Open Thread – Weekend 28 Jan 2023


Sailboat at Le Petit-Gennevilliers, Claude Monet, 1874


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OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 28, 2023 11:10 am

The Campaign to Ban Gas Stoves

Biden and the media deny it exists, but the effort is calculated and well-funded.

By Kimberley A. Strassel

Don’t believe for a second Consumer Product Safety Commission member Richard Trumka Jr.’s slippery claim that they aren’t coming for your stove. Or the media narrative that Republicans are “hyping” a new “culture war” by “pretending” the Biden administration intends to ban gas stoves.

The reason gas stoves are in the news is simple: There is a coordinated, calculated—and well-funded—strategy to kill them off.

It’s the joint enterprise of extremely powerful climate groups, working with Biden administration officials who have publicly stated their aim to eliminate all “combustion appliances” in homes. Only after the GOP called them out did anyone pretend otherwise.

Some of this is being exposed in letters sent this week by Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz to CPSC commissioners demanding more information. The letters highlight the primary groups behind this push. One is the Climate Imperative Foundation, which became an overnight green powerhouse and reported more receipts in 2021 than the League of Conservation Voters or the Sierra Club. A board member and funder is Kleiner Perkins billionaire John Doerr, whose climate action plan calls for getting rid of gas cooking. CIF’s executive director, Bruce Nilles, has made the end of gas stoves an imperative, writing in 2019: “Your gas stove has to go.” CIF has granted money to the Rocky Mountain Institute, which has long advocated “retrofitting” existing homes to be “all electric.”

Then there’s Rewiring America, “the leading electrification nonprofit, focused on electrifying our homes, businesses and communities.” And New York University’s Institute for Policy Integrity, which last year called on the CPSC to enact a gas-stove ban.

The stated goal of all these group is killing gas to “save” the planet. Yet they also know Americans won’t give up their stoves in the name of climate. So several years ago this cabal hit on the idea of contradicting decades of science and ginning up hokey studies claiming gas stoves present a “health risk.” The twin goals: scare Americans and give government a pretext to ban gas cooking.

This is how you end up with climate outfits masquerading as health experts

One frequently cited study from the Rocky Mountain Institute—claiming to find a link between gas stoves and childhood asthma—was co-authored by two RMI staffers, neither of whom has a science degree. Another favorite study by New York University’s Institute for Policy Integrity claims gas stoves cause “dangerous levels of indoor air pollution.” It was written by two lawyers, and it cites . . . the RMI study. Ah, science.

Then there’s the paid research. The November edition of the “independent” magazine Consumer Reports was devoted to the “Hidden Health Hazards in Your Home” and explained that its research found an “alarming concern” with levels of nitrogen dioxide from gas stoves. (It also featured a four-page tribute to induction cooktops, the left’s expensive alternative to gas.) Tucked at the end of the article online was an editor’s note: “This project was funded in part with a grant from the Climate Imperative Foundation.” CIF’s 2021 tax filings show a $375,000 donation to Consumer Reports specifically for research on gas stoves.

The Biden administration is close to these groups and has wholly appropriated their “health” line. It’s been open about using those claims to get rid of gas stoves—following state and local bans. The White House last month held an “electrification summit,” which featured a panel on getting gas out of homes.

Nearly every guest (including a representative from Rewiring America) stated the “health” harm of gas stoves as accepted fact, and Trisha Miller of the White House’s Climate Policy Office described the need to “eliminate emissions” by getting rid of all “combustion appliances” in houses (including your washer, dryer and furnace). The electrification agenda is being carried out through the Department of Energy’s Better Climate Challenge, which lists Rewiring America and RMI as “allies.”

This ground laying and coordination is the backdrop for the Trumka explosion. Around the time of the Consumer Reports story—and in the runup to the Electrification Summit—Mr. Trumka circulated a memo titled “NPR Proposing Ban on Gas Stoves (Indoor Air Quality).” (NPR is an acronym for notice of proposed rulemaking.) The Cruz letter says the memo cites the Consumer Reports and NYU studies among reasons Mr. Trumka concludes there is “sufficient information” now to forbid Americans from purchasing new gas stoves. While the Trumka proposal failed, the CPSC initiated a “request for information”—a first step toward a ban.

Only after Bloomberg exposed some of this did the ensuing public furor cause the CPSC and White House to run for cover.

But make no mistake: A ban is the plan.

Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said at the summit that “if we are going to get to net zero emissions by 2050,” we’ll need electric “cars and buses and home heating and cooking.”

The left won’t stop until it has dictated what you drive, where you live, and how you cook.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
January 28, 2023 11:12 am

On the waterproofing thing, I recently fixed a broken tile, when I moved the tiles around it I discovered the valley flashing to be 300 per wing. On a villa I renovated it was 450. New places I hate to think. In Bruce a suburb of Canberra they had a whole suburb of leaky roof syndrome. The flashing, gutters and drains were all too small. On my place I have put in an extra drain to help with the runoff. How it passed planning who knows, f**k nose.

Makka
Makka
January 28, 2023 11:13 am

Woke is not infecting China (or Russia for that matter).

But it is spreading like aggressive cancer in the west. We are in the process of ruining our civilization , our values and our way of life from within. Who benefits and how is this accomplished?

Propaganda is older than the medieval printing press, and every communications innovation increases the propagandists’ reach. Westerners most often think of propaganda coming from its two ardent twentieth-century practitioners: the German Nazis and the Soviet communists. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, laid out plainly the role of propaganda in a totalitarian regime: “It is the absolute right of the State to supervise the formation of public opinion…not every piece of news should be published, but instead those who control news policies must make every piece of news serve a certain purpose.”

In today’s China, the Central Propaganda Department of the CCP Central Committee commands enormous authority and resources, employing tens of millions of communist “propaganda workers” at all levels of the communist state, with an unlimited budget.

Closely following the guidelines on propaganda laid out in classic Marxist-Leninist writings, the CCP has conducted a century-long propaganda campaign against two targets: its own people, and the world’s democracies. For communists, propaganda is not a morally reprehensible act characterized by false representation of truth. Rather, propaganda is a virtue, a necessarily positive and crucial practice of governance.

https://www.hoover.org/research/beijings-woke-propaganda-war-america

Weaponizing woke globally is a clear policy of the CCP. And they have the resources to ensure it’s successful progress.

Gabor
Gabor
January 28, 2023 11:13 am

Black Ball says:
January 28, 2023 at 9:11 am

James Campbell in the Hun reports on the cost of beer going north at an alarming rate:

He is right about the taxes.
Beer is the cheapest, easiest to manufacture alcoholic beverage, yet per % of alcohol/volume the dearest.
Why? Because most people prefer it.

Zipster
Zipster
January 28, 2023 11:15 am

‘Jim Chalmers is pledging greater government intervention to radically remake post-pandemic capitalism by redesigning energy, finance, labour, and social services markets.’

time to think about moving

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
January 28, 2023 11:15 am

I’m getting a bloke to redo the pointing, he’s done six houses in my street. It’s good to get someone recommended.

flyingduk
flyingduk
January 28, 2023 11:18 am

while putting “fairness” at the centre of a plan Labor believes will deliver decades of national prosperity.”

I’m all for fairness – I have been unfairly taxed for decades.

Frank
Frank
January 28, 2023 11:18 am

.2 Granita is an anytime food and potentially a main course;

A main only with the inclusion of mashed banana.

johanna
johanna
January 28, 2023 11:26 am

That story about the radioactive thingie (apparently about the size of a watch battery) is the biggest beatup ever. At TheirABC, a pompous pube warned anyone who thought they might have found it not to go with 5m of it (how could you even see it from 5m away?) and call The Authorities immediately.

The official story is that it emits the equivalent of an X ray over more than an hour. So, picking it up is less dangerous than being near large granite formations, or a truck filled with bananas.

If it is somewhere on or near the 1400km of road between Perth and wherever, it’s hardly a danger to anyone.

It has the hallmarks of a fightback by certain interests who sense a softening in our attitude to nuclear power, if you ask me.

Tom
Tom
January 28, 2023 11:26 am

Delivering prosperity will be the true test for “values-based capitalism”.

Delivering prosperity requires the workforce to deliver increased productivity.

But one of the “reforms’ pushed through by Hawke and Keating in the 1980s was the development of the superannuation industry – most of it now controlled by union managements – which removed unions’ need to have members to pay union dues as the bulk of their income.

Unions that don’t need members are inevitably fat and lazy and couldn’t give a stuff about abstractions like workforce productivity.

Productivity matters only to the companies driving the economy and the Australian economy’s retirement savings plan is now controlled by union slush funds developed after the Labor government made “reforms” that removed the need of unions to have members.

Trade union governments like the Elbow regime exist only to make trade unions stronger – and the heavy lifting has already been done by Hawke and Keating.

Unions under the Elbow regime have no interest in productivity as increased productivity will not increase union power – as Keating’s superannuation did in the 1980s.

Jim Chalmers’ national socialist government where the regime intervenes in the economy to instruct business about what needs to be done will have only one result – full-blown fascism.

If you want to know what happens next, read up on 1930s Germany.

bons
bons
January 28, 2023 11:27 am

Kiwi PM has declared a state of emergency in Auckland.
But has not hugged anyone.
Not serious leader.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
January 28, 2023 11:29 am

Watched all of A Man Called Intrepid. Just scratched the surface of the book. I’d forgotten about Nils Bohr. Made into a move called The Heroes of Telemark. On that subject, why do we have movies about superheroes when we can have the real thing, stories about our parents and grandparents. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and for what, a bunch of nancyboys with no spine.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 28, 2023 11:30 am

time to think about moving

What happened to Raisy-san or whatever his name was? The standard of trolling has definitely gone down. Apologies to the regulars.

flyingduk
flyingduk
January 28, 2023 11:30 am

War is really expensive.

FACTCHECK – TRUE

I woke up to this in 2003 whilst doing a bit of ‘government work’ in Iraq. Like Victoria, the roads were ‘terrible’ so we did most of our travel by air. There was a helicopter ‘bus service’ that did a loop around Baghdad. There were about 10 stops on the route and, at each stop, we spotted down on a base that had at least 30 or 50 helicopters on it. At the time, my civvy job included working on the SA Rescue Helicopter. The SA service had one decent sized utility helicopter (Bell 412), one adequate helicopter (BK117) and one tiny stopgap (EC130). The running cost of the Bell was of the order of $5000 an hour, and, for that reason, the entire state could have only 1, and it was a State Governmental decision as to whether an upgrade could be afforded.

Compare that to what I saw, just in Baghdad – hundreds of much more expensive helicopters, often dispensing extremely expensive munitions…. plus all the fixed wing jets, carriers, armoured vehicles etc etc etc.

Yes, war is expensive – that’s the point – modern wars are largely run to line the pockets of the armaments manufacturers (and their bought and paid for politicians), not to achieve some societal benefit.

Arky
January 28, 2023 11:31 am

Those who criticised government labelling absolutely everyone that croaked it with Covid as a Covid death;
And those that insist anyone that dies an indeterminant time after the jab died because if the jab.

