Open Thread – Tuesday 10 May 2022


The (Little) Tower of Babel, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1563

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Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 11, 2022 12:38 pm

Oily squirrels notwithstanding, the right hate workers and want them to be poor.

Really great to see you back, monty. Shame your own blog never succeeded.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 11, 2022 12:42 pm

I just knew I’d provoke a wordwall.

Which are now called facts.

Including one such ‘fact’ which ended with a forlorn ‘well what else would you have concluded*’.

Can’t get a job because Nazis. Scoff. Sneer.

*Actual quote.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 11, 2022 12:44 pm

Keep playing your violin while the economy burns M0nty. To fix something you have to first acknowledge what the problem is. The Dems are blaming everyone except themselves for the problem they and the rest of the Left caused. You cannot run an economy without oil and gas unless you have lots of nuke plants. And the Left hates nuke plants too.

When we’re at the level of Venezuela after all the animals in Taronga Zoo have been eaten maybe you’ll have a road to Damascus conversion.

Eyrie
Eyrie
May 11, 2022 12:48 pm

The Albo government will make the Biden administration look sane, competent and rational.

m0nty
May 11, 2022 12:48 pm

Ah, nukes. The ultimate squirrel.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 11, 2022 12:53 pm

M0nty tacitly admits he doesn’t know a damned thing about baseload electricity. Or about supply and demand economics. Figures.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 11, 2022 12:54 pm

Miami Grand Prix was ‘the Fyre Festival of F1 races’

As debate continues to swirl about the true glamour of the Miami Grand Prix, some have likened it to the infamous Fyre Festival.

Meanwhile on Reddit, a user posted about confusion over misplaced row stickers, which allegedly caused some “people who paid $2000 for these seats … to sit on the stairs because the staff couldn’t figure it out either.”

Representatives for Formula One did not return requests for comment.

One 58-year-old woman who works in luxury travel and has attended Grands Prix all over the world travelled all the way from Monaco, where she lives, for the race.

Me after paying $2,000 for a standing ticket #MiamiGP

She said the situation was dire even in one of the most exclusive areas known as the Paddock Club that is found at every Grand Prix.

“There was also a lack of parking and carts to take the VIPs to their areas,” said the woman, who declined to give her name because of her close ties to the industry. She said the area was also set up so guests couldn’t even see the podium, a perk they paid for.

While in Monaco there would be raw bars, fresh fish and an array of decadent desserts, in Miami there was cold chicken and messy burgers. Instead of being served on beautifully set tables, guests helped themselves to a buffet and found a seat in an area that she said resembled a cafeteria.

After attending the qualifying round on Saturday, she declined to go back to the track on Sunday, opting instead to watch the race on a large screen by the pool at the Faena Hotel.

“F1 is supposed to be the most luxurious motorsport series, so the hospitality should reflect that,” she said. “Unfortunately, there was nothing luxurious about Miami.”

Roger
Roger
May 11, 2022 12:57 pm

Mathias Cormann let the cat out of the bag when he stated in public recently that wage suppression is a feature of LNP policy. Oily squirrels notwithstanding, the right hate workers and want them to be poor.

That would include the right wing of the ALP, then, because historically it’s been their preference as well.

Higher wages and living standards for workers are an admirable goal, but it has to be based on productivity and balanced against the goal of full employment and the danger of an inflationary wage-price spiral.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 11, 2022 12:59 pm

Anyone up for thirteen booster shots a year?

New study shows 4th COVID shot only protects against infection for 4 weeks (10 May)

A recent study entitled, “Protection by a Fourth Dose of BNT162b2 against Omicron in Israel,” co-authored by Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, Prof. Nachman Ash, and others, has concluded that the fourth dose of the Pfizer vaccine confers very brief protection against infection with COVID, although protection against severe illness from COVID appears to be more long-lasting.

The study is based on data from the Israeli Health Ministry for people over the age of 60 who were eligible for a second booster dose from January 2, 2022. Of the approximately 1.2 million people who were eligible, around half opted to take the fourth dose.

Why would you bother? Especially when there’re several treatments that also help prevent serious illness without the risk of side effects from the boosters.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 1:01 pm

Shame your own blog never succeeded.

M0nty kept getting vibe-checked on his own blog by his own Fellow Travellers. And the demoralisation showed.

Who would have thought that a wretched hive of scum and right-wing villainy like the NewCat would become a refuge and Safe Space for such folk?

m0nty
May 11, 2022 1:01 pm

Keep playing your violin while the economy burns M0nty.

It’s not burning Bruce, unless by that you mean it’s overheated because it’s going so well. Part of the reason for inflation is the post-COVID demand surge. Try booking a tradie at the moment.

A bit of inflation has been long overdue, it’s been decades since we started the previous period of suboptimal inflation. Same goes for the last nine years of dropping real wages in Australia. What, are you afraid of the poor people getting a bit of extra cash in their pockets?

m0nty
May 11, 2022 1:03 pm

That would include the right wing of the ALP, then, because historically it’s been their preference as well.

Agreed, Roger. But hey, Comrade Albo is purging them as we speak.

H B Bear
H B Bear
May 11, 2022 1:03 pm

The hero of Malmo, mUnty returns. Must smell a Liar win over the wafting donuts.

H B Bear
H B Bear
May 11, 2022 1:07 pm

Albo will have to dust off a few of those old Tom Uren speeches. Back to the future.

m0nty
May 11, 2022 1:07 pm

Higher wages and living standards for workers are an admirable goal, but it has to be based on productivity and balanced against the goal of full employment and the danger of an inflationary wage-price spiral.

To be honest Roger, why should workers care about a connection between wages and productivity. Bosses clearly don’t care, as executive pay decoupled itself from productivity decades ago and shot into the stratosphere. Harrumphing about macro is not going to cut it, we’re sick of that nonsense.

Bosses have a choice: pay their workers a bit more, take a big pay cut, or wander over here to this recently-constructed scaffolding where a French contraption has been installed.

Roger
Roger
May 11, 2022 1:08 pm

Agreed, Roger. But hey, Comrade Albo is purging them as we speak.

I was listening to Comrade Burke doubling down on Elbow’s higher wages promise on the wireless this morning. There was a lot of bashng of Morrison, which is wearing thin as he’s such an easy target, but no mention of how it will all be paid for. Without a plan and the necessary reforms to boost productivity, it’ll end up being paid for by the people who lose their jobs.

P
P
May 11, 2022 1:10 pm

My brother told me last week he was advised not to get the 4th vaccination (he already has had the 2dose+booster) but to wait because there is a new one coming soon (No. 5) which is much better and gives longer protection.

Miltonf
Miltonf
May 11, 2022 1:13 pm

Well seeing an Anal government will up the attacks on productive industry aka wealth creation, we could expect working people to be made poorer. Of course left wing germslists aren’t capable of comprehending this as it’s unlikely that they have ever worked in the real economy.

Zyconoclast
Zyconoclast
May 11, 2022 1:14 pm

OldOzzie says:
May 11, 2022 at 12:54 pm
Miami Grand Prix was ‘the Fyre Festival of F1 races’

Too much attention in the (paid) celebrity attendance and not the actual race.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 11, 2022 1:14 pm

Bruce of Newcastlesays:
May 11, 2022 at 12:59 pm
Anyone up for thirteen booster shots a year?

Why would you bother? Especially when there are several treatments that also help prevent serious illness without the risk of side effects from the boosters.

As Unvaxxed (only one) in 3 generation Household with Grandkids Classmates, Families and Friends all coming down with Covid, Daughter and Son-in-law’s Families and Friends , plus Wife’s Tennis Group all coming down with Covid

Having has 4 minor and 1 major Op over last 2 years., 34 rounds of Cancer Immunotherapy every 3 weeks with bloods very 3 weeks over last 2 years, wound dressings at hospital, MRIs. PET and CAT scans etc

Definitely “Why Bother” – am happy to stick with AntiVirals approach of last 2 years and Seniors Flu Vaccine, 2 lots this year

Covid Vaccines have shown they do not work.

As I said to the Wound Nurses this morning – fit as a fiddle, happy and healing

Only problem no overseas travel on Qantas without Vaccination Certificate – hopefully the World will soon recognise the futility of Vaccine Certificates

m0nty
May 11, 2022 1:16 pm

I was listening to Comrade Burke doubling down on Elbow’s higher wages promise on the wireless this morning. There was a lot of bashng of Morrison, which is wearing thin as he’s such an easy target, but no mention of how it will all be paid for. Without a plan and the necessary reforms to boost productivity, it’ll end up being paid for by the people who lose their jobs.

First, there is no such thing as Morrison-bashing getting thin. It will remain fun, hot, righteous and funny for many, many years to come.

Second, there’s another thing we’re all sick of: the “how will you pay for it” wheeze, which is used as a gotcha question for every Labor policy. Morrison and his predecessors never gave a single tinker’s about fiscal rectitude when they were blowing out the budget year after year to gift our billions to their corporate mates. How will we pay for it? By cutting out the massive corruption of the LNP government, that’s how. By governing properly, not staffing the Cabinet with drongoes, Peter Principle standard bearers and no-raters like the LNP has.

Third, there is a lot of payback from years of wage suppression to be recovered by a bit of wage inflation before you start talking about how it will be paid for. The system is in workers’ debt, and it is long past time that workers called in that debt.

Top Ender
Top Ender
May 11, 2022 1:20 pm

Getting the pension is easy enough to understand, but it’s surrounded by lots of rules.

Basically you get government dosh if you only have your paid-for house, and less than a certain amount of money. For a single person that is $270,500; for a couple $405,000.

That amount includes super, cash under the bed, trusts, savings accounts, and so on.

The thing that makes it complicated are the add-on rules. For example, IIRR there is a rule that says you can’t have a heap of money and go and spend it on a $300k McLaren and call it the family car, and then apply for the pension. There are also a lot of rules to stop people parking a bucket of dollars with a family member, and then saying you don’t have it any more.

But yes, if you have paid off your debts; have set yourself up, and have spent down all of your savings, then living off the pension can be quite enough, I’d think.

What is interesting though is that if you have a lazy half million in cash and burnt it all in a wasteful way – say blowing it at the casino over a month – then you would indeed be able to draw a government stipend.

Zipster
Zipster
May 11, 2022 1:20 pm
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 11, 2022 1:22 pm

Try booking a tradie at the moment.

Haha, another effect of totalitarianism. Those lockdowns have caused people in inner city dog boxes to have an epiphany. Living outside of the city is actually quite nice, especially if they can Starlink to work. At the same time all those quaint little bars and restaurants have closed because they couldn’t survive the totalitarian bans. Who wants to live in a concrete jungle without nice places to eat? Especially when lefty government types quixotically ban you from leaving your flat without notice. Being stuck in a dog box for weeks is no fun, as the denizens of Shanghai could probably tell you.

But moving to the country means needing a place to live. Consequently there’s a building boom here in Lake Mac and any properties that list last about three days before being snapped up.

Amazing what totalitarianism does for one’s outlook on life.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 1:23 pm

Why would RUS waste precision-guided munitions on a large target remote from civilians?

Because might rather not waste their munitions stocks killing concrete instead of UkRo-NaStIs, in very limited terrain, when allegedly only limited troop numbers are available in Mariupol to continue reducing the holdouts there?

Bluey
Bluey
May 11, 2022 1:24 pm

Some might know who this is from, but I’m leaving out the link. Bloke is a carpenter by trade but very controversial. I’ve heard similar lines from tradies I know, and I’m similarly pissed off about the way governments have treated us.

The forced mRNA injections have broken the spirit of the working class in Australia.

Construction has almost come to a halt in Melbourne. There’s not even enough trades left to price jobs. It was already hard enough to run a little business with the tax rate, mandatory licensing and insurances and red tape fees imposed by the state.

But with the forced mRNA injections and threats of fines & bankruptcy for those who refused, many builders and trades have just given up and stopped working. Some are on welfare now and others just went to work for a larger and more established company as a labourer. Their incentive to run a business and try to get ahead has been destroyed.

The media hasn’t talked about the mRNA mandates in months, they’re expecting workers to just forget that they were terrorised and forced to get injected multiple times with a drug by their government, their employers and the unions, who all betrayed them for fear of losing money and position.

The Australian working class is debilitated and broken, people are in really bad shape. This whole country is going downhill fast while the cost of living continues to rise; food & fuel is more expensive than I’ve ever seen it before. These circumstances are unprecedented and shit is really gonna hit the fan down here soon.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 1:27 pm

Third, there is a lot of payback from years of wage suppression to be recovered by a bit of wage inflation before you start talking about how it will be paid for.

