As we know, Australia hates Donald Trump in part because of his stance on climate change. What most Australians don’t know, however, is that the US has done a much better job of decarbonising itself cheaply than we have. The recent change has been part of the post-COVID recovery. While the US has rehabilitated industry,
I am ideologically opposed to taxpayer-funded subsidies for private car transportation. Most of these subsidies go to higher-income earners. Thus, they are a prime illustration of the reverse Robin Hood phenomenon, in which the rich benefit at the expense of the poor. Electric vehicle (EV) subsidies are extremely expensive and inequitable, worsening the long-term sustainability
The groveller-in-chief will grovel. China Daily, a state media outlet, trumpeted the unusual length of Albanese’s visit (six days) and claimed the prime minister’s office saw the trip as a “friendly gesture” made “against the backdrop of rising tensions between the United States and many countries”. …Earlier in the day, TV journalists at the Drum
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Let’s call it what it is: a recession. Even a depression. Much like Japan before it, it is of the golden variety, hidden by fiscal bridges to nowhere. The Chinese economy grew a fanciful 5.2% in the June quarter. But even the slow-moving and captured are asking pointed questions now. Bloomberg. Nominal GDP, which accounts
The post China’s golden depression plods on appeared first on MacroBusiness.
The Market Ear with equities latest. Tech mania Stat of the day: “In the past 3 months since April, global investors have raised their allocation to the tech sector by the largest amount since Mar’09“. Source: BofA NASDAQ – no problem? NASDAQ futures printing new ATHs as of writing as tech breaks above the little
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ANZ-Roy Morgan Weekly Consumer Confidence Index has languished below the neutral 100 mark for more than three years, the longest and deepest stretch this century. The ANZ-Roy Morgan Weekly Consumer Confidence Index last reached positive territory above 100 in March 2022, just before the Albanese government was elected into office. “Low confidence isn’t just a mood
The ferrous complex is looking toppy. Yesterday’s June data was bad for Chinese steel. The only conclusion one can draw from this chart is that deep output cuts are underway. Private data is not capturing it. The decline of green steel continues. But both BOF and EAF output have topped at the mid-year peak well
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I stopped reading movie reviews before watching the film many years ago. Decades really. It was a film reviewer called Ana Maria Del’Oso (apologies for inevitably getting the spelling wrong, A.M.) wot done it to me. I'd been looking forward to watching Clint Eastwood's return to the Western with Unforgiven and naïvely picked up her review, which might have been in the Fairfax papers, or maybe some posh magazine.
Last month, credit ratings firm S&P estimated that Australia’s state and federal governments’ combined budget deficits totalled $52 billion, with net debt exceeding 60% of GDP. This translates to a $1,897 per capita deficit and a net debt of $45,183 per person. Meanwhile, the aggregate net debt of the federal, state, and territorial governments is
Hare-Clark is basically unique amongst Australian electoral systems because there is a realistic possibility that a member of parliament will lose their seat to a fellow member of the same party – indeed it happens fairly regularly. Another unusual feature is the use of countbacks. Members of parliament often choose to quit mid-term, and are replaced by a fellow member of their party without the need for a by-election. But those mid-term replacements often struggle to retain their seats against other candidates at the following election.