..
If such people exist, there is one big difference.
They don’t have the power to mandate you take some experimental concoction to “remedy” the situation, nor are their arguments contributing to the roll out of such a concoction.
I think if they start pushing some snake oil to purge the vaccines from your body and insisting governments discriminate against anyone who doesn’t take it, and demand the implementation of a surveillance system with certificates and tracking as to who has and hasn’t taken the purging medicine, then you can yell “hypocrisy”. Until then, just accept that most people aren’t going to understand that not every death “with vaxx” is “because vaxx” and that major work is required to see exactly how damaging these vaccines have been and for whom they were worth it and for whom they weren’t.

Roger
Roger
January 28, 2023 11:31 am

Regional Australia “has never had a better friend” in the office of the Prime Minister than Anthony Albanese, says Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles. “He knows how important Regional Australia is for the future of our nation,” Mr Marles said during a media conference on Friday afternoon.

Translation:

Regional Australia is the next target for the wrecking ball.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
January 28, 2023 11:32 am

As I’ve said before Tom, the first shot worldwide has still not been fired in response. A quiet man who has had enough is all it takes.

Roger
Roger
January 28, 2023 11:32 am

A gated community on “Millionaires Row” just out of Capetown. World class shopping and dining on the “Waterfront” in Capetown, restricted entry. Beats the crap out of Fremantle.

Depends which side of the gate you’re on, I suppose.

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 11:33 am

Chalmers grew up in Logan City in Brisbane’s south.[4] He attended Catholic schools before going on to Griffith University, where he completed the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce.[5] He went on to complete a PhD in political science at the Australian National University, writing his doctoral thesis on the prime ministership of Paul Keating,[2][3] titled “Brawler statesman: Paul Keating and prime ministerial leadership in Australia”

Sounds like one of the most complex PhD work I’ve ever heard of. Give the man an Alfred.

flyingduk
flyingduk
January 28, 2023 11:33 am

Those who criticised government labelling absolutely everyone that croaked it with Covid as a Covid death; And those that insist anyone that dies an indeterminant time after the jab died because if the jab.

While the second group is a lot, lot smaller, I suspect the overlap is quite considerable. The thing is those in the intersection are very aware of the obvious beam in the views of government, while completely blind to the equally large beam in their own eyes.

aka ‘using the same tactics as your enemy’

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 28, 2023 11:35 am

Fond memories of Hammy and the trolling Golden Age. Alene Composta possibly the best ever.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
January 28, 2023 11:35 am

The guts of Chalmers’ vision:

“How do we build this more inclusive and resilient economy, increasingly powered by cleaner and cheaper energy?

Pollyanna stuff.
The cost of energy in Australia is heading towards $150-200/MWh – this is now beyond speculation and evident in the (ahem, managed) market. The impact on the infrastructure of a social economy built on $30-40/MWh is just starting to be felt.

“By strengthening our institutions and our capacity, with a focus on the intersection of prosperity and wellbeing, on evidence, on place and community, on collaboration and cooperation.

Translation: More Government; Bigger Government; Government you will learn to love because it gives you things you need. Top Men.

“By reimagining and redesigning markets – seeking value and impact, strengthening safeguards and guardrails in areas of unchecked risk.

Market intervention by Top Men; lawyers, economists, and arts graduates who truly, deeply, madly understand how markets should work.
Followed by politician hands deep in the engine bay when the markets don’t properly understand ‘social purpose’.

“And with coordination and co-investment – recognising that government, business, philanthropic and investor interests and objectives are increasingly aligned and intertwined.”

Welcome to the State-Industrial complex: political support transfers one way, enlarged and risk free rent transfers the other – until the OPM runs out.

Chalmers is not presenting a politician’s pipe dream – we are half way there, helped by the Morons Opposite. Unfortunately Australia is locked into a trajectory of experiential learning.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 28, 2023 11:36 am

Slightly old news but still entertaining. Via Instapundit:

Jane Fonda Says There’d Be No ‘Climate Crisis’ If Not For ‘Racism’ And Twitter Has Thoughts (27 Jan)

…she talked about what had motivated her to get involved in social activism.

“For me, it was learning about the Vietnam War,” Fonda shared. “And when I really understood what that was about, I couldn’t not do anything except try to join the movement to stop it.”

“Well, you know, you can take anything — sexism, racism, misogyny, homophobia, whatever, the war,” the actress added. “And if you really get into it, and study it and learn about it and the history of it and everything’s connected. There’d be no climate crisis if it wasn’t for racism.”

I thought her sitting on a NVA antiaircraft gun was incredibly phallic and war mongering. Does that make me a climate denier? Anyway the funniest thing in the whole story is right at the end, where the DW website includes this link:

Related: Jane Fonda Says We Should ‘Redefine Vaginas As AK47s’ To Keep Abortion Legal

She’s funny!

Zipster
Zipster
January 28, 2023 11:37 am

Delivering prosperity will be the true test for “values-based capitalism”.

the only thing it will deliver is misery, poverty, destruction and death

Makka
Makka
January 28, 2023 11:38 am

read up on 1930s Germany.

5 Eyes is much more than a citizen surveillance monolith. In the wrong hands, it becomes a massive force multiplier for oppression. US/UK/Canada/Aus/NZ. Look at what has happened in these nations in recent years. Very effective.

I don’t see 1930’s Germany being a model. China lite would be my bet. With Govt getting it’s claws into all manner of Corp direction and activity using wokeness , “fairness” and Green world type strategies. A steady creep towards full open Marxism .

For our own good of course.

Arky
January 28, 2023 11:39 am

Until then, just accept that most people aren’t going to understand that not every death “with vaxx” is “because vaxx”

..
Especially when it comes to heart and clotting issues.
There will always be the suspicion the vaccines contributed, even if most people statistically would have had the issue anyway.
A lot of work to unravel the contributing factors, as the virus causes similar stuff apparently.
The issue is mandating and coercion.
And your right to make decisions in your best interest with your doctor and that doctor being free from interference to recommend the best thing for each patient.
Not some socialised system where trade offs are made to attempt to rig some overall population wide result at the expense of some individuals.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 28, 2023 11:39 am

A gated community on “Millionaires Row” just out of Capetown. World class shopping and dining on the “Waterfront” in Capetown, restricted entry

Just don’t want to be around when the gates get torn down. Not quite the same as the gates at RFBYC.

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 11:40 am

Gee the debt is the lot of money.

US paid $853 Billion in Interest for $31 Trillion Debt in 2022; More than Defense Budget in 2023.

If the Fed keeps rates at at these levels (or higher) we will be at $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion in interest paid on the debt.

The US govt collects about $4.9 trillion in taxes.

Dot
Dot
January 28, 2023 11:41 am

If it is somewhere on or near the 1400km of road between Perth and wherever, it’s hardly a danger to anyone.

It has the hallmarks of a fightback by certain interests who sense a softening in our attitude to nuclear power, if you ask me.

Yeah, the story is full of holes and being signal boosted by our enemies.

m0nty
m0nty
January 28, 2023 11:43 am

Unions under the Elbow regime have no interest in productivity as increased productivity will not increase union power – as Keating’s superannuation did in the 1980s.

Jim Chalmers’ national socialist government where the regime intervenes in the economy to instruct business about what needs to be done will have only one result – full-blown fascism.

Typical rich person perspective from Tom there, i.e. Liberal Party boilerplate barely updated from the 1980s. According to this belief system, productivity increases are achieved not through innovation or technology but exclusively through workplace deregulation and wage cuts. Anything other than capital capturing all benefits of productivity increases, these silvertail toffs say, is Nazism.

Hawke and Keating rescued Australia from the clutches of lazy protectionism and backwater provincialism, and integrated it into the regional and global economies. Chalmers has a lot of work to do to better that record, but at least he understands the task – one that the Liberals completely whiffed on for a decade while they lined the pockets of their donors.

Dot
Dot
January 28, 2023 11:43 am

If the US has NMD its WWIII?

Why? Because poor little Russia can’t threaten to kill everyone if they lose a limited conventional war against a small country?

Putin didn’t threaten to kill everyone in September last year?

The NDI didn’t scare the crap out of the Soviet Politburo?

I need a surgeon, my sides are splitting.

Makka
Makka
January 28, 2023 11:46 am

Gee the debt is the lot of money.

Surely you aren’t just realizing that?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 28, 2023 11:48 am

That story about the radioactive thingie (apparently about the size of a watch battery) is the biggest beatup ever. At TheirABC, a pompous pube warned anyone who thought they might have found it not to go with 5m of it (how could you even see it from 5m away?) and call The Authorities immediately.

Got to support the correct ideology, seeing that even the Germans are now going off message.

In Unexpected Swing, Germany’s Public Now Favors Nuclear Power (27 Jan)

Previously, the majority of the public was in favor of the nuclear phaseout in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster; now over 80% are in favor of extending the lifespan of Germany’s existing nuclear reactors.

The ABC can’t allow Australian proles to start thinking in such directions. That would be heresy!

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 28, 2023 12:00 pm

The Economics 1failure has spoken at 1143. Bow down before his wisdom, peasants.

Chalmers starts with “First, let us assume the perfection of humanity …”

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 12:01 pm

It’s not just the debt, but the interest bill, which could end up costing 30% of GDP. That’s a big ax to swing.

Roger
Roger
January 28, 2023 12:08 pm

Unfortunately Australia is locked into a trajectory of experiential learning.

And being able to say “I told you so” will not be much consolation.

’tis hoped the learnings will be deeply etched in the national consciousness.

Zipster
Zipster
January 28, 2023 12:09 pm

Can anyone decipher smutley’s attempt at an undergrad Young Social Alliance rant?

Roger
Roger
January 28, 2023 12:10 pm

Chalmers has a lot of work to do to better that record, but at least he understands the task…

Now that’s funny.

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 12:12 pm

Typical rich person perspective from Tom there, i.e. Liberal Party boilerplate barely updated from the 1980s. According to this belief system, productivity increases are achieved not through innovation or technology but exclusively through workplace deregulation and wage cuts. Anything other than capital capturing all benefits of productivity increases, these silvertail toffs say, is Nazism.

If the owners of capital accrued all the benefits, then living standards would not have improved since the Industrial Revolution. The point is, you big fat galah, that any improvement in living standards has to come from productivity increases. There is no other way. If these economic trogs think they can rearrange things through legislation, then they are going to learn the hard way.

Hawke and Keating rescued Australia from the clutches of lazy protectionism and backwater provincialism, and integrated it into the regional and global economies.

Sure, they did some good work, but the Accord was an inflationary policy that ended in tears. And these trogs will learn this the hard way. Hopefully, they won’t be around long enough to completely destroy the place.

Chalmers has a lot of work to do to better that record, but at least he understands the task – one that the Liberals completely whiffed on for a decade while they lined the pockets of their donors.

Chalmers is a f..king moron wearing the same shoes as that zero, Shane Wand.

For lord’s sake, this idiot calls himself a doctor because he wrote a love story on Keating. And he’s the treasurer, and you’re not the least embarrassed?

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 12:14 pm

Dot, what’s NMD?

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
January 28, 2023 12:16 pm

Hawke and Keating rescued Australia from the clutches of lazy protectionism and backwater provincialism, and integrated it into the regional and global economies. Chalmers has a lot of work to do to better that record, but at least he understands the task – one that the Liberals completely whiffed on for a decade while they lined the pockets of their donors.

Hawke and Keating removed the grit of government and vested interests from the economy.