And the Fat Man seems to have conveniently ignored fact that it apparently only worsened under Kevni and Julia, having started under Paul Keating.

Ah, that’s right- It’s only wAgE SuPpReSsIoN when debbil-debbil righties aren’t increasing wages. It’s EqUiTy and ReDiStRiBuTiOn when leftists aren’t doing it…

Bluey
Bluey
May 11, 2022 1:27 pm

Come to think of it, even the most optimistic people I know aren’t talking about a bright future and happy times like they used to.

Eyrie
Eyrie
May 11, 2022 1:28 pm

So it’s hydrogen/oxy for Mars launches until then.

Once again, that will not happen. Musk has said they plan on using the Sabatier process to make methane and oxygen on Mars from the water they find and the atmospheric CO2. Nothing is planned to be done in Mars orbit. Unless you burrow into the moons it is a bad radiation environment. Starship will enter and land on Mars from the interplanetary trajectory and do a direct Earth return.
Super Heavy is the booster. It never leaves Earth environs, instead it returns to the launch site after staging of Starship. It is entirely sub orbital. As hydrogen is no good for first stages it runs on methane.
To avoid having two fuels, the Starship upper stage also runs on methane, which also eliminates the hydrogen handling and tanking problems like requiring insulation. Also don’t forget the whole plan is dependent on Earth orbital refueling which may be easier with methane than with hydrogen.
Your plan would involve designing and building yet another vehicle to ferry stuff from Martian surface to orbit and back. It will necessarily be an aerodynamic vehicle. Why would you do this when you already have one in the form of Starship?
Remember Musk is great believer in “the best part is no part”. I’d add “the best procedure is no procedure”. Direct entry and return avoid two orbital rendevous and dockings.
Nuclear thermal rockets running on water have not got great Isp. Not much better than methalox.
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=52806.0
The article suggests using methane as working fluid would be better and many years ago Bob Zubrin had a idea for getting around on Mars by using a nuclear thermal rocket using a dual mode reactor and compressing the Martian atmosphere to refill the tanks.

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 11, 2022 1:29 pm

The Australian working class is debilitated and broken, people are in really bad shape. This whole country is going downhill fast while the cost of living continues to rise; food & fuel is more expensive than I’ve ever seen it before. These circumstances are unprecedented and shit is really gonna hit the fan down here soon.

I’ll tell ya who wrote that Tripe:
A LABOR PARTY SHILL.
Victoria is fucked because it’s being run by the CFMMEU.
No other reason.

Zipster
Zipster
May 11, 2022 1:30 pm

M0nty tacitly admits he doesn’t know a damned thing about baseload electricity. Or about supply and demand economics. Figures.

the return of the resident wrongologist

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 11, 2022 1:34 pm

What is interesting though is that if you have a lazy half million in cash and burnt it all in a wasteful way – say blowing it at the casino over a month – then you would indeed be able to draw a government stipend.
That’s a pretty fanciful scenario, but even then, so what?
The Age Pension is pretty good, plus it allows for $400/fortnite earnings without being reduced.

feelthebern
feelthebern
May 11, 2022 1:37 pm

Why would RUS waste precision-guided munitions on a large target remote from civilians?

Maybe it wasn’t so precise, Dover.
Reading one trove of US docs on wikileaks, it was sobering to see how many US bombs killed civilians & were written off as a software/hardware error.

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 11, 2022 1:38 pm

When the great Australian poet Les Murray died in April 2019, he left an incomplete volume of new work in his desk drawer.

Was he a Flamer?

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 11, 2022 1:42 pm

Sorry Bluey – how the other half lives overseas but in the Meantime in VicStan

Disgraceful – Victoria has an army of 1100 spin doctors with a wages bill estimated at $110 million

What your tradie mates are paying for

Tom Brady lands 10-year $540 million broadcast deal from Fox Sports

Tom Brady is going to earn more from a historic broadcasting contract with Fox Sports than his entire career playing football.

Fox Sports’ deal to make Tom Brady its lead NFL game analyst after he retires is for 10 years and $540 million (AUD), The New York Post has learned.

It is the largest contract in sportscasting history, as it more than doubles both CBS’ Tony Romo and ESPN’s Troy Aikman in average annual salary of $26 million per season.

In bringing in Brady, Fox surely made the NFL happy. The NFL just did deals with Fox, ESPN, CBS, NBC and Amazon for $160 billion that will extend into the 2030s. The pressure of having the NFL, which accounted for 75 of the top-100 rated shows on television last year, is what is driving the prices of the announcers up.

Dot
Dot
May 11, 2022 1:43 pm

OPEC and some private US oil producers have lowered production and are skimming some nice profits, as oil producers tend to do.

Yes, if they want to be going concerns and not industrial cemeteries.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 1:43 pm
feelthebern
feelthebern
May 11, 2022 1:44 pm

If you look at the official announced infrastructure spend by taxpayers dollars, there is more in Victoria than the rest of the states combined.
Currently 52% of total spend.
Helluva number.
That’s combined state & federal spending of taxpayer dosh.
What are they building done there?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 11, 2022 1:45 pm

Once again, that will not happen. Musk has said they plan on using the Sabatier process to make methane and oxygen on Mars from the water they find and the atmospheric CO2.

He’ll change his mind once he works out what that means. The engineering feasibility study numbers will be brutal.

I am not joking. This is the sort of stuff I have been doing for decades and it doesn’t make sense, same as those stupid ammonia ideas don’t make sense. Or that stupid HVDC line to Singapore. Which doesn’t stop the proponents.

Nuke or hydrogen, that what makes chemical engineering sense in that location with those available resources. Hydrogen is mature technology, but nuke is better energy yield for mass needing transport to Mars. Elon really needs to chase the nuke space because solar energy yield is nominally about half what you get here because of the square of the orbital radius. Carrying all those solar cells to Mars to power a chemical industry isn’t going to make much sense either.

Indeed I would go further to say that if Elon wants to extend further into the Solar System he must develop the nuclear steam rocket model. There’s water ice available in many places but solar energy is ‘way too diffuse for the energy requirements for such a project.

Dot
Dot
May 11, 2022 1:45 pm

To be honest Roger, why should workers care about a connection between wages and productivity.

Because it is a function of their effectiveness in delivering the input to satisfying the derived demand for their labour.

If you can’t do your job properly, you and your boss suffer. If no one wants to buy the trash you make, you and your boss suffer.

The bread line does not discriminate.

feelthebern
feelthebern
May 11, 2022 1:46 pm

It looks like as the Sydney road spend rolls off, NSW hasn’t replaced a whole lot of that.
SA looks pretty gunshy too after their 2.3bill hospital was completed a couple years back.
Did they ever work out that dispute over costs ?

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
May 11, 2022 1:47 pm

“It’s the president’s phrase,” she told reporters Tuesday. “I think what has struck him is how extreme some of the policies and proposals are

I suspect only a couple of decades ago Biden would have supported many of the MAGA ideas – even Democrats knew they had to at least pay lip service to them because mainstream America identified so much with them – so who is the radical?

Still, it is funny to see Raggedy Anne excitedly highlighting Biden making something up all by himself. This should stop all those critics who say Biden’s brain is broken. If it was broken, could he have made up a word all by himself. Add that to ‘trunalimunumaprzure’.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 11, 2022 1:49 pm

Aussie tradie is forced to close his business and go back to university as his business goes broke

A tradesman who’s been on the tools for more than 25 years has decided to close his building business for good due to crippling costs and supply issues that he says have just about broken him.

Anthony Lococo, who’s based in Torquay, Victoria, will be shutting his building company Lococo Build later this year in what is the latest in a long line of tradesman feeling the pressure or giving up the tools because of skyrocketing material prices.

‘It’s been a heartbreaking decision to make, but after two years of struggling to get materials and trades, and costs continuingly blowing out and eating into anything that even looked like a profit margin,’ Lococo explained.

‘I decided at Christmas that I just couldn’t face another year of it,’ he said. ‘I’m drained, and I’ve had enough.’

‘Supply shortages, price increases, getting tradies – all of those factors pushed us to make the call to close,’ he said.

‘Reports from the trade industry said that it was going to be just as bad if not worse this year, and we just couldn’t do it. I have a family, and I was feeling the pressure.’

Anthony Lococo (pictured) will be closing his building company Lococo Build for good later this year in what is the latest in a long line of tradesman and businesses giving up the tools due to a myriad of issues hampering the industry

Costs of metal ores, plastics, and timber have been consistently rising for years, but particularly through the pandemic as factories were forced to shut down for extended periods.

The trickle-down effect of these surging costs means Australian tradies are forced to cover the difference because they had entered fixed-price contracts with clients.

‘There’s a lot of builders who are struggling out there, I know a few of them. Many don’t want to talk about it but they’re feeling the pressure.’

A survey conducted last year by Master Builders Australia revealed that 98 per cent of builders in Victoria had been affected by price rises and wait times for materials.

Lococo says rising material costs was possibly the most significant problem that required urgent addressing, revealing that his expenses had jumped as much as 30% in the space of a month.

‘We used to get 5% [cost] increases yearly, but recently we were seeing 30% increases in a month,’ Lococo said.

Lococo told Daily Mail Australia that ‘reports from the trade industry was that it was going to be just as bad if not worse this year and we just couldn’t do it. I have a family and I was feeling the pressure’. Pictured with his family

The father-of-two is one of many trade businesses either closing or teetering on the decision to close as problems in the industry worsen. Stock image

‘My wife and I built this company from the ground up and I put in a huge amount of time in educating myself and really pushing myself to make sure we had a well-systemised business and until COVID hit, I thought we were really starting to kick goals,’ he said.

‘I know I’m not alone in the industry with these challenges, but it just seemed that no matter what we did, we were consistently going backwards because of materials constantly being delayed, struggling to find trades when we needed them, prices going through the roof and no positive end in sight.

‘I got to the point where I couldn’t even face the thought of going into the office. Having to let my team go is devastating, but I don’t realistically have any choice. And sadly, I know of two other builders in my area who have also decided to close their businesses in the past year for exactly the same reasons.’

feelthebern
feelthebern
May 11, 2022 1:49 pm

If you take two similar areas/regions & spend a gazillion on infrastructure one one but not the other, you see that reflected in asset prices during the next cycle.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 11, 2022 1:50 pm

if you have a lazy half million in cash and burnt it all in a wasteful way – say blowing it at the casino over a month

My exact retirement plan.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 11, 2022 1:53 pm

Oh Noes…

The Snake Island events of the last several days have been quite amazing. Much of it caught on drone cameras and satellite.

feelthebern
feelthebern
May 11, 2022 1:53 pm

‘There’s a lot of builders who are struggling out there, I know a few of them. Many don’t want to talk about it but they’re feeling the pressure.’

Genuine question, why didn’t he pivot from the being a building company into selling their services to other construction companies.
Sure it’s shit that he’s shut down.
But him & his staff have skills that are in high demand.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 11, 2022 1:56 pm

‘Loose unit’ Albanese wage push throws fuel on cost of living fire: PM

Scott Morrison has labelled Anthony Albanese a “loose unit” who either does not have a grasp on the economy, or who was taking the voters for mugs.

As Mr Albanese stood by, but clarified, his advocacy for a minimum wage rise equivalent to the headline inflation rate of 5.1 per cent, Mr Morrison pounced on what he called “incredibly reckless” and ill-considered comments.

“It showed a lack of understanding of the relationship between wages and inflation, and interest rates.” the Prime Minister said.

“If you want your interest rates to be skyrocketing, as a result of what Anthony Albanese is suggesting, well, he’s your guy.”

Employers and economists warned the rise could crush businesses, fuel inflation and put upward pressure on interest rates.

“Anthony Albanese is a loose unit on the economy. We saw that right at the start of the campaign. He didn’t know what unemployment was. He didn’t know what the cash rate was. He says his policies are costed, but they’re not costed,” he said.

“In what he said yesterday, it is like throwing fuel on the fire of rising interest rates and rising cost of living.

“What he said … puts a chain reaction in place, dominoes fall that lead to higher interest rates and higher cost of living.

“If he doesn’t understand that, which that tells you everything you need to know about what he doesn’t understand about the Australian economy. If he does understand it, he’s playing you for a mug.”

