Andrew Leigh is an incredibly nice guy and I used to follow his blog before he entered parliament. He had many very useful statistics on that blog which I believe you can find at PreviousLeigh (see a sense of humour too).
Unfortunately as a practising economist he has zero understanding of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT).
See and read more at Australian Real Progressives
In my previous post I outlined why jobs don’t come from rich people: capitalism runs on spending (sales), not savings. Job opportunities appear naturally when businesses forecast sales growth and expand output accordingly (and similarly disappear under reverse conditions). When viewing the economy as a whole, we can observe that private sector investment responds to rising incomes and spending as entrepreneurs expand output to match market demand and banks have confidence lending. In the absence of spending growth, accumulated savings do nothing.
The thing is, Democracy will end.
At some point the current dominant expression of Democracy – Universal Franchise with mass political parties and redistributive taxation – will fail to deliver solutions to urgent problems: Climate; Migration;War; National Sovereignty – and it will be discarded for something else.
Talking Politics
I have just discovered the excellent Podcast Talking Politics which discusses UK, US and European and International Politics.
You must subscribe to Talking Politics. It is put together by David Runciman of Cambridge University and provides commentary and analysis in the best British academic tradition – informed, fair, objective, funny. It is absolutely brilliant.
I have awoken with the urge to blog for the first time in many moons and offer you this otter doing a backflip at Capron Park Zoo in Massachusetts.
The NSW government’s planned Aerotropolis is conning residents of western Sydney. It’s more about useful politics than plausible policy Will the Western Sydney Aerotropolis really deliver on jobs?
It’s a popular idea, but the revenue foregone from abolishing fares in a city like Melbourne would have a bigger impact if it were instead spent on improving public transport to make it more competitive with driving Should public transport fares be abolished?
This is Part 3 of my “Uninformed Speculation” series on the 2019 Federal Election.
Following on from my uninformed speculation about the Federal Election result I would like to add some uninformed speculation about the new Labor Leader and Deputy Leader.
The result will be: ALP 74 LNP 71 GRN 2 OTH 4 CLIVE PALMER 0
which means a ALP Minority Government supported by two Greens, Andrew Wilkie and Rob Oakeshott. Oakeshott will become Speaker. You heard it here first.
How We Will Get There
The 2016 result was LNP 76 ALP 69 GRN 1 OTH 4
One of the most important pieces on media criticism in recent times is Richard Cooke's NewsCorp: Democracy's greatest threat. Read it if you haven't, see you when you get back.
Pearls before swineAs someone who has been critical of journalists myself, I applaud the line about the gravitron (rather than the gravitas) of The Good Murdoch Journalist. However, such an image is worse than unfair: it's inaccurate.
One of the most important pieces on media criticism in recent times is Richard Cooke's NewsCorp: Democracy's greatest threat. Read it if you haven't, see you when you get back.
Pearls before swineAs someone who has been critical of journalists myself, I applaud the line about the gravitron (rather than the gravitas) of The Good Murdoch Journalist. However, such an image is worse than unfair: it's inaccurate.
This is a vital free speech issue, so I’ve initiated a petition “Don’t discriminate against Israel Folau” and urge all readers to sign it. I don’t endorse all of Folau’s views, but I endorse his right to have and to express them. He is employed as a football player, and he executes that job brilliantly. […]
Fascinated by the collision of unions, students and ideology. Tomorrow, on the Ides of March, we have a world wide withdrawal of attention by school children, who will protest against Climate Change. This is supported by the Australian Education Union. At the same time Sally McManus, Secretary of the ACTU, is campaigning for an increase […]