Chalmers’ model explicitly thrusts huge handfuls of government and vested interest – to be designed by and benefiting Top Men who know things – back into the economy; a triple reverse Hawke and Pike.

But, yes, a wasted 10 years by the Coalition Governments, who essentially muddled through by not being Rudd, or Shorten.

johanna
johanna
January 28, 2023 12:16 pm

Jim Chalmers would have supported the Potato Marketing Board in WA. After all, it was just there to correct the ‘imperfect’ free market for spuds.

That waffling article of his does not conceal the fact that he intends to repeat the mistakes of every government that has tried his ‘solutions’, ever.

The Left are just like the Bourbons – and before the barrage starts, I know that the aphorism is not true of all of them. But neither learning nor forgetting is apt when applied to malevolent fools like Chalmers.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 28, 2023 12:17 pm

JCsays:

The Oz runs with Chalmers manifesto.
Yep.
He’s part of a government that won around 32% of the primary vote!
Add in the tactical voting that got Barnaby Joyce, Katter, The Teals over the line and other tactical voting that nearly won a few more seats, then remember that all Labor’s Seats are in Metropolitan Areas, and it’s a bit more than 32%.

We need Abbott to get back in his old job of opposition leader and then fire him the moment they win.
Abbott was like Steven Bradbury with a few dirty tricks.

He poisoned the well for the Liberals by winning a big majority promising to repeal S 18[c], then changing his mind after he was sworn in.

Dot
Dot
January 28, 2023 12:18 pm

“National Missile Defense”.

Makka
Makka
January 28, 2023 12:19 pm

Well, debt and interest. One a disease, the other a painful symptom. It’s all tied in.

Lucky the USG has a bank in-house to write the checques. Unlike the private sector. It’s getting much harder for the common folk;

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DRTSCILM

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 12:20 pm

Here’s your problem, Fatboy.

These idiots, and they are classic idiots, are going to raise energy costs. They have further constipated the labour market with even more costly regulation with pattern bargaining, and now they’re suggesting they’re going to follow a dirigiste economic plan. Everything is now primed for economic debauchery, as only liars can do it.

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 12:22 pm

He poisoned the well for the Liberals by winning a big majority promising to repeal S 18[c], then changing his mind after he was sworn in.

Eggsactly, which is why I said, you fire him the moment they win.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 28, 2023 12:24 pm

Here’s how Abbott handled scrutiny?

Labor Shill: You’re a racist

Abbott: I go to Arnhem Land 2 weeks of the year carching truants and taking them to school.

Labor Shill: Woman Problem!

Abbott: All my staffers are women

Labor Shill: Homophobe!

Abbott: All my closest friends are Flamers.

You can sorta see how that approach worked until it didn’t.

But, if they do bring Abbott back, Peter Dutton might as well retire, because the Liberals won’t be going anywhere.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 28, 2023 12:26 pm

I’m amused that Buzzfeed shares jumped 120% when they announced they’d replace their uberlefty journos with a chatbot.

BuzzFeed shares surge 120% on plans to embrace OpenAI (27 Jan)

Says everything you need to know about the journos. Recall that Buzzfeed was the only site that was prepared to run the Clinton-financed fake Wussians dossier. A million monkeys with typewriters would do better than their employees methinks, so no surprise that their share price rose on the announcement.

Zipster
Zipster
January 28, 2023 12:28 pm
C.L.
C.L.
January 28, 2023 12:29 pm

Can someone post the Chalmers article in full please.

His “Capitalism After the Crises” will be published in The Monthly on Monday, Dover.

Robert Sewell
January 28, 2023 12:31 pm

Dot:

Putin is destroying the Ukraine (which he considers Russian) and permanently damaging Russia so he can compare himself to an Emperor.
The primary beneficiary of this mess is President Xi.

In the Great Ledger of nations, Russia should be on the side of the West, along with Poland, Czechoslovakia etc. I happen to like the Russians, as well as the Germans, Brits and the Balts. The problem is that they all have the misfortune to get ruled over by some truly shit leaders which cause them to regularly get pissed and brawl which burns down the pub.
I blame the French.
…and the bastard Swiss. Not real happy with the bloody Swedes either.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 28, 2023 12:32 pm

Hawke and Keating removed the grit of government and vested interests from the economy.

Gimme a break!
Hawke and Keating said to the Vested Interests:

Hey!
Why dontcha shut your factory down and move it to Asia.
You’ll save a fortune in Wages and Compliance and we won’t stand in your way

C.L.
C.L.
January 28, 2023 12:32 pm

I see jihadist Louise Milligan has a new anti-Catholic hit piece airing Monday on 4 Corners.

About Opus Dei, it’s mockingly called “Purity”.

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 12:32 pm

I will remake capitalism, says Jim Chalmers

Jim Chalmers is pledging greater government intervention to radically remake post-pandemic capitalism by redesigning energy, finance, labour, and social services markets — which he says are failing — while putting “fairness” at the centre of a plan Labor believes will deliver decades of national prosperity.

Foreshadowing a seismic policy shift, the Treasurer says Labor will ditch the free-market policy consensus that has steered rich countries over two generations and fashion a values-based economy in partnership with business, unions and community groups.

Dr Chalmers blames failed ­political leadership and thinking in the wake of global financial, health and energy crises over the past 15 years for leaving the nation more exposed to economic shocks and

In a new essay, Dr Chalmers ­rejects “supply-side economics” and argues renewal will be based on the clean-energy transition, ­investment in skills and training, a “renewing and restructuring” of the Reserve Bank and Productivity Commission, and the government playing a more hands-on role in steering the economy. “Successive leaders failed to find their way conclusively or convincingly past the neoliberalism of the pre-crisis period,” he writes in Capitalism After the Crises, to be published in The Monthly on Monday.

“In other words, while the world was getting more uncertain, we had been growing more vulnerable. Domestic policies – and policy vacuums – accelerated rather than alleviated this problem.

“Our mission is to redefine and reform our economy and institutions in ways that make our people and communities more resilient, and our society and democracy stronger as well.”

This will include the creation this year of a “sustainable finance architecture, including a new taxonomy to label the climate impact of different investments”.

“Investors should be able to work out the climate-risk rating of a firm just as a lender can work out a credit-risk rating,” Dr Chalmers writes. The essay signals that Labor is abandoning the bipartisan economic orthodoxy of the past four decades, with the Treasurer arguing the rise of populism in response to income stagnation demands a fundamental redistribution of wealth and opportunity.

The near 6000-word treatise, in the Labor tradition of long-form forays in the progressive magazine by former prime minister Kevin Rudd in 2009 and then treasurer Wayne Swan in 2012, will be seen by government insiders as Dr Chalmers, 44, positioning himself as heir apparent to the Prime Minister, 15 years his senior, and as ­intellectual leader of the party’s younger generation.

While respectful of the legacies of Labor reformers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating in the 1980s and ’90s, the Treasurer argues the party must embrace a new social democratic agenda, where markets are built in partnership with business and unions to allocate capital and labour.

“Our generation of policymakers and leaders faces different challenges, and here we can’t just retrofit old agendas or retrace the steps of our heroes to address them,” he writes.

“It’s no accident that these strategies typically involve an ­element of partnership. This is partly a reality of our fiscal position – the federal budget is deep in debt and under pressure – so the options for large, broad new programs are limited. “But it’s also a purposeful choice – we want to change the ­dynamics of politics, towards a ­system where Australians and businesses are clear and active participants in shaping a better society.”

In his essay, Dr Chalmers says Labor will more purposefully ­direct investment flows to priority areas such as clean energy, through market design and co-investment. He identifies the Clean Energy Finance Corporation as a successful model in allowing the government to partner with investors to “direct capital where it can have the greatest impact”.

“We will employ this co-­investment model in more areas of the economy, with programs already under way in the industry, housing and electricity sectors,” the Treasurer writes.

“Australia can do more and do better than just batten down the hatches in 2023 or hope for the best. We can build something better, more meaningful and more inclusive – 30 years of prosperity stronger, broader and more sustainable than the last.

“We can maximise our advantages by focusing on things we can and do control – setting ourselves up to emerge from a difficult year as a more resilient, more cohesive and more purposeful country.”

The shift to greater activism is set to gather pace this year as the Albanese government looks to ­intervene in housing, manufacturing, finance and social enterprises and shield Australia from the ravages of the so-called “polycrisis” at large in global affairs.

Anthony Albanese narrowly won office last May – on a limited platform of addressing the rising cost of living, more ambition on emissions reduction and incremental social change to promote opportunity – over a ­Coalition government led by Scott Morrison, the least popular major party leader in 35 years.

Since the election, Labor has intervened in the gas market, opened the door to industry-wide wage bargaining and legislated a federal integrity ­commission, while promising to bring the ­federal budget under control. ?Mr Albanese’s poll ratings have improved, despite the government facing a slowing economy, rising gas and electricity prices, higher debt, endemic deficits, falling home values and the challenge of delivering a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous voice to parliament via a referendum later this year.

Government’s expectation is that inflation has now ‘peaked’
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the inflation figure released today for the December quarter is “unacceptably high”.… Annual inflation for the December quarter rose from 7.3 per cent to 7.8 per cent, which is in line with Treasury’s forecast. “This is likely the peak in inflation, but we won’t More

Dr Chalmers says Australia is likely to avoid a recession this year but warns its major trading partners could fall into a funk, as the world’s central banks aggressively raise interest rates to contain inflation, amid geostrategic tensions and Russia’s year-long ­assault on Ukraine.

Headline inflation rose to a 32-year high of 7.8 per cent in the ­December quarter, prompting economists to forecast another three hikes in official interest rates by the RBA, from the current 3.1 per cent cash rate, with the next move expected in just over a week when the RBA meets.

The Treasurer has said his second budget in May will provide targeted relief from high energy costs to the most vulnerable households and will not hinder the central bank’s work in reducing inflation. Dr Chalmers said a new, ­values-based capitalism for Australia, would understand something the old thinking neglected: “that the problems of government – of whole societies – don’t and shouldn’t permit one simple solution set”.

To achieve this, it will require an “orderly energy and climate transition” through renewables, a more ­resilient and adaptable economy in the face of the current “poly­crisis” and growth that “puts equality and equal opportunity at the centre”.

“This is not only fair, it’s good economic policy,” the Treasurer writes. “It’s not just our economic ­institutions that need renewing and restructuring, but our markets as well. Here, government has a leadership role to play. ­Defining priorities, challenges and missions – not ‘picking winners’.

“This is critical to guide how we design markets, facilitate flows of capital into priority areas and ultimately make progress on our collective problems and purpose.

“The neoliberal model is the opposite of this. It pretends to be agnostic on these questions, but ultimately a choice is still being made through passive de-prioritisation and the perverse outcomes and greater vulnerability that emerge over time.”

He’s talking about restructuring RBA – the one of the few institutions with a modicum of respect. The inflation rate just isn’t high enough.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 28, 2023 12:33 pm

Ranking Of Countries With The Most Cattle Per Capita

Uruguay had the most cattle per capita in the world in 2021 followed by New Zealand and Argentina.

Published on: Jan 25, 2023

Uruguay had the most cattle per capita in the world in 2021 followed by New Zealand and Argentina.

Four (4) countries in the world had more cattle than people in 2021: Uruguay, New Zealand, Argentina and Brazil.

