Everything is awesome on risk markets again as the US government shutdown appears over due to some spineless and feckless Democrats (but I repeat myself) bend the knee in the Senate. Wall Street rallied taking back most of last week’s losses with other stock markets following suit. This will probably last until the Supreme Court
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In the ongoing debate surrounding the Australian economy, there have always been and will continue to be defenders of the current economic strategy, whatever it may be. Historically, it was one of backing industries, boosting home ownership and strongly targeted migration. This strategy, for the most part, had goals that both sides of the political
Patrik Baab argues that Western governments—especially in Europe—refuse to pursue a negotiated settlement with Russia because their political survival depends on continuing the war. He claims Ukraine is being sacrificed (“brought to the butcher”) to serve Western geopolitical interests, primarily the U.S. goal of weakening Russia.
According to this view:
114 years ago, the guns fell silent on the Western Front, marking a temporary and partial end to the Great War which began in 1914, and has continued, in one form or another, ever since. I once hoped that I would live to see a peaceful world, but that hope has faded away.
Now is the sinister time of year when the Barons of Big Oil gather together, under the auspices of the United Nations and with the blessing of most world leaders, to celebrate the 350 million needless deaths they plan to cause between now and 2050 in the name of profit.
People closer to the action than I are suggesting that the end is nigh for Sussan Ley. They may be right; momentum is often all in these matters.
But I would be cautious about thinking the walk to the gallows is imminent. There are only so many metropolitan seats that angry old men in the Liberal Party can lightly wave away.
In 2023, the media in Australia and around the world became enamoured by research claiming that ‘upzoning’ planning changes introduced in Auckland in 2016 had resulted in a building boom and lower home prices and rents. I showed at the time that the research was inaccurate because it used a “biased sample” to skew the
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Risk markets in Asia are responding positively to possible news that the Republican shutdown of the US government may finally be coming to an end with the Senate passing a spending bill. Futures for Wall Street and undollars like gold and the Australian dollar have gapped higher as well with the latter leaping above the
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IEEFA wants Albo to waste another $1bn on green iron. As Australia pours $1 billion into its Green Iron Investment Fund, it can learn important lessons from the US and EU, where several low-emissions steel projects backed by capital grants were subsequently cancelled or delayed. Projects with a “gas first, green hydrogen later” approach struggled,
China printed a bit of inflation in October, but it was pretty obviously seasonal. There is bugger all momentum in prices. The PPI was worse, though it also fell over the line in the month. Anti-involution has dented deflation but it is temporary. Bloomberg has some great charts on the great deflation. Rise of
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