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 11, 2022 1:58 pm

Employers warn Labor’s 5pc pay rise will crush business

Employers and economists are warning that Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s advocacy for pay rises greater than 5 per cent to keep pace with soaring cost of living will crush businesses, fuel inflation and put upward pressure on interest rates.

Seeking to distinguish Labor from the government, Mr Albanese said he would “absolutely” back a 5.1 per cent increase to the minimum wage in line with the headline inflation rate, declaring workers’ pay should not be allowed to go backwards.

Council of Small Business Organisations Australia chief executive Alexi Boyd said higher wage costs had already been locked in for businesses with the increase in superannuation guarantee to 10.5 per cent and removal of the $450 a month threshold for workers to be paid superannuation from July 1.

”For small business, wages are the highest input, so if you are putting it up 5 per cent, this is going to break many small businesses,” she said.

“Of course business owners want to look after their staff … but the conditions we find ourselves in economically are very different to two to three years ago.”

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said small businesses supported “reasonable” pay rises but “imposing unaffordable wage increases on small business will cruel jobs, not create them”.

‘Clear risk’

Australian Industry Group chief Innes Willox described increases exceeding 5 per cent as “unsustainable”.

“There is a clear risk that a high increase in wages without improved workplace productivity would fuel inflation and increase the likelihood of a steeper rise in interest rates to the detriment of growth and job creation.”

m0nty
May 11, 2022 1:58 pm

And the Fat Man seems to have conveniently ignored fact that it apparently only worsened under Kevni and Julia, having started under Paul Keating.

A complete lie, Rex. Par for the course for you, of course.

Morrison seems to be trying to win an election on the premise of keeping wages low in a time of inflation. This is a courageous position for a politician in a democracy to take. It does not seem to be going well.

P
P
May 11, 2022 1:59 pm

Ed Case says:
May 11, 2022 at 1:38 pm

For your perusal:
LES MURRAY, DISSIDENT POET
by David Mason
4 . 30 . 19

Eyrie
Eyrie
May 11, 2022 2:00 pm

He’ll change his mind once he works out what that means. The engineering feasibility study numbers will be brutal.
I am not joking.

BoN, the SpaceX engineers have already done the numbers for the current plan, years ago. Your plan involves another vehicle and a new engine optimised for hydrogen or a radical redesign of Raptor and that vehicle will never return to earth for servicing or refurbishment. Ain’t going to happen.
I suggest you go over the nasaspaceflight.com and sign up and float your idea. Should take all of 2 to 3 hours before it is torn to shreds. That idea may well have already had that happen to it if you poke around in the SpaceX section of the forums. If you try to start a new topic on this they’ll likely refer you to it.

Top Ender
Top Ender
May 11, 2022 2:00 pm

New curriculum, same old leftist ideological bent

BELLA D’ABRERA / The Australian

The national curriculum determines what every Australian child will be taught from prep to year 10. The latest version, released on Monday and to be implemented from next year, has been approved by state Labor and Liberal governments as well as endorsed by the Morrison government. It is marginally better than the earlier draft that provoked a public outcry.

English and maths have been improved, but the subjects that inform how Australians think about our country and ourselves are even more ideologically loaded than previous drafts. Anzac Day is no longer contested, but what education bureaucrats grudgingly give away with one hand, they gleefully grab with the other.

What the national curriculum authority has produced is a political document infused with a pagan-green ideology. This is apparent in the health and physical education syllabus, as years 9 and 10 are taught to “engage in nature experiences to understand how these activities can promote the development of eco-identity and positive sense of wellbeing, including exploring how a deep connection to country/place enhances health and wellbeing for First Nations Australians”.

While an “eco-identity” is not elaborated on, like so many bad ideas it comes from academe. In discussing “ecocultural identity” in 2020, Ben Knight from the University of NSW writes: “The failure of the majority of the world to acknowledge the ecological in ourselves – its denial even – has led to environmental crises, a sort of global identity crisis driving the most pressing problems of our time, from climate crisis to Covid-19.” He quotes UNSW faculty of arts and science associate professor Tema Milstein: “One of the core premises (in) Western/ised cultures is that humans are not nature, that humans are not the environment, and that the environment is kind of a backdrop to humanity … the majority of societies now have reoriented their identities to be based on this separation in a way that has become very destructive.”

In other words, nature is good and humans are evil. This is the message which with children are being indoctrinated, and they are being set on the path to pantheism as soon as they get to school.

Throughout the new prep to year 6 curriculum, the under-12s are continuously encouraged to think about themselves in terms of how they relate to the environment, as well as through the lens of First Nations Australians. In geography, children repeatedly are told they must care for places that are inextricably tied to their identity. What is more, First Nations Australians consistently are held up as role models when it comes to the environment.

It begins in prep, when they identify “the places, communities, country/place they live in”. In year 1 they look at “how places change and how they can be cared for by different groups, including First Nations Australians”. By year 4, geography is about “how people’s connections with their environment can also be aesthetic, emotional and spiritual” as well as how “sustainable use and management of renewable and non-renewable resources including the custodial responsibility First Nations Australians have for country/place”.

Children are being taught it is better to be an Indigenous Australian than any other type of Australian. This is consistent with the teaching of Australia’s history.

In year 4, children will learn “the effects of contact with other people on First Nations Australians and their countries/places following the arrival of the First Fleet and how this was viewed by First Nations Australians as an invasion”. If they keep referring to Australia as having been invaded, it doesn’t matter what they teach them post-1788 because there will always be a sense of guilt associated with being a non-Indigenous Australian.

Education ministers clearly are not listening to parents about what they want for their children. In a poll commissioned by the Institute of Public Affairs, 56 per cent of the respondents thought parents should have the greatest say over what is taught to Australian schoolchildren. Just 10 per cent thought it should be bureaucrats, and only 5 per cent thought it should be politicians.

This is what happens when you hand your children over to the state. What about parents who might want their children to develop an identity other than an “eco-identity”? Who would like their children to have an identity based on family or religion?

The timing of version 9.0 is impeccable. In the middle of the election period, the education elite make minor changes to pretend they are listening to parents, desperately hoping we won’t see. But we do see. We see that every draft version of the curriculum gets worse and worse and that it is now beyond redemption.

It is time to abolish the national curriculum, to take education out of the hands of left-wing ideologues and to return it to parents.

Bella d’Abrera is director of the Foundations of Western Civilisation Program at the Institute of Public Affairs.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
May 11, 2022 2:02 pm

You would think that the die hards of Keynesian pump priming would be museum exhibits by now but it seems the lesson of printing and spending in an economy with enforced constraints cannot be learned by these flappers.
They seem astounded that inflation is the natural consequence of direct government intervention in the money supply plus the crushing of production under health rules.
Shocked! I tells ya!

Bluey
Bluey
May 11, 2022 2:03 pm

feelthebernsays:
May 11, 2022 at 1:53 pm
‘There’s a lot of builders who are struggling out there, I know a few of them. Many don’t want to talk about it but they’re feeling the pressure.’

Genuine question, why didn’t he pivot from the being a building company into selling their services to other construction companies.
Sure it’s shit that he’s shut down.
But him & his staff have skills that are in high demand.

Lot of the bigger companies put all the risk on the subbies. Look at ProBuild recently, just about guarantee none of the sub contractors are going to get paid. Heaps of the smaller players are in the same position he is, unless you’re sucking on the Vic government teat it’s truly screwed.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
May 11, 2022 2:03 pm

The Greens and Labor (and Teals and what have you) all proceed from the assumption that the default state for a country, especially Australia, is prosperity. It is merely a matter of deciding which people do not deserve a bigger slice and which ones do.

They can take money from who they want and give it to who they want and it will make no difference. Capitalism is, if anything, through profit and through not paying everyone the same, chokes national wealth. So Labor and the Greens (and the Libs) think they can put the squeeze on the private sector without it really affecting ordinary people.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 2:04 pm

A complete lie, Rex. Par for the course for you, of course.

Let’s see some numbers then, baby!

For all the Fair Work Australias being introduced and individual agreements apparently being torn down to great fanfare by the luvvies, I have seen nothing that suggests anyone became materially better off under Kevni and Julia…

feelthebern
feelthebern
May 11, 2022 2:05 pm

Fair point bluey.

feelthebern
feelthebern
May 11, 2022 2:05 pm

What’s ISW, DB?

Bluey
Bluey
May 11, 2022 2:06 pm

Ed Casesays:
May 11, 2022 at 1:29 pm
The Australian working class is debilitated and broken, people are in really bad shape. This whole country is going downhill fast while the cost of living continues to rise; food & fuel is more expensive than I’ve ever seen it before. These circumstances are unprecedented and shit is really gonna hit the fan down here soon.

I’ll tell ya who wrote that Tripe:
A LABOR PARTY SHILL.
Victoria is fucked because it’s being run by the CFMMEU.
No other reason.

You are even more spectacularly wrong about that than usual. Bloke who wrote that has no love for Labor or unions.

feelthebern
feelthebern
May 11, 2022 2:07 pm

From about 2006 to 2012, the US was literally bombing Afghanistan with gay abandon & the media didn’t give a shit.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 11, 2022 2:08 pm

Nut Case how much do you get paid to try to disrupt this site from your second last employer’s. Enough to run the Vespa?

Bluey
Bluey
May 11, 2022 2:10 pm

Mother Lodesays:
May 11, 2022 at 2:03 pm
The Greens and Labor (and Teals and what have you) all proceed from the assumption that the default state for a country, especially Australia, is prosperity. It is merely a matter of deciding which people do not deserve a bigger slice and which ones do.

They can take money from who they want and give it to who they want and it will make no difference. Capitalism is, if anything, through profit and through not paying everyone the same, chokes national wealth. So Labor and the Greens (and the Libs) think they can put the squeeze on the private sector without it really affecting ordinary people.

That right there. Standing ovation material.

FTB, ISW is the institute for the study of war. Another neocon thinktank. I think it’s affiliated with Nuland and the worst of the US swamp

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 11, 2022 2:11 pm

The opposition leader thought it’d be a cute idea to visit St Mary’s Cathedral College – his alma mater on the fringe of Sydney’s CBD

Albanese was educated by Christian Brothers?

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 11, 2022 2:13 pm

Bloke who wrote that has no love for Labor or unions.
Who wrote it?

m0nty
May 11, 2022 2:14 pm

Let’s see some numbers then, baby!

I see that the Cat has remained resolutely lazy. You’re the one who made the bare assumption champ, it’s your responsibility to back it up.

You may even find that there was an increase in wages that slightly predated Rudd’s ascension, which if you’re paying attention could be ascribed to late-era Howard. But there was an unmistakeable rise in wages over the Rudd/Gillard era, which stalled and flatlined under Abbott.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 11, 2022 2:15 pm

Here Are the 90+ ‘Equity’ Plans Taxpayers Are Now Funding Across the Federal Government

By John Murawski, RealClearInvestigations
May 10, 2022

Under the Biden administration, more than 90 federal agencies have pledged their commitment to equity by adopting action plans that put gender, race and other such factors at the center of their governmental missions.

The Equity Action Plans, which have received little notice since they were posted online last month following a document request from RealClearInvestigations, represent a “whole of government” fight against “entrenched disparities” and the “unbearable human costs of systemic racism.”

The equity blueprints show that:

. The U.S. State Department is keen on exporting American-style gender and race consciousness into foreign diplomacy and across the globe. Citing “identity” and “intersections of marginalization” as focal points, State Department officials acknowledge that promoting these Western concepts in foreign lands may clash with “societal norms” and elicit an “unwillingness to cede power by dominant groups.”

. The Environmental Protection Agency plans to tap into “community science” from tribal nations and other interest groups, in addition to relying on academic peer-reviewed research. As the agency shifts its enforcement focus from responding to complaints to proactively initiating its own investigations, the EPA plans to fund “community scientists” to supply evidence of what it calls environmental racism and other corporate practices to be targeted for federal investigation.

. The Smithsonian Institution is embedding diversity and equity in “everything we do” across the labs and collections that make up the world’s largest museum complex. The Smithsonian has, like other agencies, enthroned a Head Diversity Officer position to coordinate these efforts, and will refocus its energies to explore “how race has informed all our lives” and affirm “the centrality of race in America.”

The Equity Action Plans are a response to an executive order President Biden signed on his first day of office in January 2021, committing his administration to pursuing “a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all, including people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality.”

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 11, 2022 2:17 pm

BoN, the SpaceX engineers have already done the numbers for the current plan, years ago. Your plan involves another vehicle and a new engine optimised for hydrogen or a radical redesign of Raptor and that vehicle will never return to earth for servicing or refurbishment. Ain’t going to happen.