Ranking Of Countries With The Most Cattle

India had the largest cattle inventory in the world in 2021 followed by Brazil and China.

World Beef Consumption By Country

The world consumed 59.1 million metric tons of beef in 2020, down 398K metric tons from the prior year.

Zipster
Zipster
January 28, 2023 12:33 pm

ChatGPT does Physics – Sixty Symbols

even though chatgpt gets much wrong, what is amazing is how much logic is baked into just the language aspect of the model, even without having a specific maths model. Once they add in a maths model and a visual generation model we are off to the races.

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 12:34 pm

But, if they do bring Abbott back, Peter Dutton might as well retire, because the Liberals won’t be going anywhere.

Eddles, I was just kidding.

Makka
Makka
January 28, 2023 12:34 pm

“Capitalism After the Crises”

These grubs will never acknowledge the truth; Govt’s created the Crises.

They will now leap in and “fix” it. aka; the Fix is in.

Zipster
Zipster
January 28, 2023 12:35 pm

Here, government has a leadership role to play. ­Defining priorities, challenges and missions – not ‘picking winners’.

the doublespeak is strong in this one

Robert Sewell
January 28, 2023 12:36 pm

Knuckle Dragger:

The picture wireless tells me that a radioactive container smaller than a 10 cent piece has been lost by somebody.

A radioactive container of what?

m0nty
m0nty
January 28, 2023 12:36 pm

He’s part of a government that won around 32% of the primary vote!

The Libs need about 45% primary to win in the current environment, where so many minor-party preferences flow back to Labor. They’re almost ten points behind that federally. They are the ones who should be more worried about primaries.

C.L.
C.L.
January 28, 2023 12:37 pm

Paul Kelly has taken a baseball bat to Albanese in the Weekend Australian for bungling Central Australia and being a smart-arse about the Voice. Surprising.

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 12:39 pm

Hey!
Why dontcha shut your factory down and move it to Asia.
You’ll save a fortune in Wages and Compliance and we won’t stand in your way

No, Eddles, they removed a slew of quotas and tariffs while simultaneously enacting the Accord, which stoked nominal wages to a boil, resulting in wage-push inflation. The Accord was one of many cancers they caused.

C.L.
C.L.
January 28, 2023 12:40 pm

I will give Paul Murray credit for his “Aussie Joe” nickname for Albanese.
Albo wanders around in a vibe cloud but whenever he gets grilled by a reporter he has no idea what he’s talking about – on any subject.

Total lightweight.

At least Biden has the excuse of being 102 years-old.

Cassie of Sydney
January 28, 2023 12:43 pm

Rushing to a Pilates class this morning, I ran into two wonderful stalwarts of the conservative movement. I’ve been assured that ADH-TV is returning soon, bigger and better.

Stay tuned!

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
January 28, 2023 12:44 pm

GreyRangasays:

January 28, 2023 at 11:12 am

On the waterproofing thing, I recently fixed a broken tile, when I moved the tiles around it I discovered the valley flashing to be 300 per wing. On a villa I renovated it was 450. New places I hate to think. 

There are a few things at play with waterproofing. You are right about the false economy of going skinny on the flashing. My builder is finishing a tiny tiled terrace area off a new extension and is talking about 450 x 450 flashing on an area with massive fall and free run off. I think it is overkill but the incremental cost is 5/8 of s.f.a.
Secondly, inserting architects and engineers into the design of waterproofing doesn’t add anything. It is the application where it goes wrong (and the protection of the work after it is applied but before final finishing). Much as I hate regulation, adding waterproofing in at frame inspection phase wouldn’t be much of an impost.
Thirdly, architects are a part of the problem with external terraces and balconies. Where they are enclosed by a “solid” wall (ie usually studs, blueboard and render) they don’t want the clean lines interrupted by drains. A lot of problems would be avoided with some neat, free-draining overflow outlets in copper or stainless running off enclosed balconies.

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 12:44 pm

The Libs need about 45% primary to win in the current environment, where so many minor-party preferences flow back to Labor. They’re almost ten points behind that federally. They are the ones who should be more worried about primaries.

Recall back about 10 years ago when we were laughing at you because the Libs won so many seats in the Queensland state election that you could fit the remaining members in a cab? Next election, the Liars won. Don’t be too optimistic, fatboy.
The Albanian isn’t smart enough for the long term. He’s stupid, like you.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 28, 2023 12:45 pm

Interesting Selection of Articles – https://www.realcleardefense.com

Friday, January 27

. The Battle for This Region Will Determine Whether Russia Prevails Newsweek
. Russia’s Supreme Drone Embarrassingly Got Stuck in a Net Satam, EurAsian Times
. Despite Condemnations, Russia Still Has Allies in These Key Nations Grid
. Russia’s Use of This Weapon Shows How Desperate They Are McNulty, Express
. Russia is Planning a Mass Production of This Explosive Weapon Kachroo, ITV
. Satellites Catch Russia’s Secret Plans of Attack, Will the Attack Work? Vavra, DB
. Despite Past Drama, This “Former” Ally is Providing a Boon to Russia EU Reporter
. The West is Privately Admitting Ukraine Has Lost This Crucial Region UnHerd
. The New Tanks to Ukraine Will be Useless Without This Change Davis, 1945

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 12:45 pm

ADH-TV, what’s that?

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 12:46 pm

Whoops:

that you could fit the remaining Liars Party members in a cab?

Cassie of Sydney
January 28, 2023 12:47 pm

“London, United Kingdom: A judge on Friday sentenced a British teenager to more than 11 years in prison for videos promoting racist violence that have been linked to two mass killings in the United States.”

I bet that teenager is white and working class. No “mental illness” for him.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
January 28, 2023 12:47 pm

There will always be the suspicion the vaccines contributed, even if most people statistically would have had the issue anyway.

A lot of work to unravel the contributing factors, as the virus causes similar stuff apparently.

Indeed.
Uncertainty about the cause of excess deaths is fertiliser for trusted frauds and charlatans – and, sadly, also for otherwise respectable commentators.

An example: Professor Norman Fenton claiming a “strong causal effect” between vaccines and excess deaths world-wide, while his data and analysis say the opposite.

C.L.
C.L.
January 28, 2023 12:47 pm

Alan Jones’s platform, JC.

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 12:48 pm

C.L. says:
January 28, 2023 at 12:40 pm

I will give Paul Murray credit for his “Aussie Joe” nickname for Albanese.
Albo wanders around in a vibe cloud but whenever he gets grilled by a reporter he has no idea what he’s talking about – on any subject.

Total lightweight.

At least Biden has the excuse of being 102 years-old.

Under Liar’s Party rules, it’s now very difficult to get of a leader, I think. Is that right?

Cassie of Sydney
January 28, 2023 12:49 pm

“ADH-TV, what’s that?”

JC, it’s a right of centre, conservative online Australian digital news outlet. It’s good.

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 12:49 pm

C.L. says:
January 28, 2023 at 12:47 pm

Alan Jones’s platform, JC.

Oh, the NIMBY.

duncanm
duncanm
January 28, 2023 12:50 pm

Jim Chalmers’ plan brings this to mind..

How Semiconductors Ruined East Germany

m0nty
m0nty
January 28, 2023 12:50 pm

These idiots, and they are classic idiots, are going to raise energy costs. They have further constipated the labour market with even more costly regulation with pattern bargaining, and now they’re suggesting they’re going to follow a dirigiste economic plan. Everything is now primed for economic debauchery, as only liars can do it.

There are two things to watch about Chalmers. First is his government’s policy on immigration. His sums won’t work if they don’t turn the spigot on full blast and clear out the pipes. Call it a Ponzi scheme, whatever, but Western economies haven’t been faring all that well post-COVID without figuring out ways to kickstart immigration.

Second is the devilish detail in these supposed partnerships between business and unions. That sort of thing works well in Germany these days, but their system involves a lot of different legal structures. If Chalmers mentions codetermination in this essay at any point, that will show he’s got the German model in mind. That would indeed be a “seismic shift” as the Oz puts it. The more obvious antecedent is the Accord, but Chalmers has shown he is willing to let the blood of that sacred cow. Namechecking the CEFC is the biggest clue from what has been published but it can’t just be that model, there has to be other moving parts in his plan if he’s being this ambitious.

duncanm
duncanm
January 28, 2023 12:50 pm

A radioactive container of what?

as previous – likely to he Cs137

Roger
Roger
January 28, 2023 12:51 pm

Albo wanders around in a vibe cloud but whenever he gets grilled by a reporter he has no idea what he’s talking about – on any subject.

Total lightweight.

Cast your mind back to the first week of the election campaign and that is the gist of what was leaked from within Labor’s caucus. Laqzy and doesn’t read his briefs.

m0nty
m0nty
January 28, 2023 12:53 pm

Recall back about 10 years ago when we were laughing at you because the Libs won so many seats in the Queensland state election that you could fit the remaining members in a cab? Next election, the Liars won.

Campbell Newman was a dickhead. Luigi the Unbelievable has the job in front of him like the boy with the barrow, but he’s not on the same (low) level as Newman.

Cassie of Sydney
January 28, 2023 12:54 pm

“The Albanian isn’t smart enough for the long term. “

Correct, he had an easy run prior to the election because..

1. He had (and has) a biased MSM behind him.

2. The impotent Liberals refused to fight him, but that’s natural after almost nine years of do nothing government.

3. Australians were sick of Scumbag and the do nothing Liberals, who were just Labor lite on so many issues.

It’s nice to see the Albanian unravelling, and because I don’t mind some torture, I want to see him tortured slowly, very slowly.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 28, 2023 12:54 pm

I will give Paul Murray credit for his “Aussie Joe” nickname for Albanese.
That’s pretty funny, but, could it be antisemitic?

Shy Ted
Shy Ted
January 28, 2023 12:55 pm

Caesium-137. Somewhere in Abaustralia. And if they do find it how do they know it hasn’t been there for 40,000 years and isn’t a relic of the original nucular industry?

Roger
Roger
January 28, 2023 12:55 pm

File under “there’s always someone worse off”:

The town of Eidsvold in the central QLD shire of North Burnett lost FTA TV transmission today when the local council closed the transmission tower, citing the cost of what it deemed a non-essential service.

Anyone in the community with no better alternative will have to watch the ABC, which is transmitted from a separate tower, presumably funded by the Commonwealth.

Tom
Tom
January 28, 2023 12:59 pm

That’s pretty funny, but, could it be antisemitic?

Googleory, there’s not a rabbit hole you won’t sniff on your way to the bottom of the barrel.

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 1:01 pm

There are two things to watch about Chalmers. First is his government’s policy on immigration. His sums won’t work if they don’t turn the spigot on full blast and clear out the pipes. Call it a Ponzi scheme, whatever, but Western economies haven’t been faring all that well post-COVID without figuring out ways to kickstart immigration.

That works in the US, but not here because our wage rates are exceedingly high. Even if there is more labour supply, they still have to be hired at the going statutory rate. As a result, many small businesses, such as cafes and restaurants, are closed on public holidays and Sundays.Too expensive.

Second is the devilish detail in these supposed partnerships between business and unions. That sort of thing works well in Germany these days, but their system involves a lot of different legal structures. If Chalmers mentions codetermination in this essay at any point, that will show he’s got the German model in mind.

