Australia’s housing crisis. However, the city has experienced the most significant erosion in housing affordability since the pandemic began. The latest housing affordability and rental data from Cotality tells the tale. Purchase affordability: Turning to purchase affordability first, Adelaide has experienced the largest rise in dwelling

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, December 24, 2025 - 11:30 Source

In November, it was reported that the Albanese government wrote to the states demanding they rein in spending on hospitals. According to ABC News, the letter stated: “For states and territories to realise a Commonwealth contribution of 42.5% of public hospital costs by 2030-31, under the capped glide path model, it will be necessary for

The post The states vs Albanese appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, December 24, 2025 - 11:00 Source

Five years ago, during the first Trump presidency, I wrote a controversial post titled Could Trump be Right About Ethical Investing?. At the time, Trump was attacking “activist” pension funds. My argument was that while I disagreed with his stance on climate change, he had a valid point about agency: Why should a fund manager

The post Trump Was Right About Ethical Investing (But for the Wrong Reasons) appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, December 24, 2025 - 11:00 Source

Drive.com.au published interesting data showing the decline in battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales in Australia despite massive subsidies from governments. Over the first 11 months of this year, only 8.5% of vehicles sold were BEVs, down from 9.5% over the same period in 2024: Internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles accounted for 70.7% of vehicle sales

The post Billions in subsidies and EV sales fall appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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xkcd.com Wednesday, December 24, 2025 - 11:00 Source

Vertebrae Georg

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, December 24, 2025 - 10:30 Source

Over the last two and a half years, the Albanese government has embarked on a campaign that one former RBA economist characterises as artificially manipulating the headline Consumer Price Index through electricity subsidies. This has significantly suppressed the rate of headline inflation relative to where it would otherwise have been. Former Reserve Bank economist John

The post Former RBA economist blasts Albanese appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, December 24, 2025 - 10:00 Source

Last week, we learned that the US unemployment rate rose to a four-year high of 4.6% in November, beating analysts’ expectations of 4.5%. The result marked the fifth consecutive monthly increase in unemployment, which reached its highest level since 2021. Average monthly job creation since March declined to 35,000, down from 71,000 a year earlier.

The post CFO confidence in US economy hits two-year low appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, December 24, 2025 - 09:00 Source

Wall Street and other risk markets continue to drift into holiday mode as a Santa rally gets underway in precious metals while the USD continues to face endemic pressure.  Yen continued to pullback after a big move on Friday while the Australian dollar finally made its way back above the 67 cent level following the

The post Macro Morning appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Your Democracy Wednesday, December 24, 2025 - 08:57 Source

The air smells [stinks] of after Christmas

Decaying prawn shells and mouldy turkey breast

Ham rotting under the sun and a shower of rain

Stale bread, fruit-fly salad quietly abuzz from Jane

Extended families have gone back home to the west

Street-sleepers braseros have extinguished

This long joyous exuberant feast has just finished 

Empty bottles of intoxication emptied in the garbo truck

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, December 24, 2025 - 08:00 Source

Multiple Victorian government releases have explicitly described the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) as “Australia’s largest housing and transport project”, because the rail line is expected to result in a massive housing‑led urban redevelopment program. The Victorian Government states that the SRL will “build 70,000 homes around six new stations” in the SRL East corridor. Additional

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