Then the only alternative is to bring the methane with them from Earth. That’s going to be brutally expensive too.

Synergies can work at times, but if there is an absence of one crucial input then they don’t. I am really really not joking. It does not make sense to synthesize methane on Mars compared with either hydrogen/oxy or the Russian nuclear rocket tech. I even hate the idea of running an electrolysis plant for the hydrogen on Mars (which you’d also have to do for the methane plant anyway).

The size of the equipment you’d need to do these process steps would take hundreds and hundreds of Starship loads. I’ve worked at plants like these, including one with a hydrogen electrolysis plant, the kit is huge, complex and energy and maintenance intensive. He should go get a shiftwork job at an Haber ammonia plant for a while (I’ve done so). It’s a similar process.

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
May 11, 2022 2:19 pm

m0ntysays:
May 11, 2022 at 11:25 am

[Quoting McCrann] The really disturbing, utterly disastrous course, that a comprehensively clueless Albanese-led government would blunder down, is the way that promoting 5 per cent-plus wage increases when inflation is 5 per cent, is exactly what leads on to 7 per cent inflation.

Then, rinse and mindlessly repeat at 7 per cent, and you are headed for 10 per cent inflation.

As usual, McCrann is economically illiterate.

Inflation is almost exclusively tied to global factors these days.

As usual, m0nty is economically innumerate.
No, just make that innumerate.
And illiterate.
Note that McCrann’s comment quoted by m0nty didn’t refer to what caused existing inflation – it was solely about what would be the effect of AnAl’s policies if implemented in the future. So m0nty’s grandstanding about what’s happening now is irrelevant to what he’s criticising.
The ABS’s Producer Price Index reports including the input-output tables suggest that McCrann’s estimate of 2% extra inflation for a 5% all round wage increase is prima facie on the high side but not orders of magnitude so. So m0nty’s claim that inflation “is almost exclusively tied to global factors” may be true about the irrelevant issue of what’s happened up till now, but is an alarming display of ignorance and poor logic if applied to the McCrann comment that m0nty is supposedly addressing.

Seriously m0nty, if wages are as irrelevant to inflation as you say, let’s argue for a 100% wage increase across the board.

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 11, 2022 2:19 pm

Biden has nothing to do with it, in fact he released some US oil reserves to try to lower prices. Even he couldn’t stop the global economic tide.

ROFLMAO. munty retains his record for wrongology.

Never heard of the Keystone Pipeline, munts?

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 11, 2022 2:21 pm

By governing properly, not staffing the Cabinet with drongoes, Peter Principle standard bearers and no-raters

Because the KRudd/Gillard/KRudd governments did so well, and almost all of those raging successes are still here.

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 11, 2022 2:21 pm

Morrison seems to be trying to win an election on the premise of keeping wages low in a time of inflation. This is a courageous position for a politician in a democracy to take.
Bob Hawke successfully ran on that Policy 3 times.
Wally Curran was the only Union Leader to take him on and win, Hawke destroyed the Pilot’s Union over the issue.
It does not seem to be going well.
Hard to know.
If all the factory workers and manual labourers voted Labor, they’d’a been in power the last 121 years.

shatterzzz
May 11, 2022 2:23 pm

What is interesting though is that if you have a lazy half million in cash and burnt it all in a wasteful way – say blowing it at the casino over a month – then you would indeed be able to draw a government stipend.
It ain’t that easy .. if it were folk might do it .. they want, provable, financial records (bank statements/wages/termination ect) for, at least, the past six months to start with & any sudden decline in figures fully explained before you see a cent .. which is why you can’t just slip it to family for safe-keeping until .. LOL!
keeping it under-the-bed (for several years prior) or well away from accountable paperwork are the only surefire method that worx ..

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 2:25 pm

But there was an unmistakeable rise in wages over the Rudd/Gillard era, which stalled and flatlined under Abbott.

So, about the same time that the GFC forced a partial reset of most of the economy, and a resources boom took off and subsequently ran flat, I see.

Here’s what the RBA had to say on the matter:

https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/confs/2011/kearns-lowe.html

So, was it truly a wage rise, Benito M0ntylini? Or did the initial shock and readjustment of the GFC combine with the miners’ money getting so good for so long that everyone else’s true situation was drowned out? And so when the mines turned down, everything settled with it?

C’mon Fat Man, you’re the fellow who says wAgE SuPpReSsIoN only happens under right wing governments. Wanna try and eliminate a few more variables before you draw any absolute conclusions?

rickw
rickw
May 11, 2022 2:28 pm

ROFLMAO. munty retains his record for wrongology.

Never heard of the Keystone Pipeline, munts?

You know you’re a pro when you can take 12 months off and then straight up hit one out of the park.

Cassie of Sydney
May 11, 2022 2:29 pm

Nice to see you Monty.

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 11, 2022 2:32 pm

Yeah, the StruthSock is getting a tad fleabitten, let’s give the MontyShill
a run.

m0nty
May 11, 2022 2:33 pm

So m0nty’s claim that inflation “is almost exclusively tied to global factors” may be true about the irrelevant issue of what’s happened up till now, but is an alarming display of ignorance and poor logic if applied to the McCrann comment that m0nty is supposedly addressing.

Seriously m0nty, if wages are as irrelevant to inflation as you say, let’s argue for a 100% wage increase across the board.

The executive class – of which politicians are most certainly a part – have voted themselves many times that level of wage increase over the past decade, varying by industry of course but the detachment of executive remuneration from productivity increases is longstanding and undeniable. What sort of effect did that have on inflation, do you think? And did the economists (who are also part of that class) bleat about it?

Workers can listen to that sort of concern trolling about inflation and treat it with the disgust it deserves. Shove it up your jacksies, basically. Workers deserve a pay rise.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 11, 2022 2:35 pm

The ABC and BBC of America

When historians look back on the first decades of the 21st century, they may be surprised at how effectively National Public Radio helped elect Republican candidates.

That claim might seem surprising. Anyone who listens to NPR knows that the nonprofit broadcast organization, which has tilted left since its inception, has recently turned into something like the publicity wing of the Democratic National Committee. But NPR’s evident design to discredit Republicans is no less subject to the law of unintended consequences than any other aspect of political life.

Last November’s election in Virginia is a case in point. A focal point of Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin’s campaign for governor was the encroachment of Critical Race Theory into public schools. Experts disagree about whether that issue helped him win the election. Less studied is the way that news coverage of the issue might have affected voters.

NPR repeatedly dismissed Youngkin’s concerns with assurances that CRT “is not taught in Virginia schools.” NPR’s reporters repeated the same mantra over and over and over again. This insistence must have sounded Orwellian to parents familiar with the preponderance of evidence showing that Virginia’s Department of Education had been promoting CRT for years.

Instead of investigating why some parents might share Youngkin’s concerns, NPR repeatedly portrayed these parents as ignorant and misinformed. Last November’s tone-deaf coverage demonstrates that NPR’s reporters are incapable of hearing how they sound to anyone outside their bubble. They rarely speak to Republicans or conservatives.

They could be forgiven for assuming that few outside the liberal bubble are even paying attention. A 2020 Pew study found that, of those who named NPR as their main source for political and election news, 87% identify as Democrats or lean Democrat. Those numbers suggest that NPR is rapidly transforming into a Fox News for the Left (93% of those who primarily get their news from Fox are Republican or lean Republican).

Meantime, the emotion that NPR inspires in its core audience (Democrats) is contempt for Republicans – but such feelings of disgust, it turns out, suppress voter turnout.

If this analysis is correct, then NPR must be seen as a key factor motivating conservatives to vote and demotivating Democrats from doing so

Future historians may have to account for the death of American democracy. No doubt they will devote a few pages to the rising demagoguery of politicians in the early 21st century. But they will also have to look at how the American news media, operating in one of the freest countries in the world, voluntarily chose propaganda over journalism.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
May 11, 2022 2:35 pm

I had a group meeting earlier today where one person, an architect, was giving us a bit of a run down on projects being carried out around Australia. When she commenced the meeting she acknowledged these people and those custodians and the wisdom of the elders and respect for their traditional bonds to the land and sea and sky etc.

I wonder what would happen if someone decided to start a meeting with a prayer? It is possible this woman believed in this stuff but not everyone does. Yet we are expected to treat it with some reverence.

These special bonds and connections are not things that can be found by science or measurement. They are the realm of belief. She (apparently) believes all these rites of submission make a difference. Well, a person petitioning God to bestow blessings on others also believes it makes a difference.

But as she droned on (and on and on) I wondered what is the mental or emotional state that accompanies the verbiage. When she says she acknowledges their traditional custodianship, what is she feeling or what future actions is she swearing herself to? If I acknowledge my own errors I am binding myself to take responsibility. If I acknowledge someone as my boss then I will be working with them under the leadership and accepting that I have forfeited some of my own claims on them.

So these people acknowledging stuff – what are they saying? Can they give a few examples of what they would be surrendering, either material or mental?

And the wisdom of the elders? Does this woman know what that wisdom was? I don’t. The mindset of stone age hunter-and-gatherers is beyond me. Is it their teaching how to nap a stone or track an animal? Reading the stars to guess when the rains were coming? That is just knowledge, not wisdom. Deciding who in the clan gets what piece of a kill? That is dictated by tradition. What precisely is she respecting.

My guess is that it is none of the above. It is just a ratcheting up of a turn of language, each time hoping to outdo someone else. And it can go on forever because it is not constrained by the reality of Aboriginal culture, but the appetite for absurd excess by people who have lost their sense of proportion.

Oh, and as she rattled off the names of a group of projects being undertaken about the country she made a point of saying whose ‘country’ all these locations were in.

This is a woman who would rely upon dating apps – if she could refrain from acknowledging the traditional custodians of the internet in her profile.

shatterzzz
May 11, 2022 2:36 pm

shatterzzzsays:
May 11, 2022 at 2:23 pm

I should have added that if they identify sudden expediture/withdrawal patterns they (CL) will assess how long it should have taken to wittle down under normal circumstances and tell you .. say .. “Oops, that should have lasted you 10 months .. come back in 10 months time and we’ll look at it again” ..
You can, of course, appeal which with, co-incidental, to-ing & fro-ing will probably eat up your 10 months before a decision is reached ..
These folk aren’t amateurs when the game has to be played ..!
as Hank sez, “It ain’t IF but WHEN” .. LOL!

rickw
rickw
May 11, 2022 2:37 pm

Children are being taught it is better to be an Indigenous Australian than any other type of Australian.

An absolute fucking disgrace being a second class citizen in your own country.

The shit begins early, forcing preps onwards to read books about life in an aboriginal community, principally all made up BS and sans the brutality, rape and murder.

All overlayed with quasi religious BS of “connection to the land” courtesy of race.

It’s fucking disgusting.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 11, 2022 2:39 pm

Any gifts a person makes within the preceding 5 years may count in their assets and income tests for the age pension or aged care costs. A person receiving (or about to start receiving) the age pension can give away up to $30,000 over a 5-year period without it affecting their pension.24 Feb 2022

Clarifying gifting rules and their effects on age pension

For example, think about a couple with $800,000 in assessable assets and who are receiving a part-pension. If they gave away $200,000 to their grandchild for a home deposit, the first $10,000 gifted is within allowable limits, and the remaining $190,000 gifted would still be counted as an asset.

However, their pension would be largely unchanged because Centrelink would still regard them as having $790,000 of assessable assets.

In five years, those deprived assets would no longer exist for Centrelink purposes and, depending on other factors at that time, could result in an increase in their age pension.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 2:40 pm

I see. RUS are across the river near Belgorovka,

Pontoon got blown.

Severodonetsk is up shit creek, especially with Popasaya now in the RUS column

So, where’s the reinforcement push? Those fortifications are only useful if they are facing the right way. And for fighting the Ukrainians, they are not…

Shortly, we are going to see the commander of Aidar in some bunker crying that Zelensky has left them to be slaughtered.

So, you’re saying it’s all still a feint? And that the counter-offensive won’t amount to much?

Tovarisch Marshall Dover, there is a phone call for you from a Marshall Bagramyan from Barvenkove. He says something about his position from, errr [Say that again please, Tovarisch Marshall? What?! 1942?!]… Errr… [Clunk] Something about history rhyming? I don’t know sir. It seems that the Fascists have us all terribly worried these days…

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 11, 2022 2:40 pm

StruthSock:
ScottyMan Bad!
Aiiiieeeeee!!!
MontyShill:
Albanese will go The Full Whitlam, so if you’ve got a Government job and a Million $Dollar Mortgage, in 3 years you’ll be on Easy Street.

m0nty
May 11, 2022 2:41 pm

Here’s what the RBA had to say on the matter

Quoting the RBA, lol. They are consistently wrong.