Oh yeah, the German model. One of the things to notice about the German model is that they don’t have the highest wage rates in the world, and the reality is that their labour market is actually much more flexible than ours. So even if Noddy mentions he would to follow the German model, the open question is, would he also allow the same labour market flexibility and allow wages to fall? No way in f—ing hell.

That would indeed be a “seismic shift” as the Oz puts it. The more obvious antecedent is the Accord, but Chalmers has shown he is willing to let the blood of that sacred cow. Namechecking the CEFC is the biggest clue from what has been published but it can’t just be that model, there has to be other moving parts in his plan if he’s being this ambitious.

I have no idea what the hell you babbling about.

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 1:04 pm

Campbell Newman was a dickhead. Luigi the Unbelievable has the job in front of him like the boy with the barrow, but he’s not on the same (low) level as Newman.

Oh yeah, I forgot. Newman was a dickhead but the Albanian ? No Chance.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 28, 2023 1:05 pm

Googleory, there’s not a rabbit hole you won’t sniff on your way to the bottom of the barrel.

Not 100% sure where you’re coming from there, old fella, so i’ll clarify that I was referring to Joe Bugner, not Albanese.

Robert Sewell
January 28, 2023 1:20 pm

Old Ozzie:

The first rule of America is that everything is racist.

I wonder if there will be a Democrat push for a US Apartheid?
It seems the only thing that will shut them up.
Wait…
No, they’ll start whinging about ‘apartheid’.
Of course.

Damienski
Damienski
January 28, 2023 1:21 pm

In a seminal 6000-word essay entitled “Capitalism after the Crises” due to be published by The Monthly on Monday, Dr Chalmers said markets were a positive and powerful tool, but had been poorly designed.

Echoes of the unlamented Rudd’s prognostications. That went well, didn’t it?

m0nty
m0nty
January 28, 2023 1:22 pm

That works in the US, but not here because our wage rates are exceedingly high. Even if there is more labour supply, they still have to be hired at the going statutory rate. As a result, many small businesses, such as cafes and restaurants, are closed on public holidays and Sundays.Too expensive.

Lower levels of immigration coming out of COVID has contributed greatly to labour shortages, which tends to further increase wages and leaves many industries understaffed. Small businesses are closing due to lack of staff, not wage levels. Demand is high enough to pay for the workers if they existed.

Oh yeah, the German model. One of the things to notice about the German model is that they don’t have the highest wage rates in the world, and the reality is that their labour market is actually much more flexible than ours. So even if Noddy mentions he would to follow the German model, the open question is, would he also allow the same labour market flexibility and allow wages to fall? No way in f—ing hell.

Germany also managed a massive immigration surge starting in 2015, and now has more than a million asylum seekers from Syria and such places integrated into its economy. Their situation is a lot different to Australia, where our high wages support (in part) our high housing prices which prop up so much of the economy. Nevertheless, I reckon Chalmers might have cast an eye towards Merkel’s successes.

Robert Sewell
January 28, 2023 1:22 pm

Dot:

My first middy in a pub was $1.70 and the schooner was $2.30. (I may be sundowning here).
Good luck getting much change out of $10 now.

Mine was 18 cents a schooner. It really does show how much the currency has been devalued.

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 28, 2023 1:22 pm

Keating’s policy on super was an extremely patient one.
Chalmers tax on super will also be patient.
Increase the compulsory contributions to increase the size of the pie.
Increase the tax on the captive pot annually over a certain threshold.
Once the members of the super fund die, put a levy on the wind up.
Model this over the next 30 years & it’s huge earn at the expense of punters.

Plasmamortar
Plasmamortar
January 28, 2023 1:23 pm

who has right of way?

The train, it can’t stop quickly and is stuck on the rails 🙂

flyingduk
flyingduk
January 28, 2023 1:23 pm

It’s not just the debt, but the interest bill, which could end up costing 30% of GDP. That’s a big ax to swing.

On the current trajectory (onwards and upwards) the interest will end up costing the entirety of GDP.

Still…if a thing cant go on forever …..

m0nty
m0nty
January 28, 2023 1:24 pm

Mine was 18 cents a schooner.

Actually Bob, I think you meant to say a shilling, a zac and a thrupenny bit.

Makka
Makka
January 28, 2023 1:24 pm

The Albanian isn’t smart enough for the long term.

But I’ll back him over the stupidity of the average Aussie voter. Certainly the Vic ones.

Th SFL’s have allowed the Fabian Society approach to be a very successful model for the Marxists thus far. In fact, Marxism won’t get a mention the these days , despite it’s presence everywhere. Especially no mention by the coalition. Captured media and a populace engrossed in MAFS and The Block , too busy to figure out what’s really going on. Combine that with zero knowledge of History and the sheeple of our population are just gazing at the world going by , getting shorn and hoping they don’t get called up for the abattoir.

Diogenes
Diogenes
January 28, 2023 1:26 pm

Second is the devilish detail in these supposed partnerships between business and unions

And coincidentally TIK put up a video about the DAF just 3 weeks ago.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 28, 2023 1:27 pm

Expert duelists were available for hire in 19th Century America.

Anyway, one of these guys, an expert shot, challenged Ol’ Hickory, and he accepted.
The guy’s shot hit Jackson within an inch of his heart.
The 7th President stood firm, took careful aim, and shot his opponent in the guts.
Which didn’t do him much good, put it that way.

Plasmamortar
Plasmamortar
January 28, 2023 1:28 pm

It’s not just the debt, but the interest bill, which could end up costing 30% of GDP. That’s a big ax to swing.

On the current trajectory (onwards and upwards) the interest will end up costing the entirety of GDP.

Still…if a thing cant go on forever …..

This is working on the assumption that the U.S. government has 30% of it’s tax revenue free to use…
In reality, they already spend more than all of their collected tax revenue, mostly on different kinds of welfare.

What will actually happen is they will borrow/print money to pay the interest on the debt.

It’s similar to how people stuck in credit card debt get another credit card to pay off the first one, it never ends well..

Bar Beach Swimmer
January 28, 2023 1:30 pm

Cassie of Sydney says:
January 28, 2023 at 12:43 pm
Rushing to a Pilates class this morning, I ran into two wonderful stalwarts of the conservative movement. I’ve been assured that ADH-TV is returning soon, bigger and better.

Stay tuned!

Cassie, great! I was only scanning their app last night and was disappointed to see no 2023 shows.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 28, 2023 1:30 pm

Mine was 18 cents a schooner. It really does show how much the currency has been devalued.

Year, Robert?
Not because I think you’re making it up.

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 1:33 pm

Lower levels of immigration coming out of COVID has contributed greatly to labour shortages, which tends to further increase wages and leaves many industries understaffed. Small businesses are closing due to lack of staff, not wage levels. Demand is high enough to pay for the workers if they existed.

It’s not going to help that much in aggregate across the economy because labor market flexibility is dreadful.

Germany also managed a massive immigration surge starting in 2015, and now has more than a million asylum seekers from Syria and such places integrated into its economy. Their situation is a lot different to Australia, where our high wages support (in part) our high housing prices which prop up so much of the economy. Nevertheless, I reckon Chalmers might have cast an eye towards Merkel’s successes.

Doofus, pre-covid we were allowing in around 250,000 people a year. That’s .01% of the population.

The famous German move to allow 1 million refs into Germany wasn’t as big deal as you think it was.

1,000,000/80,000,000 is .0125%, which was just a wiggle more than our annual rate. Germany’s was a one time thing. Remain silent please.

Bar Beach Swimmer
January 28, 2023 1:33 pm

The train, it can’t stop quickly and is stuck on the rails

And any other thing on it is trespassing

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 28, 2023 1:34 pm

Keep in mind, this is a selective tax on super.
For example, when Phillip Ruddock retired the equivalent super benefit he had was 3.2mill.
That was 2016.
His defined benefit plan has zero risk as the corpus is underwritten by tax payers.

During 2022 financial year the first 106,250 of his pension was tax free (his total pension was around 250k per year on retirement & it’s inflation linked so who knows what it’s up to now).

Bottom line, Ruddock & the other public servants on these bloated pensions won’t be impacted.
It’s those not in the club.

Robert Sewell
January 28, 2023 1:35 pm

Roger:

The supermarkets were on to the beer situation early, probably in light of the general cost of living upswing. Home brew product was expanding on the shelves throughout last year.

If the Brewers aren’t redirecting their funding away from the Labor Party, and toward the Nationals or One Nation, they’ve got rocks in their head because if home brewing is getting a second wind, they’re going to be hurting big time.
Inflation isn’t hurting just the average man in the street – it’s pissing off shareholders as well.
Remember the secret of the Chinese Communist Party? Keep the standard of living rising and stay in power. Reduce it and there will be bonfires of the 48 million CP members. Not their membership cards, the members themselves.

Eyrie
Eyrie
January 28, 2023 1:36 pm

Doofus, pre-covid we were allowing in around 250,000 people a year. That’s .01% of the population.

Try 1%.

Makka
Makka
January 28, 2023 1:37 pm

The famous German move to allow 1 million refs into Germany wasn’t as big deal as you think it was.

Yeah, no biggie.

Not only are gang rape cases growing at a shocking rate in Germany, but new data shows that almost every second gang rape suspect does not have German citizenship.

The information has come to light after Alternative for Germany (AfD) member of parliament, Stephan Brandner, requested the German government release statistics on gang rapes. It shows that in 2021, 677 gang rapes occurred, and suspects were identified in 462 cases.

In 2018, there were around 300 such gang rapes, which means there has been an over 120 percent increase in just a matter of three years.

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 28, 2023 1:41 pm

It’s amazing how arbitrary the tax system is in Australia.
Have the equivalent of millions in a tax payer funded pension scheme (that’s good, minimal tax).
Have the equivalent of millions in your own super (that’s bad, continue the levies & tax take).

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 1:43 pm

Thanks for the correction, Hallward. It doesn’t make much difference to the comparison, which is obviously something you missed.

Any death wishes today or just taking it easy over the weekend, you miserable buffoon?

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 28, 2023 1:44 pm

Electric Vehicles Are an Ideologically Driven Economic Misadventure

As more motorists own electric vehicles (EVs) and experience problems operating them, evidence shows that the movement to abandon gas-powered vehicles is ideologically motivated and unsupported by rational economic calculation.

In January 2023, four Wyoming state senators and two representatives introduced Senate Joint Resolution No. SJ004 to ban the sale of EVs in Wyoming by 2035. The proposed legislation stressed that “Wyoming’s vast stretches of highway, coupled with a lack of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, make the widespread use of electric vehicles impracticable for the state.” The proposed legislation also noted that “the batteries used in electric vehicles contain critical minerals whose domestic supply is limited and at risk of disruption.”

Moreover, the Senate Joint Resolution explained that “the critical minerals used in electric batteries are not easily recyclable or disposable, meaning that landfills in Wyoming and elsewhere will be required to develop practices to dispose of these minerals in a safe and responsible manner.” Finally, the legislation was premised on the reality that “the expansion of electric vehicle charging stations in Wyoming and throughout the country necessary to support more electric vehicles will require massive amounts of new power generation to sustain the misadventure of electric vehicles.”

