a continent occupied by warring tribes....
Australia’s growth potential hits a wall
The latest national accounts, which show the economy grew by just 0.4% and contracted marginally in per capita terms, provided further confirmation of the increasingly significant risk of effective stagflation for the Australian economy. Meanwhile, despite relatively weak headline growth and per capita stagnation, inflationary pressures were resurgent in the first full monthly CPI release
this would be a time for superman to save the world....
President Donald Trump has threatened Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, with a “bigger price” than the one paid by her recently captured predecessor Nicolas Maduro.
Welcome to the multicultural gulag
With its great view of fireworks, New Year’s Eve at Williamstown is a robust affair. This year was a bust. Police in every uniform and mounted on every conveyance outnumbered a crowd perhaps 20% the size of last year. Bikes, motorbikes, quads, horses, and jackboots corralled desultory revellers. Reveller in name only. Official violence stomped
Aborted house price boom eases RBA pressure
Last week’s Cotality’s daily dwelling values index, which tracks home values across Australia’s five major capital city markets, ended 2025 with momentum stalling. At the aggregate 5-city level, Cotality’s daily dwelling values index rose 0.5%, down significantly from the 1.0% growth recorded in November. Today, we get the release of PropTrak’s competing series, which shows
Macro Morning
Risk markets will pivot this week on the volatility around the Trump regime’s invasion of Venezuela as 2026 accelerates the new global order of “take what you want around you”. Watch out Cuba, Columbia, Canada and Greenland! Wall Street remains somewhat in holiday mode but will wake up with a bang tonight with stock markets
AUKUS: we kept it secret so the chinese don't know what we're doing....
As public concerns over the AUKUS alliance rise – with expanding US bases in Australia and Donald Trump’s belligerent conduct, FOI documents reveal the Government is secretly expanding its ‘US Department of War Protest’ Force. Rex Patrick reports.
What are the odds of US democracy surviving Trump?
TL;DR Not good. Taking account of economic failure, nothing Trump has done – rape, war crimes, corruption, insurrection, ICE or trashing the constitution – has cost him a single vote on balance.
Illegal tobacco is messing up economic data. That won’t stop until it’s managed like alcohol
This came out in The Conversation, a while ago, but I didn’t get around to posting it here. I’m posting my original version, which includes a discussion of vapes
Monday Message Board
Another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please.