So, was it truly a wage rise, Benito M0ntylini? Or did the initial shock and readjustment of the GFC combine with the miners’ money getting so good for so long that everyone else’s true situation was drowned out? And so when the mines turned down, everything settled with it?

Yes, it was a wage rise. The numbers don’t lie. Were there other factors involved than who was in power? Yes, of course, duh. Has the LNP government admitted in public that its policy is to suppress wages? Also yes. It’s pretty simple, Rex. Even you can understand it, if you try.

Top Ender
Top Ender
May 11, 2022 2:43 pm

Albo is wearing stunt glasses?

Scroll down to the end…

Oh come on
Oh come on
May 11, 2022 2:44 pm

Mr McGowan also highlighted the rates at which unvaccinated West Australians were being hospitalised, making up 27 per cent of hospital patients over the last fortnight, despite accounting for only about one per cent of the population.

Fucking liar. Lying piece of shit.

m0nty
May 11, 2022 2:44 pm

Albanese will go The Full Whitlam

I wish! Nah, he’s not quite that bolshie.

I look forward to seeing how his purge of the Shorten faction has gone, though. Especially given that the LNP is going to get slaughtered in Victoria, which is supposed to be Bill’s stronghold.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 11, 2022 2:44 pm

Newsmax Beats CNN in Prime-Time Rating

Newsmax made history Friday night, beating competitor CNN in key prime-time ratings.

According to Nielsen – and first reported by Mediaite – Newsmax’s live coverage of former President Trump’s Pennsylvania rally pushed the network ahead of CNN in audience viewership.

Newsmax pulled 738,000 total viewers between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET, with an evening prime-time average of 579,000 viewers.

Laggard CNN peaked at 645,000 viewers during Anderson Cooper’s show, drawing an average audience of just 545,000 on Friday night.

The Nielsen numbers do not tell the full story. Newsmax is carried in 20 million less homes than CNN, giving it proportionately a much higher rating than its competitor.

The Nielsen numbers do not include Newsmax’s massive OTT streaming audience, which the network estimates often almost doubles the Nielsen rating during Trump rally coverage and other programming.

For the past year, Newsmax has consistently held the position as the fourth-highest-rated cable news channel in the U.S. and a top-20 cable channel in daytime, according to Nielsen.

JC
JC
May 11, 2022 2:47 pm

Fatboy.

How do you know wages are below equilibrium?

Oh come on
Oh come on
May 11, 2022 2:48 pm

How monumentally gullible would you have to be to believe only 1% of the WA population aged 12 and over is unvaxxed.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 11, 2022 2:52 pm

Haha, same as always.

Gallup survey once again finds ‘global warming’ dead last among U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL issues – — 6th out of 6 environmental concerns (10 May)

‘Global warming or climate change’ ranked dead last among seven environmental issues in the 2022 Gallup survey. Americans ranking of environmental concerns found the quality of drinking water, rivers, and lakes were ranked as one and two respectively. Followed by concern over “the loss of tropical rain forests”; “air pollution,” species extinction, and finally at the very bottom, “global warming or climate change.”

And “environment” is so unimportant that they didn’t even ask about it in their Most Important U.S. Problem poll. Or it is less than 3%, since they don’t include non-economic concerns below that number.

So if global warming is so unimportant to the voters why are we fighting an election over it?

John Brumble
John Brumble
May 11, 2022 2:52 pm

Doing great work, KD. You just keep making sure he can never, ever change his position or talk about something else and must therefore always do the things you complain about. Good one. Quality work.
You clown.

calli
calli
May 11, 2022 2:53 pm

Just got in to Litchfield, cranked up the interwebs, and….M0nty!

How’s it all going?

I never killed my old parents with incautious visitations either. Still going strong at 90. 😀

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
May 11, 2022 2:53 pm

Never heard of the Keystone Pipeline, munts?

Psaki got asked about that. She insisted it made no difference to American oil supplies, since it was a pipeline and thus did not produce oil.

She may also wonder why firetrucks use hoses instead of a bucket chain to the nearest river.

H B Bear
H B Bear
May 11, 2022 2:54 pm

Albo and Chairman Dan in high viz will certainly get the Victoriastanis moist.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 11, 2022 2:55 pm

About 2800 people were in hospital at Omicron’s peak. How many caught it there?

Jim Stamell had beaten COVID-19 once. The 71-year-old caught the virus from a fellow patient on the oncology ward at St George Hospital during Sydney’s Delta outbreak.

He was then admitted to Sutherland Hospital in January for a stent blockage and his family breathed a sigh of relief after he was discharged. He seemingly dodged another exposure in a shared hospital room while daily cases climbed into the tens of thousands.

Two days later there was a call from the hospital. A PCR test taken during Stamell’s stay was positive. His condition worsened and he returned to Sutherland.

Stamell died a couple of weeks later, after being transferred to a private rehabilitation unit. Doctors said fighting COVID-19 twice had likely weakened his body and his tumour had burst.

Cancer and COVID-19 were registered as his causes of death, an outcome a family member described as “devastating”.

“Had he not had any complications from the cancer he wouldn’t have needed to be in hospital, and he could have been here with us.”

At the peak of the state’s Omicron wave in January, more than 2800 people were in hospital with COVID-19. What is not known is how many people caught it while there.

Professor Brett Mitchell, an infection control researcher at the University of Newcastle, said the lack of data underscores the “massive gap” in the surveillance and public reporting of hospital-acquired infections.

lack of data underscores the “massive gap” in the surveillance and public reporting of hospital-acquired infections.

Interesting,

as I moved to ICU after 2 hours on Post Op, they did a PCR Test in ICU saying they were testing everyone as they arrived in ICU

Only 1 night in ICU and off to Severe Burns Ward – no PCR test on leaving ICU or entry to Burns Ward

Week later, day before release asked both Nurses and Doctors if I was to have a PCR test before release given what I was told re PCR test going into ICU

They all said they knew nothing about it – left hand does not know what the right hand is doing

calli
calli
May 11, 2022 2:57 pm

Time for an Arky-ism.

Toyota GPS is sh*t.

Tried to take us to the Batchelor tip, then to a very firmly closed gate on Private Property (I expected a blunderbus to poke out above the fence). So we did it the old fashioned way…maps.

Just as well I know how to find North without a compass. *runs*

Oh come on
Oh come on
May 11, 2022 2:59 pm

I realise that the WA opposition could comfortably fit inside a portaloo, but they need to start making some waves about something – anything. How about questioning McGowan’s claimed vaxx numbers (and Covid numbers more broadly)? They’re obviously bullshit. Start asking some questions about how his people are arriving at the numbers they’re reporting. There’s clearly something squirrelly going on there that wouldn’t be flattering to the government. It’s astonishing the opposition has let them slide on this for so long. Submit some FOI requests, LNP morons!

Eyrie
Eyrie
May 11, 2022 3:00 pm

It does not make sense to synthesize methane on Mars compared with either hydrogen/oxy or the Russian nuclear rocket tech.

Better take it up with Elon.
Their plan is to land a couple of unmanned Starships that will stay on Mars. The payload will be the electrolysis/Sabatier plant. There is discussion over at nasaspaceflight.com about all this. I don’t know how large the chemical plants you are talking about are or what their throughput is but the first fuel plants on Mars won’t have to be all that large.
We’re talking landing 100 tonnes at a time per Starship. This is not grandpa’s lunar module.
The US actually tested nuclear thermal rockets back in the 1970’s. They worked fine. Now look at the political environment. Ain’t going to happen until much later when there is a city on Mars and one of the industries is Ares Nuclear Rocket Manufacturing Inc.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 11, 2022 3:01 pm

callisays:
May 11, 2022 at 2:53 pm
Just got in to Litchfield, cranked up the interwebs

Calli just to repeat above post re Litchfield and Stellarium Ap

https://newcatallaxy.blog/2022/05/10/open-thread-tuesday-10-may-2022/comment-page-3/#comment-236760

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 11, 2022 3:03 pm

callisays:
May 11, 2022 at 2:57 pm
Time for an Arky-ism.

Toyota GPS is sh*t.

Tried to take us to the Batchelor tip, then to a very firmly closed gate on Private Property (I expected a blunderbus to poke out above the fence). So we did it the old fashioned way…maps.

Hema Maps App

Struth
May 11, 2022 3:07 pm

Anthony Lococo, who’s based in Torquay, Victoria, will be shutting his building company Lococo Build later this year in what is the latest in a long line of tradesman feeling the pressure or giving up the tools because of skyrocketing material prices.

‘It’s been a heartbreaking decision to make, but after two years of struggling to get materials and trades, and costs continuingly blowing out and eating into anything that even looked like a profit margin,’ Lococo explained.

Well, according to many here, especially ex public servants who’ve never run a business, he shouldn’t be blaming others.
They believe he should just pull his head in, it’s obviously all in his attitude………

Grey Rimmer

How have you turned out? Bitter and twisted just like the couch potato. Try being responsible for yourself and stop blaming others. If you’re not looking after yourself and family don’t expect anyone else to care.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 3:08 pm

Has the LNP government admitted in public that its policy is to suppress wages?

So that’s really all this was about, eh Benito?

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 11, 2022 3:11 pm

Scotty Kilmer answers your Motor Car questions.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxaZStP6Kkk

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 3:12 pm

Toyota GPS is sh*t.

Pretty sure a brand new Toyota Landy ute did exactly that to a bunch of Melbourne schoolboys jeaded to the Gold Coast for Schoolies abou a decade and a half ago.

They ended up on some back road beyond Moree, stranded in rising floodwaters.

Everyone from the Central West to the New England (including a certain family of pre-Westward migration Angers) had a damned fine chuckle at their expense. 🙂

Struth
May 11, 2022 3:13 pm

Stamell died a couple of weeks later, after being transferred to a private rehabilitation unit. Doctors said fighting COVID-19 twice had likely weakened his body and his tumour had burst.

He died of cancer.

“Doctors said” means nothing when Covid is involved.
Nothing, and most of the time the direct opposite.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 3:15 pm

The numbers don’t lie.

The nUmBeRs didn’t lie about Muellerween (or all of its direct-to-video sequels) either, did they Benito M0ntylini?

#AnyDayNow

calli
calli
May 11, 2022 3:17 pm

Thanks OldOzzie. Will investigate.

Thinking of getting one of those nice little telescopes that you can connect to the laptop for better quality stargazing. Always fun and the grandchildren will enjoy it too. I bought one of the boys an astronomy book for his birthday out at Uluru. Got to catch them young while their imaginations are still active.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 3:18 pm

I realise that the WA opposition could comfortably fit inside a portaloo, but they need to start making some waves about something – anything. How about questioning McGowan’s claimed vaxx numbers (and Covid numbers more broadly)? They’re obviously bullshit. Start asking some questions about how his people are arriving at the numbers they’re reporting. There’s clearly something squirrelly going on there that wouldn’t be flattering to the government.

According to the Speccie as of yesterday, OCO, the WA stab mandate challenge goes to trial in the WA Supreme Court on June 12th.

The latest update has been interesting:

https://spectator.com.au/2022/05/crucial-legal-front-opens-in-wa-vaccine-mandate-challenge/

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 11, 2022 3:19 pm

Let’s not repeat the perilous mistakes of the 1970s

The similarities with the inflationary 1970s are too close to be ignored. The next government will have to act on spending and reform.

John Kehoe Economics editor

Let’s hope the economic history of the 1970s perfect storm is not being repeated.

The parallels are becoming eerie.

In both eras, the global economy had been booming, fuelled by governments adding fiscal petrol to the inflation fire.

Fifty years ago, the US was trying to have guns (defence spending) and butter (social spending) through funding the Vietnam war and former president Lyndon Johnson’s social programs on healthcare and education.

Today, it is the massive $US5 trillion ($7.2 trillion) fiscal stimulus under President Joe Biden that is contributing to inflation, as well as deficit spending from governments around the world on the pandemic, social programs and defence.

On both occasions, expansionary fiscal policy clashed with supply shocks.

Wars created energy price spikes. In October 1973, after president Richard Nixon’s request for Congress to make available $US2.2 billion in emergency aid to Israel for the Yom Kippur War, the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed an oil embargo on the US.