Over 2 million EVs have been sold in the United States, although EVs remain less than 1 percent of all vehicles on the road. On average, EVs cost $10,108 more than a standard vehicle. At the end of 2022, entry-level EVs cost customers between $20,000 and $40,000. In 2023, ongoing inflationary price increases, supply chain constraints, deteriorating labor conditions in major manufacturing regions, and component shortages will drive up EV prices. Statistica.com predicts EV prices will jump by another 37 percent in 2023, driving the average cost of an EV up to more than $69,000 by the second half of the year.

Le Xie and his colleagues noted the “increasing evidence on the impact of uncoordinated electric vehicle charging on the electric distribution grid such as transformer overloading at a modest level of EV penetration. In an article published in The Hill on July 9, 2021, Le Xie and his colleagues asked, “How many electric vehicles charging at the same time would have blown up your local substation transformer?” They answered that it would only take a few hundred EVs charging simultaneously to burn out the local substation transformer in a small Midwest town.

Though not deterring global warming hysterics, EV customer complaints are mounting. A Tesla owner posted a video on TikTok complaining that he was stranded at a Supercharger station on Christmas Eve because the cold weather paralyzed the EV battery.

A British owner of a £65,000 [$80,457] EV lamented that the vehicle spent months at a time in the repair shop “on account of innumerable electrical calamities,” and two of three roadside chargers are “broken or busy at any one time.”

m0nty
m0nty
January 28, 2023 1:46 pm

It’s not going to help that much in aggregate across the economy because labor market flexibility is dreadful.

You can keep saying that but that doesn’t make it true.

Doofus, pre-covid we were allowing in around 250,000 people a year. That’s .01% of the population.

Try 1%.

LOL!

Vicki
Vicki
January 28, 2023 1:46 pm

There will always be the suspicion the vaccines contributed, even if most people statistically would have had the issue anyway.
A lot of work to unravel the contributing factors, as the virus causes similar stuff apparently.

“apparently”? I have done quite a lot of reading on the virus, the vaccines, and “Long Covid”. I haven’t read of anyone dying as a result of a Covid infection contracted some months before. What they do suffer from is a post viral syndrome (which is hardly unknown in the annals of virus infections).

Interestingly, I know of no one in the non-vaccinated cohort that I know (and I know many) who has had Covid & suffers from “Long Covid”. I also don’t know any of the unvaccinated who has contracted Covid a second time – though, of course, this is possible in spite of the strength of “natural” immunity.

Robert Sewell
January 28, 2023 1:46 pm

BBS:

His description of “radical” isn’t a reference to Thorpe and her ilk. NO. He’s referring to people like you and me, and anyone who can’t see that has their head stuck in concrete.

Anyone else notice the “Wrecker” epithet sneak into the tirade?
Yep, it’s a Trotskyist from way back – the speech patterns give it away.

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 28, 2023 1:48 pm

If Chalmers was genuine when it comes to super changes, he would limit the annual pension taxpayers are forking out to former public servants to a more reasonable amount.
The quicker the Future Fund becomes unencumbered, the better.

johanna
johanna
January 28, 2023 1:49 pm

In a seminal 6000-word essay entitled “Capitalism after the Crises” due to be published by The Monthly on Monday, Dr Chalmers said markets were a positive and powerful tool, but had been poorly designed.

Typical PhD. Takes 6,000 words to say what could be in less than 1,000. Of course, doing that would reveal more of the truth.

I revere the discipline imposed on me when I was writing briefs for Ministers, Premiers and Prime Ministers. Everything had to be on a page, usually in large print.

Background would be attached.

I could have done a PhD but declined because it usually meant a high tolerance for boredom and the ability to pad out insignificae. Apologies to the few whose work was meaningful.

Roger
Roger
January 28, 2023 1:49 pm

The Albanian isn’t smart enough for the long term.

But I’ll back him over the stupidity of the average Aussie voter.

Rough calculations based on 2022:

Labor/Greens/Teals axis of evil 45% support

LNP/PHON/UAP axis of mediocrity 45% support

Primary vote

LNP 35%

ALP 32%

If the LNP- absent the Morrison factor – were capable of putting up a fight this would one a one term ALP government.

Cold comfort, perhaps, given the nature a LNP largely diluted of conviction, but the electorate isn’t completely bereft of common sense just yet. And the cost of living crisis is going to make Elbow & Chalmers very unpopular.

m0nty
m0nty
January 28, 2023 1:50 pm

The famous German move to allow 1 million refs into Germany wasn’t as big deal as you think it was.

Zee Germans seemed to think it was a big deal at the time. Turned out it wasn’t, but not for want of far right-wing politicians spreading frightbat behaviour.

The point I was making is that Australia’s economic settings assume a high level of inward net migration, and if a lower rate is our future then it is going to upset a lot of applecarts.

Makka
Makka
January 28, 2023 1:52 pm

Labor/Greens/Teals axis of evil 45% support

I rest my case. Nearly half the voting population support Marxist policies.

Vicki
Vicki
January 28, 2023 1:52 pm

So, Jim Chalmers reckons that current “income stagnation” (news to me) demands a fundamental redistribution of wealth and opportunity. ” Well, that is going to spook the horses. And zealots like the current crop in government mean it.

This is a cancer spreading throughout the western world. Suggestions are that it will force local “economies” & support groups for essential services outside the government framework.

Well, if I haven’t felt like a “blade runner” as one of the unvaccinated in the past three years, I guess I will very soon.

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 1:52 pm

You can keep saying that but that doesn’t make it true.

I keep saying it because it’s true. Very true.

Vicki
Vicki
January 28, 2023 1:54 pm

but the electorate isn’t completely bereft of common sense just yet.

You think?

m0nty
m0nty
January 28, 2023 1:55 pm

Speaking of out-of-touch losers, what’s the latest on Abbott getting parachuted back in to Parliament through the Senate? Another brainwave from Michael Kroger, what an asset to Labor he is.

Robert Sewell
January 28, 2023 1:57 pm

Grey Ranga:

Tanya Blathershit is remarkably quiet, biding time, not getting into trouble. Oh look, I didn’t agree with anything they did and as soon as you vote for me we’ll carryon just the same. Australian voters are so stupid. The World is in such a malaise of wokeness of munty type intellect it almost depresses me. None of them know how wealth is generated.

People are slowly waking up – even a Labrador starts getting wiser after the 20th kick in the guts. The Australian Voter has had about 30 of them and is starting to wonder why his ribs are sore.
He’s starting to get the shits about the boss and a low growl is being emitted.
It won’t happen today, but it will happen.

Who am I kidding? 🙂

Eyrie
Eyrie
January 28, 2023 2:00 pm

Try 1%.
LOL!

Lucky his career didn’t involve arithmetic, calculating rates of return, interest rates etc etc.

Vicki
Vicki
January 28, 2023 2:01 pm

I could have done a PhD but declined because it usually meant a high tolerance for boredom and the ability to pad out insignificae. Apologies to the few whose work was meaningful.

Thank you for the apology. But actually, boredom is rarely an impediment to the arduous work of doing a PhD. And immersion in a subject you love generates the “wordiness.”

Not sure if my PhD was “meaningful” and raising a small child was more important. But it sits on a shelf in my library as an accomplishment.

Roger
Roger
January 28, 2023 2:01 pm

but the electorate isn’t completely bereft of common sense just yet.

You think?

Erm…that’s what I said, based on those figures, yes.

That the Voice is in trouble is another indicator.

As is the fact that while Australians pay lip service to climate worrying they’re not prepared to sacrifice for it. When it begins to really hit the hip pocket they’re going to be very cranky about it.

The locus of political stupidity is urban millenials and their well to do parents, whose voice is magnified on social and mainstream media.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 28, 2023 2:02 pm

Labor/Greens/Teals axis of evil 45% support
Take The Teals out, those are all Liberal Seats, you’ve still got 45%

LNP/PHON/UAP axis of mediocrity 45% support

I’d write off PHON and UAP, and there’s no LNP in Federal Politics.
So, back to 33%.
Labor/Greens are at their upper limit, save massive African Immigration,
While I see a lot of upside for the Non Labor side.
Basically, Scotty was lying every time he opened his mouth.

Now, that’s not insurmountable [if your name’s Bob Hawke], but having a Ministry of Token Women, DeadHeads and Flamers never helps.

Dot
Dot
January 28, 2023 2:03 pm

Small businesses are closing due to lack of staff, not wage levels. Demand is high enough to pay for the workers if they existed.

Okay monty why do we have unemployed?

If you say certain trigger words, like some people are too stupid to have a job and we are better that they are on welfare, you have proven the left is the new hate filled class of upper class twats.

“The wukkas”

Sure buddy. A Ph D in politics.

[The best econ ones were only ~200 pages at most all up and I was proud of my bro in law having only done 30k words in a hard science for his floppy hat].

Makka
Makka
January 28, 2023 2:04 pm

Still shit scared of Abbott, eh mOron? Demolished clown show R-G-R Labor , won a landslide victory for the LNP. No wonder. He’d have Sleazy for breakfast and not even raise a sweat. His only problem was he failed to realise who his real opponents were.

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 2:04 pm

Oh look, Hallward picked up a transcription error and is running with it.

As for calculating rates of return etc, let’s remember you’re living in a shithole town in the middle of nowheresville trying hard to sound relevant and really, really smart. Doesn’t work pal.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
January 28, 2023 2:07 pm

WA Libs face fresh leadership battle
Jenna Clarke
JENNA CLARKE

The beleaguered West Australian Liberal Party is shaping up for a fresh a leadership battle.

Hours after Nationals WA leader Mia Davies announced on Friday that she wouldn’t be contesting the March 2025 state election, deputy Liberal leader Libby Mettam indicated she would challenge Liberal leader David Honey for the top job, calling for a special party-room meeting on Tuesday.

Ms Mettam, a regional MP and one of only two lower house members for the Liberal Party in the state, wrote to Mr Honey advising she wished to contest the top job in a bid to prepare for the next state election in 2025.

“I believe we have not been as effective as we should have been and change is required now to allow the Liberal Party to develop a strong, diverse, connected and competitive team,” Ms Mettam said in a letter to Mr Honey, obtained by The Australian.

“Last night, I advised David Honey and my parliamentary colleagues that I intend to contest the leadership of the parliamentary Liberal Party,” she said on Saturday.

“I have requested that a party-room meeting is called to resolve this matter on Tuesday, January 31.”

Ms Mettam also thanked Mr Honey for his work following the 2021 election – which all but wiped out the Liberals, handing Mark McGowan an overwhelming and historic majority and reducing Liberal seats in the legislative assembly from 13 to just two. Opposition was then handed to the WA Nationals but Nationals leader Mia Davies announced her resignation on Friday.

Dot
Dot
January 28, 2023 2:09 pm

I read a couple of very long theses once over a few weeks. One was 95k words and I am sure the other one was near double that, and I was shocked at the time because I thought there was basically a cap at 100k words.

I felt sorry for them but it was like I got sucked into their suffering and madness.

It was like an immersive Bram Stoker storytelling experience in the charnel house of Count Dracula before his lieutenants had a blood orgy with all of the living and the newly and ancient dead screaming out in horror.

Roger
Roger
January 28, 2023 2:10 pm

Try again, Ed…but this time read for comprehension, eh?

Good lad.