Commodity prices climb to multi-year highs

The price of oil quadrupled to $US11.65 a barrel from $US2.90 before the embargo. Commodity prices were already soaring and US industrial output was running at virtual full capacity.

Now, war in Ukraine has pushed the price of oil above $US100 a barrel. Commodity prices for iron ore, coal, gas, and wheat have also been trading at multi-year highs.

In 1972, a left wing Labor leader Gough Whitlam was elected to office with a big social spending agenda, just as inflation was taking off. Government spending increased by almost 40 per cent under Treasurer Jim Cairns’ 1974-75 budget.

The Labor government used public sector unions for “pace setter” wage rises that resulted in a wage explosion.

Stagflation arrived with inflation surging to 15 per cent in 1974 from 3.5 per cent in 1970, and the jobless rate jumping to 5 per cent by 1975 from just 1.6 per cent.

Until March, the unemployment rate did not begin with a 3 since 1974 when Whitlam crashed the economy.

Interest rates jumped to 9 per cent, en route to 17 per cent by the late 1980s. The inflation breakout resulted in a nasty recession and structural increase in unemployment that took decades to repair.

Until the jobless rate hit 3.95 per cent (officially rounded to 4 per cent) in March, the unemployment rate did not begin with a 3 since 1974 when Whitlam crashed the economy.

Today, Labor leader Anthony Albanese is on the cusp of being elected prime minister.

While his spending pledges are much more modest than Whitlam’s, he is promising billions of dollars more for aged care, childcare and, implicitly, the National Disability Insurance Scheme given Labor is arguing against alleged Coalition “cuts”.

Labor is also supporting a 25 per cent wage increase for aged care workers and a 5.1 per cent annual rise in the minimum wage.

Heeding the lessons of the 1970s

Jim Chalmers, like Cairns, will be under pressure from the left of his party for more spending on social programs and larger wage increases from trade unions.

Albanese and Chalmers will need to heed the lessons of the 1970s to avoid repeating the mistakes.

If they do manage to win the election, they will face a situation reminiscent of what faced policymakers in 70s.

Productivity growth is weak.

The budget is deep in deficit, riddled with ill-disciplined spending by the Coalition government to try to cling to office.

The Morrison government’s pre-election, cost-of-living spending will add to inflation.

The March 29 budget included increasing the low and middle income tax offset that will deliver $11.9 billion to people after they file their tax returns from July.

A cost-of-living handout of $250 to 6 million pensioners and welfare recipients has delivered $1.5 billion to households.

A halving of the petrol excise for six months will also compensate motorists by $3 billion.

Since the budget update last December, the government has spent about $84 billion of $190 billion of windfalls earned from a stronger-than-expected economy.

To be sure, there are important differences to the 1970s.

The labour market is more flexible than the centralised wage fixing system of the 1970s that fuelled a wage-price spiral.

The float of the Australian dollar by the Hawke-Keating government in 1983 keeps a lid on inflation during commodity booms.

Nevertheless, the Australian economy is running close to full capacity and inflation is picking up because of both supply and demand factors.

The US economy is already running beyond its potential, as evidenced by an ultra-low jobless rate of 3.6 per cent, 8.5 per cent inflation and wages growth of about 5 per cent.

Avoiding the fate of the US

The US has a wage-price spiral.

Hence, the US Federal Reserve is embarking on a more aggressive monetary policy tightening than it intended last year.

Australia must avoid the same fate as the US.

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 11, 2022 3:22 pm

How about questioning McGowan’s claimed vaxx numbers (and Covid numbers more broadly)?
It’s a Can Of Worms.
1. The feds okayed the vaccines for importation and use
2. Questioning Vax Numbers gives the Labor Premiers an excuse to crack down hard on nonconformists
From what we know about the prophylactic abilities of the various vaccines [zero usefulness] plus what we can infer about the almost continuous sound of Ambulance Sirens,
it’s a good idea for the Liberal Party to let the ALP lay sole claim to the mantle of The CompulsoryVaccination Party.

Wally Dali
Wally Dali
May 11, 2022 3:23 pm

Motherlode,
You’re nearly right about ye olde painted statues- the Greeks were into it bigly, the old Roman renaissance kept it all white as a mark of class
Or something
Actually ive forgotten why, I’ll look it up

Kneel
Kneel
May 11, 2022 3:23 pm

StRuth:“…traitorous.”

I refer you to:

“Treason doth never prosper.
What’s the reason?
If it prospers, none dare call it treason.”

Right or wrong, good or bad, it seems a plurality – or perhaps even a majority – do not call it “traitorous”.
And so it is not, by common consent, and as above.
I still believe the duress applied breaches my human rights as well as common decency, and I still want my revenge for that (fuck “justice”, I want revenge!) – and I will have it, by hook or by crook. Hopefully that can be achieved without violence, but needs must, so we will see.

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
May 11, 2022 3:27 pm

m0ntysays:
May 11, 2022 at 2:33 pm

The executive class – of which politicians are most certainly a part – have voted themselves many times that level of wage increase over the past decade, varying by industry of course but the detachment of executive remuneration from productivity increases is longstanding and undeniable. What sort of effect did that have on inflation, do you think?

If what you say is true, no doubt it contributed to whatever inflation there was.
Next question?

And did the economists (who are also part of that class) bleat about it?

Assuming you’re correct, [yes, readers, I know, but bear with me] why should they have? At that time inflation was below the RBA’s target, so there was no inflationary harm to be fought.

Shove it up your jacksies, basically.

Poor old m0nty. First day back and he’s beclowned himself so spectacularly that he’s reduced to spitting the dummy. It’s desperately sad.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 11, 2022 3:30 pm

Outrage in Melbourne as Anthony Albanese fails to pronounce the city’s name correctly like some clueless foreigner

The Opposition leader referred to Melburnians as Mel-BORE-nians in a campaign speech in the city on Wednesday morning.

Old bloke
Old bloke
May 11, 2022 3:31 pm

Judge Dredd says:
May 11, 2022 at 12:13 pm

That’s concerning – Lend-Lease act has been signed by the US for Ukr-Rus war to supply Ukr forces.
That’s a very bad omen.
The last Lend-Lease act signed in 1941 precluded US going into a hot war by 8-months.
Going by history the US (and therefore its allies) are likely to be in a hot war within 12 months.
These guys are so stupid it hurts.

The Ukrainian government hasn’t got any money to buy arms so the US taxpayer is financing the deal. I doubt that the Ukrainians will ever be in a position where they can repay the loan so it’s a net loss to the US taxpayer and a windfall for the War Machine.

Let’s pray they don’t bring in the draft…

That’s probably the reason for the new censorship board, to stifle dissent and anger amongst Americans against their involvement in this mess. The Ukrainians are running out of soldiers so other countries will be called on to enter the war otherwise there won’t be anyone available to use the new weapons the War Machine is shipping over there.

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 11, 2022 3:39 pm

Actually ive forgotten why, I’ll look it up
Here’s the reason why the Greeks painted their statues with yellow/blond hair, white skin, blue/green eyes:
Because that’s what the Greeks of that time looked like.

H B Bear
H B Bear
May 11, 2022 3:42 pm

Is there a Medicare number for couch consultations?

Struth
May 11, 2022 3:46 pm

If one fucker during ww2 didn’t blacken out their lights during an air raid it was considered traitorous and criminal.

Yet to comply with a tyrannical coup that’s taken over your country , that’s different, because it’s you doing it.

JC
JC
May 11, 2022 3:50 pm

Eyrie would have been an incredible asset to the space station. If only we could send him up there. He’s such an astronaut.

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 11, 2022 3:52 pm

including exploring how a deep connection to country/place enhances health and wellbeing for First Nations Australians”.

This must be why the remote settlements are such paradises for their inhabitants?

JC
JC
May 11, 2022 3:55 pm

Fatboy

You’ve contradicted your first sentence with the second. This is a record even for you.

As usual, McCrann is economically illiterate.

Inflation is almost exclusively tied to global factors these days. The price of Saudi oil is not connected in any way to the wage claims of Australian aged care workers.

Saudi oil is not a global factor, you rip roaring fat idiot? You first day back in 22, two sentences in and you’ve fucked it up.

calli
calli
May 11, 2022 3:55 pm

Does the “deep connection to country” involve leaving garbage all around the place and never picking anything up?

Sorry. Walk the talk then I’ll believe it.

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 11, 2022 3:56 pm

Bluey

You are even more spectacularly wrong about that than usual. Bloke who wrote that has no love for Labor or unions.

munty? No love for Labor? Well, he would prefer the Slime, but will settle for the Liars if pressed.

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 11, 2022 3:57 pm

Bluey

Sorry, mixed up munty’s drivel with your bloke.

Struth
May 11, 2022 3:59 pm

So a war in Ukraine makes the governments aligned with Ukraine punish their own people …their own people will go without power and food,…that’ll show Putin.

Somehow, a nation like Australia, with enough food to feed itself many times over and enough power via just coal, to just about create a second sun, is going to be thrust into poverty with power and food shortages, because, well, Putin is having a little clash with his Neighbor, a half hearted little adventure, and it’ll be done in the same manner, using the same excuses, all countries to be brought into the New world order will be.
It’s all Putin’s fault…………………….

Nothing to see here.
Conspiracy theory.

Except Klaus told us this is what would happen………….

Hiding in plain sight…….invisible to denialists.

JC
JC
May 11, 2022 4:00 pm

To be honest Roger, why should workers care about a connection between wages and productivity. Bosses clearly don’t care, as executive pay decoupled itself from productivity decades ago and shot into the stratosphere. Harrumphing about macro is not going to cut it, we’re sick of that nonsense.

In Australia, all wages below a certain level are dictated by government fiat. Wages haven’t been tied to productivity since Workchoices and before that , the Harvester Case. STFU, you donut eating lesbian.

Eyrie
Eyrie
May 11, 2022 4:01 pm

BoN, here’s a relevant thread in nasaspaceflightforums. Thread title is how to return from Mars and ISRU (In Situ Resource Utilisation) is discussed.

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=51262.0

H B Bear
H B Bear
May 11, 2022 4:01 pm

Quoting mUnty and not immediately following it with bwahahahaaa is a recipe for confusion.

Struth
May 11, 2022 4:04 pm

Just a question or two, to those suffering from Denialism.

Knowing that in the past, during election campaigns, the MSM went extremely easy on the Labor party, even asking the witch “how can we help”, does it even enter your minds as to ask why that is not the case this time?
For the first time in Australian history?

JC
JC
May 11, 2022 4:04 pm

Mick Taylor is back I see, minus 3 three German backpackers.

Eyrie
Eyrie
May 11, 2022 4:05 pm

Does the “deep connection to country” involve leaving garbage all around the place and never picking anything up?

Bleeding heart mate once said that was because aborigines always used stuff that was bio degradable so didn’t have to worry about picking up, tidying up etc and therefore didn’t have the ability to do same with western non biodegradables. Which denies their humanity and agency of course.

JC
JC
May 11, 2022 4:05 pm

does it even enter your minds as to ask why that is not the case this time?
For the first time in Australian history?

Because, you’re running as Mick Taylor?

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 11, 2022 4:09 pm

Where can I buy a Kenworth, Ken Worth? You’re not doing anything with yours. How long does it take before I know as much as you sitting on my arse all day? For someone with all the answers how come you’re still on the couch?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 11, 2022 4:13 pm

Their plan is to land a couple of unmanned Starships that will stay on Mars. The payload will be the electrolysis/Sabatier plant.

I have no idea how you could get all this into two Starships:

Water recovery equipment
Water purification equipment
Electrolysis plant
Oxygen liquefaction rig
CO2 multistage compressors
Hydrogen compression and heating
Sabatier reactor
Heat exchangers into/out of the reactor
Water byproduct condensation unit
Methane separation plant (from residual H2, CO2, CO and other byproducts)
Methane compression and liquefaction plant
Solar cells to provide all the energy, which would be lots

And to do all that in the space of a small pilot plant the production rate would be tiny. I doubt it would be a tonne a day, probably less than 100 kg/d. That would be par for the sorts of pilot plants I’ve done and I’ve done a lot of chemical process pilot plants.

The number of things that can go wrong are legion. No manning or maintenance for such a complex process? Impurity issues alone would be significant.

Struth
May 11, 2022 4:16 pm

You can buy my Kenworth if you like.
Go and do some real work Grey Rimmer.

Might find that you don’t have time for a barista made coffee, though.
I’ll give you a good deal…………….
maaaaaaaaate…………….

What makes you think (well, ……assume) I have ever been sitting on my arse while you’re here more than me?

Is hypocrisy another result of denialism?

Struth
May 11, 2022 4:18 pm

JC’s experience with the country further on than Sunbury, is Hoyts inspired.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 11, 2022 4:21 pm

Doing great work, KD. You just keep making sure he can never, ever change his position or talk about something else and must therefore always do the things you complain about.

Yeah, because it’s just me taking issue with being called a fuckwit, a traitor, a shallow cock smoker and had clots and death wished upon me. Nobody else. No problems.

And also, it will once again be someone else’s fault – mine – that he backs himself into corners and then doubles down, resorting to screechery when the vanilla slice bucket runs dry. Got it.

Doing great work, KD.

Brumble. Never meet your heroes.

JC
JC
May 11, 2022 4:23 pm

Victoria to ban public display of the Nazi swastika
A landmark bill introduced to parliament on Wednesday will see public displays of the Nazi symbol criminalised.

They’re busy making nasty symbols illegal now. How about banning this?

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 11, 2022 4:23 pm

Perfect timing.

The Reader’s Digest version of St. Ruth’s combined works:

Nothing to see here.
Conspiracy theory.

Zipster
Zipster
May 11, 2022 4:24 pm

Senator Gerard Rennick

In the recent round of Senate estimates in April, I asked the head of the TGA, Mr Skerritt, questions about the delivery of the vaccine and the how the body is meant to stop the production of the spike protein that is initiated by the vaccine.

Sadly he was unable to clearly enunciate clear and concise answers.

Please note the following points:

1. When asked about biodistribution studies Skerritt said the distribution of the Lipid Nanoparticles is below the internationally assessed level for genotoxicity. The biodistribution of the LNP’s was assessed in a small number of rats for 48 hours only, despite concentration levels showing higher levels on the second day. The TGA has no idea what the level of concentration of LNPs are in humans and given they did not contain the active ingredient (i.e. the mRNA producing spike protein) have no understanding what is a safe level.

2. Skerritt stated there was no evidence of ill effects from LNP’s. This is incorrect as there were anomalies in the rats tested. Otherwise there was no evidence of ill effects because there wasn’t any evidence at all. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence!

3. After stating there was no evidence of ill effects Skerritt states there is a risk of myocarditis and heart issues. One of his many contradictions.

4. Skerritt implies that the vaccines had to be rushed out because a couple of million of people would have been hospitalised or died from Covid. This is an outrageous statement. No other country in the world had a combined hospitalisation and death rate of 10% during the Covid pandemic.

5. When asked about genotoxicity studies, Skerritt implied he would have to consult as to what information he can provide as there were over 200,000 pages on the vaccines. This is another contradiction as previously the TGA has said there were no documents on the genotoxicity studies.

6. Skerritt then implies genotoxicity studies were done in vitro i.e. in the laboratory and went on to say this is the only way to assess the modifications to the spike protein. No its not. Regardless of what the studies in the laboratory show, tests must still be conducted in humans to ensure safety. It is also worth nothing that Skerritt dismissed in vitro studies on ivermectin that showed it had broad ranging anti-viral properties. Another one of his contradictions. How many are we up to now?

7. Skerritt stated there were no functional changes as a result of modifying the spike protein. This is incorrect. The spike protein produced by the vaccine was modified for the exact purpose of improving it’s functioning. Namely to avoid the innate immune system and increase reliability and stability. As a result, the modified vaccine produces MORE spike proteins than the virus!

8. Skerritt could not answer my question as to what is the off switch for producing spike proteins. He deflected on numerous occasions. You will note that he was more than happy to say how the spike protein was created but couldn’t really say when production of the spike protein would stop. Given the mRNA has been modified to last longer and be more stable it would last a lot longer than normal mRNA. Furthermore studies have shown that mRNA last up to 60 days, not the 48 hours stated by Skerritt. It is also worth nothing that even once the mRNA stops producing spike proteins, spike proteins still remain in the body for an unknown period of time.

9. Skerritt states it is only a tiny amount of mRNA being given in the vaccine and therefore can’t do much damage to organs. There are billions of molecules in a dose. This is an ingenious statement as the virus proteins are tiny as well, but have the potential to kill as we have been repeatedly told ad nauseum the last two years.

10. His final remark stating that there is no evidence that the spike protein does any damage is partially correct in the sense that the active ingredient i.e. mRNA producing the spike protein was never tested in live animals or humans.

Which is exactly why the TGA aren’t doing their job correctly, because they are not assessing all possible risks.
The 123,500 reported and suspected adverse events from the Covid vaccines should be enough evidence of a safety signal should they not?

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 11, 2022 4:24 pm

What makes you think (well, ……assume) I have ever been sitting on my arse

This:

Socialism has sat me on my arse.

vr
vr
May 11, 2022 4:26 pm

JC,

Is the US market going up or down tonight?

Kneel
Kneel
May 11, 2022 4:26 pm

“Yet to comply with a tyrannical coup that’s taken over your country , that’s different, because it’s you doing it.”

Nope – didn’t say that.
Just said you won’t get much traction with the majority calling it “treason” or “traitorous”.
As I said, right or wrong, good or bad, that is how most people see it.

I already told you multiple times that I lasted as long as I could given my available resources, but somehow you still seem to think it’s my fault. Also told you I talked to my pollies and wrote to the appropriate public servants whose job description seems to suggest that they can protect me from having my rights violated, and that they all said “not my job”. And further that I had run out of “peaceful” options – and you didn’t have anything either, at least nothing you were prepared to share.
So as I judged it the least damaging to me and mine to comply at that time, I did.
Because unlike where you live, NSW’s “finest” were more than happy to hand out fines for not wearing a face nappy or performing the socialist distancing, or being somewhere where you weren’t supposed to be without your papers in order. And despite some reasonable contingency planning, I’m not in a position to be without work at this time.

Oh, and by the way, I know more than a few people who planned quite well to live within their means, buy a relatively “cheap” house in a not so good area that required much travel, start a family (still within the budget they had allowed) and then found themselves either with a business being shut down or out of a job completely by govco decree – and in the unenviable position of having to comply, or lose the whole lot. So your tale of “doing the right thing even when it was tough”, while I agree is admirable, is simply untenable for those people. Just bad timing for them, and good (such as it is) timing for you. But you still think them evil and the cause of your woes.

So yeah, it IS apparently all about you, and how you nobly suffered for the rest who just caved in happily. Wrong – they caved in because they had no choice, and they are and were very, very far from happy about it. I know, because I am one and so are many I know.

And when I ask you to suggest a path forward to fix it, because I don’t have one and can’t think of one, you are unwilling to do anything – you didn’t say “I dunno either”, you basically called me a traitor and a fool and said you had no desire to have anything to do with me in that endeavour.

Odd, don’t you think, that such an attitude doesn’t make YOU the traitor?

Odd, isn’t it, that your insistence on “my way or the highway” comes from someone who claims to be “independent” and values that attribute, yet espouses the very same values (“my way or…”) as the very tyrants he wails about?

Hypocrisy squared there Corned Beef Curtains. Not that you would have time to examine it if it crossed your mind – the trip would so short, it’d be gone before you noticed it.

Diogenes
Diogenes
May 11, 2022 4:28 pm

The Opposition leader referred to Melburnians as Mel-BORE-nians in a campaign speech in the city on Wednesday morning.

Shirley Melbornians come from Melboring.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 11, 2022 4:28 pm

callisays:
May 11, 2022 at 3:55 pm
Does the “deep connection to country” involve leaving garbage all around the place and never picking anything up?

Sorry. Walk the talk then I’ll believe it.

Palm Island made national headlines last year after a controversial visit by Member of Parliament

Pauline Hanson, who publicly decried the islanders’ lifestyle. She implied that the people should move off the island because its isolation was causing serious social problems, such as high crime and joblessness.

She also attacked the cleanliness of the island. “Why is there so much rubbish lying about on the streets? Start cleaning up the environment, then do something with the tourist trade,” she was quoted as saying.

Zipster
Zipster
May 11, 2022 4:29 pm

from the spaceX website

Starship was designed from the onset to be able to
carry more than 100 tons of cargo to Mars and the
Moon.

m0nty
May 11, 2022 4:30 pm

Stagflation

Oh dear. To some fools, it’s always stagflation o’clock.

I have no patience with rich bastards telling me the poor can suck a lemon. No, you can afford one less Ferrari you soft-fingered softcock, the poor deserve a pay raise and they haven’t had one for a decade.

I mean, at least no one can pretend with a straight face that the right is on the side of the worker in this election. The contradictions have been heightened.

Struth
May 11, 2022 4:30 pm

The book writers club of excuses is back.

Here’s what you don’t get kneel.
Complying will be worse for you in the long run.
Much worse.

Wrong – they caved in because they had no choice,

Complete and utter bullshit.

Zyconoclast
Zyconoclast
May 11, 2022 4:31 pm

Attended an event with the obligatory welcome to country. Some woman called Aunty … stumbles in, poorly dressed for such an important and solemn event, sounded drunk (but probably wasn’t) 60 seconds later, wanders out of the room.

After that, the host/MC then does their own much longer welcome to country.

Struth
May 11, 2022 4:35 pm

So as I judged it the least damaging to me and mine to comply at that time, I did.

Fuck everyone else?
Not only fuck everyone else, but it isn’t the least damaging thing to you and yours.
What a fuckwit.
These fucking jabs are killing people, untested, pushed on us by criminals and you let your fucking kids get injected?

What in fucking god’s name were you thinking?

You weren’t.
You weren’t thinking.
You panicked.

Don’t say you had no choice.
We all had a choice.

JC
JC
May 11, 2022 4:35 pm

vr

I think we’re going up if the inflation number is benign , but we’re still in frightful bear market.

I think this.
1. Markets are concerned with high inflation. Negative if in continues.
2. If inflation begins to behave, markets will be worrying about growth prospects and reduced earnings.
3. War concerns.

There’s not much I see as positive at the moment although if there’s a decent inflation number we could rally hard in the short term.

JC
JC
May 11, 2022 4:36 pm

Oh dear. To some fools, it’s always stagflation o’clock.

I have no patience with rich bastards telling me the poor can suck a lemon. No, you can afford one less Ferrari you soft-fingered softcock, the poor deserve a pay raise and they haven’t had one for a decade.

I mean, at least no one can pretend with a straight face that the right is on the side of the worker in this election. The contradictions have been heightened.

Wow, everyone who isn’t poor owns a Ferrari? I didn’t know that Fatboy.

JC
JC
May 11, 2022 4:37 pm

Stuth

What did you do with the 3 bodies?

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 4:39 pm

We all had a choice.

… And Struth chose to go full Bird.

#NeverGoFullBird

miltonf
miltonf
May 11, 2022 4:39 pm

St Ruth how dare you pass judgement on people’s personal decisions particularly when they have family and financial obligations.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 11, 2022 4:40 pm

BoN, here’s a relevant thread in nasaspaceflightforums.

Eyrie – Just been through all 8 pages. First impression: next to no detail. No chemical engineering whatsoever, no design concepts (except one unrealistic CAD graphic), no heat and mass balance stuff. I could design and build a plant for them which would probably work, since such things are my field, but none of that discussion would help me at all. Even the discussions about the solar cells were quite vague and lacking in serious detail, and the solar array is the least complicated unit of the whole project.

I seriously don’t think they understand what is required for a complex chemical process like this is.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 11, 2022 4:42 pm

Bang on, Kneel.

Blows hard. Like Anthony Rocca after Lap 1 of pre-season.

The failed Leader of the People already had a house and car paid off, and so could afford to sit around yelling at other people all this time. Very few in this country were similarly circumstanced.

I didn’t see Corned Beef Curtains* offer his house (and sleeper cabin^) up to families who told Klaus to get fucked and consequently lost the lot.

*Brilliant. Also, see Ham Wallet.
^No Indians.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 11, 2022 4:43 pm

Kneelsays:
May 11, 2022 at 4:26 pm

I may be able to help Kneel. Probably a bit late now but if you had of got on the couch and blathered on for two years claiming everyone was wrong but you, things might have been better apart from losing what you had and taking care of your loved ones. See how easy it is.

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
May 11, 2022 4:43 pm

Victoria to ban public display of the Nazi swastika

… in order to stop protesters using it to compare Maximum Leader’s government to the Third Reich.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 4:43 pm

Wow, everyone who isn’t poor owns a Ferrari?