Arky
January 28, 2023 2:13 pm

Interestingly, I know of no one in the non-vaccinated cohort that I know (and I know many) who has had Covid & suffers from “Long Covid”. I also don’t know any of the unvaccinated who has contracted Covid a second time

..
I believe I had Covid in late 2019. It resulted in long term symptoms which I documented on here at the time, including partial loss of sight in one eye in 2020.
I got the omicron in 2022 as well.
This is a good interview that at times covers some of what I am saying too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_1r2VapZCA

Cassie of Sydney
January 28, 2023 2:14 pm

“Speaking of out-of-touch losers, what’s the latest on Abbott getting parachuted back in to Parliament through the Senate?

The only “loser” is you. Go back to reading the Protocols. The news this morning from Jerusalem must have made you happy…seven dead Jews.

Robert Sewell
January 28, 2023 2:14 pm

Facing a constrained budget, he urges business and investors – such as superannuation funds – to work with Labor to help fund the government’s policies on the clean energy transition, boosting affordable housing and the “social purpose” areas of aged care, education and disability.

Translation:
“We’re going to raid the super piggy bank, crack open the champers, and drive the Rolls Royce flat strap into the brick wall. Then we’ll blame ‘Market Failure’ “.

Cassie of Sydney
January 28, 2023 2:15 pm

“The beleaguered West Australian Liberal Party is shaping up for a fresh a leadership battle.”

I thought the Liberal Party in WA was extinct.

Dot
Dot
January 28, 2023 2:17 pm

The point I was making is that Australia’s economic settings assume a high level of inward net migration, and if a lower rate is our future then it is going to upset a lot of applecarts.

CAPITAL ACCUMULATION is what matters you clod.

The total population drives specialisation, you don’t get that gain at the margins.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
January 28, 2023 2:18 pm

callisays:

January 28, 2023 at 10:49 am

Has anyone seen Mater around on the webs? He’s missed.

Using the St Ruth criteria we would assume he has died of the vax.
Or, taking a more rational view, he is maybe giving it a rest for whatever reason.
Or perhaps he has gone Miata rallying with Numbers?

Cassie of Sydney
January 28, 2023 2:19 pm

“Still shit scared of Abbott, eh mOron? Demolished clown show R-G-R Labor , won a landslide victory for the LNP. No wonder. He’d have Sleazy for breakfast and not even raise a sweat. His only problem was he failed to realise who his real opponents were.”

Correct. As JC said earlier, bring him back to be opposition leader and then once an election is won, sack him.

Chris
Chris
January 28, 2023 2:21 pm

I thought the Liberal Party in WA was extinct.

I saw one of the bodies twitch, shoot them again.

johanna
johanna
January 28, 2023 2:28 pm

Interestingly, I know of no one in the non-vaccinated cohort that I know (and I know many) who has had Covid & suffers from “Long Covid”. I also don’t know any of the unvaccinated who has contracted Covid a second time – though, of course, this is possible in spite of the strength of “natural” immunity.

Another anecdote, but zero shots, zero symptoms for me, and I am an old person.

My GP was not at all fazed when I said from the beginning that I wasn’t having the shots (I refuse to call them vaccines). Never mentioned it since.

GPs were faced with being deregistered for going against the grain, but I suspect that there were a lot of them with reservations, including mine.

Going a long way back, I mentioned now reading Clive James’ Unreliable Memoirs, which people had raved about for years. Brilliant, funny, edgy, that kind of thing. I mentioned that lengthy and graphic accounts of his and his mates’ early masturbation episodes were just eeeuuw and hinted that he was creepy at times.

A few defenders appeared, but not many. As one perceptive commenter said, he was perfectly attuned to the UK market. The Great Colonial Intellectual, but ugly and self deprecating with it.

Don’t get me wrong, I like a lot of his later writing, and his death (as was typical, discussed by him in public) was dignified.

But, I get the impression that his whole adult life was a fake, an act.

bons
bons
January 28, 2023 2:29 pm

It would be good to obtain some understanding of what is behind the North Burnett Council shutting down the FTA retransmission tower.
I’ve not been able to find any useful discussion regarding the decision or any reaction to what appears on the surface to be outrageous.
You would inagine that FTA execs would be climbing all over the Bogan Barbie reminding her of who it is that propagates her endless propaganda.
Perhaps there is coverage from another facility but I can’t identify one.

Rockdoctor
Rockdoctor
January 28, 2023 2:29 pm

Chalmers is one of the idiot Swans minions. Says it all.

Cs 137 is very common in my industry. Used in Geophysical logging for density scans. There’s literally kilos of it in small amounts getting about daily on the roads, even in cities with mobs like Construction Sciences or Cardno. Chances are if you see a DG placard with radioactive on a ute it will have Cs 137 on board.

Oh and a logger I once knew reckoned the dose you would get being close to it is smaller than the radiation exposure at 38,000ft for a 2hr flight.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
January 28, 2023 2:30 pm

My DiL is almost finished her Phd and has been frustrated by the Uni because her work has practical outcomes that she has awards for. I can’t say what it is as it would identify her. There is only one other person in Australia that is doing the same work, facing the same problems. Academia doesn’t like measured outcomes.

Chris
Chris
January 28, 2023 2:31 pm

But, I get the impression that his whole adult life was a fake, an act.

Maybe, but could be asserted for many people with a public persona. I liked the line in his book of poems “Sentenced to Life”:

How did my time get so short?

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 28, 2023 2:31 pm

When Bruce Bilson was small business minister he was lobbied to change the rules regarding the old 457 visa.
I’m not sure how many full time employees you need now for the 482, but back then it was 5.
Plus you needed to pay an employer application fee plus an employer annual fee.
He was lobbied so anyone with an ABN could access the program as long a job had been advertised for 3 months and not filled. And the 457 visa applicant was paid award wages.
Apparently he was open to it but then was soundly put in his place by the blob.

C.L.
C.L.
January 28, 2023 2:32 pm

I didn’t know Peter Lloyd was banned but apparently he’s back.
This was his finest moment:

https://twitter.com/RitaPanahi/status/1619161565806346240

Cassie of Sydney
January 28, 2023 2:32 pm

“but the electorate isn’t completely bereft of common sense just yet. “

Maybe not in middle and working class Australia but there is an absence of common sense in the Teal electorates, and I know this because I live in one. I noticed it strongly in the lead up to May last year. It was a Teal cult, full of hysterical females. Grotesque. I still shudder when I think of how, even going to my local IGA I was regularly accosted by female Teals.

The Teal phenomenon was driven by wealthy women, financed by an uber wealthy Svengali male. I think a lot of men who were married or partnered with these women went a long with it for a quiet life. I’m not sure they’d do it again. I’m beginning to think that Wentworth will be won back by the Liberals in 2025.

rickw
rickw
January 28, 2023 2:33 pm

Small businesses are closing due to lack of staff, not wage levels. Demand is high enough to pay for the workers if they existed.

They’re closing after years of Government COVID destruction, and the fact that many potential workers have decided that they prefer sitting around on their arse, to doing pretty much anything else.

Cassie of Sydney
January 28, 2023 2:35 pm

” I’m beginning to think that Wentworth will be won back by the Liberals in 2025.”

But I should add that the Liberals cannot rely on these electorates anymore to win government.

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 28, 2023 2:37 pm

Greens preferences will flow to non-Liberal candidates until Greens start picking off more seats in their own right.
Current demographics pretty much show that is a matter of time.

calli
calli
January 28, 2023 2:38 pm

The train, it can’t stop quickly and is stuck on the rails

Looking closely at the photo, there’s an octagonal sign facing the train. Perhaps the doofi on the tracks imagine it’s for the locomotive and not the oncoming traffic? 😀

On Mater, I seem to remember him talking about relocating out of Victoriastan, which would mean new schools, new house, new jobs. No small thing. I will be patient for news.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 28, 2023 2:38 pm

Typical PhD. Takes 6,000 words to say what could be in less than 1,000.

“Kowtow proles”.
See? I only needed two words.
Hmm, I could economize to one word: “fascism”.
Seems to be the fad this millennium. Chalmers would look good in black and silver.

Zipster
Zipster
January 28, 2023 2:39 pm

US Bills to Make CCP Repay $20.6 Trillion for COVID-19 | China In Focus
00:53 U.S. Bills to Make CCP Repay $20.6 Trillion for COVID-19
02:35 Gallagher Alleges Biden Admin Divided on Threat
03:28 Lawmakers Seek Repeal of Biden Solar Tariff Waiver
05:14 Report: Japan, Netherlands to Join U.S. in Restricting Microchip Equipment Exports to China
06:44 Lawmaker Questions JP Morgan Deal with ByteDance
07:47 Beijing-Sponsored Students Sign Loyalty Pledges Before Going to Study Abroad
12:36 China: Ties with Australia Headed in ‘Right Direction’
14:10 Severe Cold Snap Sweeps Asia

Frank
Frank
January 28, 2023 2:39 pm

He went on to complete a PhD in political science at the Australian National University, writing his doctoral thesis on the prime ministership of Paul Keating,[2][3] titled “Brawler statesman: Paul Keating and prime ministerial leadership in Australia”

A choice of PhD subject sure to ingratiate one with the Labor party hierarchy as an obvious true believer and reliable toady.

What is political science? Is there calculus or chemistry involved?

m0nty
m0nty
January 28, 2023 2:40 pm

Still shit scared of Abbott, eh mOron? Demolished clown show R-G-R Labor , won a landslide victory for the LNP. No wonder. He’d have Sleazy for breakfast and not even raise a sweat. His only problem was he failed to realise who his real opponents were.

Hmm, let’s see:

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has quashed rumours he’ll fill Jim Molan’s Senate seat.

Mr Abbott responded to a campaign for him to fill the vacancy by saying, “it’s not something that I would count on seeing anytime soon.”

He has hinted at a possible return to the lower house, saying he would consider the move if there was “overwhelming support from within the Party”.

Ah yes, the old Peter Costello wheeze. He’ll only deign to grace us with his leadership if he is dragooned into it by a cadre of adoring sycophants. That always works.

Zipster
Zipster
January 28, 2023 2:41 pm

12:36 China: Ties with Australia Headed in ‘Right Direction’

that wong chap can suck a golf ball through a hose

Vicki
Vicki
January 28, 2023 2:45 pm

I believe I had Covid in late 2019. It resulted in long term symptoms which I documented on here at the time, including partial loss of sight in one eye in 2020.

Arky, this is most interesting. As you first contracted Covid in late 2019, you were obviously unvaccinated. And yet you went on to suffer what we now call “Long Covid” for some period. The partial loss of sight in one eye is devastating, and something that I have not heard of re the post viral symptoms. And the subsequent infection with Omicron too, in my experience, is unusual in the unvaccinated.

If only the global medical community had doubled down on independent research in respect to this gain-of-function virus, instead of allowing Big Pharma carte blanche, we might understand a great deal more about this virus & be better prepared for the bio weapons that remain menacingly on the horizon.

Dot
Dot
January 28, 2023 2:46 pm

gain-of-function

Directed evolution

Arky
January 28, 2023 2:46 pm

As you first contracted Covid in late 2019, you were obviously unvaccinated.

..
V.
I remain unvaccinated.

Cassie of Sydney
January 28, 2023 2:47 pm

“Greens preferences will flow to non-Liberal candidates until Greens start picking off more seats in their own right.
Current demographics pretty much show that is a matter of time.”

When Albo vacates Grayndler and Plibbers vacates Sydney, both will fall to the Greens.