One of the intermodal sites I work out of has one.

But the other 3 or 4 are from Konecranes. So probably driven by lesser mortals…

JC
JC
May 11, 2022 4:46 pm

Timothy Neilson says:
May 11, 2022 at 4:43 pm

Victoria to ban public display of the Nazi swastika

… in order to stop protesters using it to compare Maximum Leader’s government to the Third Reich.

Oh, thanks Tim. I never thought of that angle. It must hurt.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 4:47 pm

M0nty:

the poor deserve a pay raise and they haven’t had one for a decade.

Do you mean the working poor, whom the Left generally don’t give a shit about?

Or the unemployed and/or unemployable poor, whom the Left generally don’t give a shit about unless they are conveniently exploitable for political gain at a particular point in time?

Struth
May 11, 2022 4:48 pm

while I agree is admirable, is simply untenable for those people.

I lost two jobs. one my own business, and they were “fine crazy” here as well, or don’t you remember the lady getting arrested in Hervey bay for being in a cafe unjabbed?

And that to you is tenable?

Somehow you fuckwits are under the illusion that it was easy for me.
I’ve lost hundreds of thousands now, and won’t ever really get cranking with my own business as it was before, and the tourism is bullshit because everyone on the bus ends up in quarantine as a close contact…blah blah….it’s not over.

But I’m not jabbed …tick….tick….tick, and I go to my grave knowing I did what I could and didn’t harm my fellow countrymen in anyway.
As complying to tyranny does.

Also, I’m not the only one that thinks like me………..there are plenty who are disgusted with the compliant. Gobsmacked at what they stoop to, wearing masks etc,……….I’m just the only voice here in the circle jerk of compliance.
‘And wait until after the election.

vr
vr
May 11, 2022 4:48 pm

JC,

It’s had to know what to do re. Super.

It is amazing to me how unserious this administration is. Yellen rabbiting on about the effects of abortion banning in the economy and such. The far left has a way of making people look foolish.

The tech firms are worried as hell. The firms that produce things/provide a service are going to be fine. Those delivery firms are going to take a beating. UBER CEO has said that they are going to think long and hard before they hire.

Dot
Dot
May 11, 2022 4:48 pm

JC

One reason I prefer a Taylor Rule over NGDP targeting: bank asset liability management security in the context of a changing inflationary environment.

Inflation generally has countervailing forces of inflation and disinflation. I am not talking about a mistake like using CPU power as a proxy for hedonic pricing.

If the NGDP target is wrong, you could have general disinflation and an asset liability management crisis for deposit holders.

The market might guess futures prices well but they can get lied to by central banks and governments. People have rational expectations, but they have short memories and rarely have “full” information. They can lie about forecasts, but monetary aggregates?

Set a Taylor Rule off market mechanisms and secondarily target M1 over the cycle and I would be happy with that. A long term zero inflation target would implicitly target nominal GDP too.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 4:48 pm

… in order to stop protesters using it to compare Maximum Leader’s government to the Third Reich.

Time to break out the hammers and sickles? Or CCP stars?

Or do you think that just might confuse the lefties in Viktoristan a bit too much?

miltonf
miltonf
May 11, 2022 4:48 pm

Does fatso’s concern for the working man extend to coal miners who may lose their jobs if anal’s economy wrecking wishes become a reality?

Dot
Dot
May 11, 2022 4:49 pm

Dan Andrews.

A proud leader of the Hammer and Norsefire movements.

JC
JC
May 11, 2022 4:49 pm

Tim, if they pass the law against displaying the swastika and say one went to an anti-liars party demonstration, could you be nabbed if the design had little red winglets on the side of the right angles? 🙂

Dot
Dot
May 11, 2022 4:52 pm

Just put four trans flags together and have the ALP logo over the top too, faded out a little.

Un-bannable!

Struth
May 11, 2022 4:53 pm

St Ruth how dare you pass judgement on people’s personal decisions particularly when they have family and financial obligations.

We all do, fuck head.
It’s not a personal decision, because it effects others.

There is simply right and wrong.
And a fucking adult knows, especially one that claim to be right wing, what price their family and themselves will pay by complying.
A far greater price.
And that price my family, their family, and all Australian families will pay when THEY comply.
So fuck you.

miltonf
miltonf
May 11, 2022 4:55 pm

The left pretty much gave up on the working classes in the 60s or 70s when they decided identity politics and ‘interest groups’ would be more useful to them in their quest for power. Hawke and Richardson shutting down the FNQ timber industry was a good example, also stopping the Franklin Dam- to hell with jobs for regular working men ( they’re all racist and sexist anyway).

miltonf
miltonf
May 11, 2022 4:56 pm

You really are a nasty piece of work St Ruth.

Oh come on
Oh come on
May 11, 2022 4:57 pm

Is m0nty under the impression that there will be a course correction of any significance in the event the Morrison government is replaced by an Albanese government in a couple of weeks?

What a quaint notion.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 4:57 pm

I’m just the only voice here in the circle jerk of compliance.

Uh huh.

And Struth just alienated all the other unjabbed and uncompliant on this blog.

Why does being the thought the obnoxious outsider excite you so much, Struth?

You’re as clueless and desperate for identity and validation as Dafydd.

(What a terrible thought – Matt Lucas predicted Struth being the Only ReSiStOr In Th’Villay-juh…)

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 11, 2022 4:58 pm

Eyrie – The Reversible Solid Oxide Cell suggestion at bottom of page 5 is getting a bit more realistic. Direct electrolysis of CO2 plus steam in a solid oxide cell to methane and oxygen, even if not especially efficient, would be vastly preferred to all those steps I listed. There would be separation/purification steps for both process streams. However I had a look at the company webpage that’s linked and they only have pics of their small cells units. That means it is an early stage tech, and in turn that means a low chance of success in commercializing it. But it would be useful to look up that chemical process, since it represents a significantly simpler alternative to the multistep flowsheet you’d need for the Sabatier process.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 11, 2022 4:58 pm

Go and do some real work

Gave a mate a hand when he couldn’t get anybody reliable to deliver fuel three days a week a few years back. Driving a truck is such real work only a couch potato can do it. Don’t drink barista coffee. Must call the SFL headquarters to get the latest talking points.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 4:58 pm

A far greater price.

DeAtH CaMpS.

JC
JC
May 11, 2022 4:59 pm

Dot

Fair comment. However, I’ll say this, they applied the Taylor rule in the GFC and we ended up with a depression. Call it what you want, but it was a very short term depression. Central bank forecasting was wrong and only reacted slowly.

Can NGDP forecasts be wrong? Sure but the opinion of these monetary economists pushing for NGDP targeting is that the central bank would be making eternal changes towards meeting the target – either by adding or withdrawing liquidity in terms of changes to NGDP forecasts. In other words it would be a continuous target and markets would find it credible as long as the central banks were credible in not deviating from the rule

Here’s Sumner briefly discussing this very topic

Beckworth and Hendrickson on NGDP targeting vs. the Taylor Rule

David Beckworth and Josh Hendrickson have a new working paper at Mercatus. Here is the abstract:

Some economists advocate nominal GDP targeting as an alternative to the Taylor rule. These arguments are largely based on the idea that nominal GDP targeting would require less knowledge on the part of policymakers than a traditional Taylor rule. In particular, a nominal GDP targeting rule would not require real-time knowledge of the output gap. We examine the importance of this claim by amending a standard New Keynesian model to assume that the central bank has imperfect information about the output gap and therefore must forecast the output gap based on previous information. Forecast errors by the central bank can then potentially induce unanticipated changes in the short-term nominal interest rate, distinct from a standard monetary policy shock. We show that forecast errors of the output gap by the Federal Reserve can account for up to 13 percent of the fluctuations in the output gap. In addition, our simulations imply that a nominal GDP targeting rule would produce lower volatility in both inflation and the output gap in comparison with the Taylor rule under imperfect information.

It seems to me that this argument is becoming increasingly persuasive over time. Both the natural rate of interest and the output gap are increasingly difficult to estimate, as both the natural rate of interest and the trend rate of growth seem to be becoming increasingly unstable.

Speaking of David Beckworth, I’ve enjoyed listening to his podcasts of people in monetary economics/finance. The latest with Narayana Kocherlakota is particularly interesting, as it gives listeners a perspective on what things seem like for someone on the inside of the Fed. (He recently retired as the Minneapolis Fed President.)

JC
JC
May 11, 2022 5:01 pm

Dot, Here’s a link to an interview with John Taylor and Sumner provides his own comments in the blog.

Good read.

https://www.themoneyillusion.com/october-2008-the-taylor-rule-vs-ngdp-futures-targeting/

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 11, 2022 5:02 pm

And that price my family, their family, and all Australian families will pay when THEY comply.
So fuck you.

Is that what you said to your parents and son? Don’t be surprised when they say the same back.

Struth
May 11, 2022 5:02 pm

Bang on, Kneel.

Blows hard. Like Anthony Rocca after Lap 1 of pre-season.

The failed Leader of the People already had a house and car paid off, and so could afford to sit around yelling at other people all this time. Very few in this country were similarly circumstanced.

I didn’t see Corned Beef Curtains* offer his house (and sleeper cabin^) up to families who told Klaus to get fucked and consequently lost the lot.

*Brilliant. Also, see Ham Wallet.

You are a fucking tool.

It just so happens you are talking to Kneel, who I offered a place to stay if he could get up here.

I also offered to help Notafan get across the border into Queensland via a truck once.

My house and cars may be paid off, but I’m no rich bugger, I ‘m just not stupid enough to pay through the nose by living in overpriced mossie and croc infested shit hole “camps” like Darwin.
I could see Australia was going down so I didn’t attempt to keep up with the Joneses and be fucked by putting myself in mountains of debt.
If you did, I have no sympathy whatsoever.
Live within your means so that when shit like this happens you don’t have to cry like a baby and say “I was forced to submit”
Sell it and fuck off.
There’s always choices.

JC
JC
May 11, 2022 5:03 pm

And that price my family, their family, and all Australian families will pay when THEY comply.
So fuck you.

Okay, but what did you do with the bodies of the 3 backpackers, Mick?

Hugh
Hugh
May 11, 2022 5:05 pm

Hey, let’s make the minimum wage $500.00 per hour! Or per second … spare me the details.

Those nasty fat stovepipe-hatted capitalists with their cigars will really have it up ’em then, won’t they!

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 5:05 pm

overpriced mossie and croc infested shit hole “camps” like Darwin.

Darwin is DeAtH CaMp.

calli
calli
May 11, 2022 5:08 pm

Ruh roh. I’m off to a nursery at Howard Springs on Friday. Hoping to buy a couple of unusual heliconias.

Should I just drive on and thank my lucky stars?

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 11, 2022 5:10 pm

Rex Angersays:
May 11, 2022 at 4:48 pm
… in order to stop protesters using it to compare Maximum Leader’s government to the Third Reich.

Time to break out the hammers and sickles? Or CCP stars?

Or do you think that just might confuse the lefties in Viktoristan a bit too much?

The Indian community might not be very happy not being able to display their religious symbol.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
May 11, 2022 5:11 pm

Should I just drive on and thank my lucky stars?

Just don’t sneeze…;)

Struth
May 11, 2022 5:11 pm

Grey Ranga, you fucktard.
My Parents aren’t jabbed, and are grateful to me for talking them into not being jabbed.
My son knew I didn’t want him to get it, but fucking did it anyway.
He’s now sick as a dog.
Again and again.
Catching every wog going around down in cold SA, and coughing his guts up.

Looks like he’s getting his punishment early, but from what the experts tell me, all the jabbed will be suffering like that soon enough…and worse.
Then tell me if you had no choice, and paying off a loan was more important.

Zipster
Zipster
May 11, 2022 5:11 pm

Does fatso’s concern for the working man extend to coal miners who may lose their jobs if anal’s economy wrecking wishes become a reality?

learn to code :/

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 11, 2022 5:11 pm

callisays:
May 11, 2022 at 5:08 pm
Ruh roh. I’m off to a nursery at Howard Springs on Friday. Hoping to buy a couple of unusual heliconias.

Should I just drive on and thank my lucky stars?

Don’t trip on the gas pipes and don’t go in the showers.

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
May 11, 2022 5:15 pm

Only problem no overseas travel on Qantas without Vaccination Certificate

At least one cruise line (Oceania) currently require two shots plus one booster.

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