Vicki
Vicki
January 28, 2023 2:48 pm

Ah yes, the old Peter Costello wheeze. He’ll only deign to grace us with his leadership if he is dragooned into it by a cadre of adoring sycophants.

I would have walked to hell and back to have had Peter Costello remain in Parliament.

Oh wait. We all ended up there – but Costello had the last laugh.

Robert Sewell
January 28, 2023 2:50 pm

Johanna:

It has the hallmarks of a fightback by certain interests who sense a softening in our attitude to nuclear power, if you ask me.

The argument has validity. Not a huge amount, and probably the real reason is someone has stuffed up somewhere, but the ‘Radioactive source in the community’ angle has been jumped onto very quickly.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 28, 2023 2:51 pm

Cs 137 is very common in my industry. Used in Geophysical logging for density scans.

Interesting stuff. The compound they use is 137 caesium chloride, which glows blue because of its own radiation.

That caused the infamous Goiania accident:

“The Goiania accident was a radioactive contamination accident that occurred on September 13, 1987, in Goiania, Goias, Brazil, after a forgotten radiotherapy source was stolen from an abandoned hospital site in the city. It was subsequently handled by many people, resulting in four deaths.

On September 16, Alves succeeded in puncturing the capsule’s aperture window with a screwdriver, allowing him to see a deep blue light coming from the tiny opening he had created.[1] He inserted the screwdriver and successfully scooped out some of the glowing substance. Thinking it was perhaps a type of gunpowder, he tried to light it, but the powder would not ignite. … On September 18, Alves sold the items to a nearby scrapyard. That night, Devair Alves Ferreira, the owner of the scrapyard, noticed the blue glow from the punctured capsule. Thinking the capsule’s contents were valuable or even supernatural, he immediately brought it into his house. Over the next three days, he invited friends and family to view the strange glowing substance.

On September 21, at the scrapyard, one of Ferreira’s friends (identified as “EF1″ in the IAEA report) succeeded in freeing several rice-sized grains of the glowing material from the capsule using a screwdriver. Ferreira began to share some of them with various friends and family members. … The day before the sale to the third scrapyard, on September 24, Ivo, Devair’s brother, successfully scraped some additional dust out of the source and took it to his house a short distance away. There he spread some of it on the concrete floor. His six-year-old daughter, Leide das Neves Ferreira, later ate an egg while sitting on this floor. She was also fascinated by the blue glow of the powder, applying it to her body and showing it off to her mother. Dust from the powder fell on the egg she was consuming; she eventually absorbed 1.0 GBq and received a total dose of 6.0 Gy, more than a fatal dose even with treatment.”

The poor people had no idea, and thought the old radiotherapy emitter was a nice bit of scrap metal to sell. Then, in dismantling it, they found the crystals of radioactive caesium chloride. Pretty!

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 28, 2023 2:52 pm

In 100 years, the only two federal politicians that will be looked upon favourably will be Keating (for super) & Costello (for the Future Fund).
The rest will be foot notes.

Robert Sewell
January 28, 2023 2:52 pm

Tom:

Jim Chalmers’ national socialist government where the regime intervenes in the economy to instruct business about what needs to be done will have only one result – full-blown fascism.
If you want to know what happens next, read up on 1930s Germany.

Yep. …and the whole scam is so obvious.

m0nty
m0nty
January 28, 2023 2:58 pm

Yep. …and the whole scam is so obvious.

The whining by the right of “this government is so terrible it is going to turn me into a Nazi” is not as convincing as you think it will be.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
January 28, 2023 2:59 pm

Oh and a logger I once knew reckoned the dose you would get being close to it is smaller than the radiation exposure at 38,000ft for a 2hr flight.

And that is before you get to radioactive medical diagnosis tools, microwaves, smoke detectors yada yada yada.

shatterzzz
January 28, 2023 3:03 pm

Priorities, folks, priorities! .. Luigi spent 4 and a half hours all-up in Alice Springs but 6 hours at the tennis yesterday with more visits scheduled …… FFS!

mem
mem
January 28, 2023 3:03 pm

In a seminal 6000-word essay entitled “Capitalism after the Crises” due to be published by The Monthly on Monday, Dr Chalmers said markets were a positive and powerful tool, but had been poorly designed.

Markets in democratic countries were never designed. They evolved, albeit with some intervention at times. Essentially they evolved through the interplay of demand and supply. For Chalmers to talk about markets being poorly designed shows ignorance, or is it deceit aimed at convincing the reader that markets can be designed, followed by conceit that “only he and maximum leader have the foresight to lead our country to the great reset where the markets are perfect and the economy controlled. Communism anybody?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 28, 2023 3:05 pm

The whining by the right of “this government is so terrible it is going to turn me into a Nazi” is not as convincing as you think it will be.

You’re ass backwards again Monty. Maybe you should view the vid.
The government are the ones who’re turning into Nazis, or at least fascists.
As is clear from history: fascism is totalitarian socialism allied with big business.
Looks like we’re about to get exactly that. Don’t you just love lefties? They never learn.

Chris
Chris
January 28, 2023 3:05 pm

Shoot them again.

Just trying to remember what it was the Libs did that made me switch to vote, donate and volunteer Labor.
Ohhh that’s right. Not the guns, but Trumble.
And after Bernardi and his lot… FMD, is no-one worth spit in that party? The remaining Lib ought to have something, but so far I haven’t seen him distinguished from Trumble in his words, and as for his actions… are there any?

Dot
Dot
January 28, 2023 3:06 pm

m0nty says:
January 28, 2023 at 2:58 pm

Yep. …and the whole scam is so obvious.

The whining by the right of “this government is so terrible it is going to turn me into a Nazi” is not as convincing as you think it will be.

They’re all fascist monty. What we demand is some well earned restraint.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
January 28, 2023 3:06 pm

C.L.says:

January 28, 2023 at 2:32 pm

I didn’t know Peter Lloyd was banned but apparently he’s back.
This was his finest moment:

Bewdiful!
Mainly because of his broad grin as the headless chook feminazi goes right on to prove his point.

Dot
Dot
January 28, 2023 3:07 pm

mem says:
January 28, 2023 at 3:03 pm

In a seminal 6000-word essay entitled “Capitalism after the Crises” due to be published by The Monthly on Monday, Dr Chalmers said markets were a positive and powerful tool, but had been poorly designed.

Markets in democratic countries were never designed. They evolved, albeit with some intervention at times. Essentially they evolved through the interplay of demand and supply. For Chalmers to talk about markets being poorly designed shows ignorance, or is it deceit aimed at convincing the reader that markets can be designed, followed by conceit that “only he and maximum leader have the foresight to lead our country to the great reset where the markets are perfect and the economy controlled. Communism anybody?

Very well put. Chalmers doesn’t understand what a market is. They’re not really a mechanism.

They’re a process.

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 28, 2023 3:08 pm

m0ntysays:
January 28, 2023 at 12:36 pm
He’s part of a government that won around 32% of the primary vote!

The Libs need about 45% primary to win in the current environment, where so many minor-party preferences flow back to Labor. They’re almost ten points behind that federally. They are the ones who should be more worried about primaries.

The resident wrongologist has spoken.

Libs for the win nextelection.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
January 28, 2023 3:10 pm

Very well put. Chalmers doesn’t understand what a market is. They’re not really a mechanism.

They’re a process.

Correct.
Talking about “the design of markets” is to misunderstand the organic nature of a true market.

m0nty
m0nty
January 28, 2023 3:15 pm

The government are the ones who’re turning into Nazis, or at least fascists.
As is clear from history: fascism is totalitarian socialism allied with big business.

The first argument made by the actual Nazis was that their opponents were all communists. The second argument was that their opponents were the totalitarians, not them. Sound familiar?

Godwin’s Law exists for a reason, and that is because invoking Nazis quickly degenerates any online discussion and almost invariably leads to misuse of the analogy.

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 28, 2023 3:16 pm

Ed Casesays:
January 28, 2023 at 1:05 pm
Googleory, there’s not a rabbit hole you won’t sniff on your way to the bottom of the barrel.

Not 100% sure where you’re coming from there, old fella, so i’ll clarify that I was referring to Joe Bugner, not Albanese.

Richard Cranium

Forget about that, have you yet worked out which Kermit Roosevelt was the son of Teddy, and which was the grandson?

JC
JC
January 28, 2023 3:16 pm

Very well put. Chalmers doesn’t understand what a market is.

Chalmers is just Shane Wand with massive ears.

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 28, 2023 3:21 pm

The Wrongologist

Germany also managed a massive immigration surge starting in 2015, and now has more than a million asylum seekers from Syria and such places integrated into its economy.

First, that was the beginning of the end for Mutti Merkel.

Second, “integrated into its economy” is a strange way to spell “mostly on welfare”.

Bluey
Bluey
January 28, 2023 3:23 pm

Boambee Johnsays:
January 28, 2023 at 3:21 pm
The Wrongologist

Germany also managed a massive immigration surge starting in 2015, and now has more than a million asylum seekers from Syria and such places integrated into its economy.

First, that was the beginning of the end for Mutti Merkel.

Second, “integrated into its economy” is a strange way to spell “mostly on welfare”.

Don’t forget criminal.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Cassie of Sydney says: January 28, 2023 at 12:47 pm
I bet that teenager is white and working class. No “mental illness” for him.

The only clue provided is the teenager’s name: Daniel Harris.

Tom
Tom
January 28, 2023 3:26 pm

Academia doesn’t like measured outcomes.

Correct.

Since the turn of the century, the dregs of academia left in tenured position have judged their entire output on its ideological impact on society and its potential for radical change — nothing to do with any old-fashioned concept of science, objective truth and testable falsifiability.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 28, 2023 3:27 pm

The first argument made by the actual Nazis was that their opponents were all communists.

Truth. Fascists and communists fought each other all over Europe.
Fratricidal lefties.

The only thing they really disagreed about is whether to allow big business to operate or to nationalize it. The proles didn’t get a say. It’s interesting that we’re seeing a momentum towards fascism from the EU, the Democrats, China, Canada and here in Australia. The elites know what’s best for the proles. Eat the damn bugs Monty.

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 28, 2023 3:27 pm

JC

Doofus, pre-covid we were allowing in around 250,000 people a year. That’s .01% of the population.

The famous German move to allow 1 million refs into Germany wasn’t as big deal as you think it was.

1,000,000/80,000,000 is .0125%, which was just a wiggle more than our annual rate. Germany’s was a one time thing. Remain silent please.

Both of your percentages are out by the same amount, so your point stands.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 28, 2023 3:32 pm

Forget about that, have you yet worked out which Kermit Roosevelt was the son of Teddy, and which was the grandson?

You googled Joe Bugner, didn’t you?
Sucked in again.

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 28, 2023 3:33 pm

The new, “angry meatsuit” m0nty=fa is more voluble, but just as unintelligent.

No wonder he failed Economics 1.

  1. https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB1new6U.img?w=32&h=32&q=60&m=6&f=png&u=t Daily Mail John Deere faces farmer boycott after laying off 2,100 US workers while moving work to Mexico

  2. Plus infinity KD. Vic Pol if want some support for their wage rise demand, from family there’s none ATM from…

  3. I strongly suspect that if Israel was annihilated the Disrupt Wars people (probably Marxists) would dance on its grave.

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