“It’s often been observed that the first casualty of war is the truth. But that’s a lie, too, in its way. The reality is that, for most wars to begin, the truth has to have been sacrificed a long time in advance.” – L. Neil Smith A lie of omission occurs when an important fact…
Source: Anatomy of a lie: Justifying the unthinkable. – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Imagine a world where Australia produces little goods and services that may be taxed, and at the same time, loses out on billions of dollars of mining company revenue to China and India.
Source: The next phase of Australia’s diminishing tax base? Losing billions in revenue to China and India
Data costs in Australia are 17 times those of Europe, making them worse than Africa and the same as South America, because the two providers have too much market power.
On any conventional reading, Australia’s economic development has gone backwards and is too reliant on shipping iron ore to China. This at a time when the Middle Kingdom’s debt bomb is set to detonate.
Source: We’ve left ourselves hopelessly exposed to China – The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Australians are now poorer, in greater debt and with fewer job prospects — Alan Austin analyses Australia’s miserable economic trajectory under the Abbott-Turnbull Government.
Source: Dismal economic news through May
To all the conservatives who decry debt and taxes and laud mother England, you might be surprised to hear that it was big spending that kept the French at bay all those years ago and allowed the Brits to settle in Australia.
Tuesday’s federal budget may well irrevocably damage its attractions as a retirement savings vehicle for many Australians.
By Mark Clifford A picture tells a thousand words, so I’ll let the attached graph do all the talking. Briefly, the graph is based on ABS data on ‘hours worked in Australia’ from the first day of the Rudd term and up to March 2016. It clearly indicates that the demise of the Australian economy…
Source: Who’s to blame for demise of the Australian economy – » The Australian Independent Media Network
OPINION: The party of safe economic hands? Not so much. It’s time to blow this hard-to-kill myth out of the water, writes Costa Avgoustinos. 1) Bad Social Values Mean Bad Economic Decisions Like everyone, the Liberals’ economic decisions are tied to their social values. And they make bad economic decisions because of that. They seeMore
Source: Five Reasons The Myth About Liberals Running The Economy Best Must Die – New Matilda
Here are four reasons not to worry about our foreign debt.
Source: ‘We’re going to need a bigger truck’: Australia’s foreign debt tops $1 trillion
Forget the Australian dream, we just want to ‘get ahead’ now – with negative gearing.
Source: Negative gearing: we’re becoming a nation of landlords and serfs
It has become accepted wisdom in political circles that income taxes should be cut, but the truth is there isn’t really an economic case to be made for such a move.
Source: No, we don’t need income tax cuts – The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
The latest national accounts figures for the December quarter, as boring as they may be to some, caused the Treasurer, Scott Morrison to be upbeat about the direction the Australian economy is heading. He is being premature. Trying to gloss over a disturbing trend by remarking on how much better we are performing above the…
Source: Morrison misreads the state of the Economy – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The legalization of cannabis debate has been renewed in Australia after new laws were introduced this week, making cannabis legal for the treatment of medical illness’. Now, a crossbench senator has announced in Canberra, that to legalize marijuana use for everyone would see a massive …
Source: Australian Govt. Financial Woes: Legalize Cannabis and Tax It; 300M Surplus AnonHQ
In politics today, there is too much misinformation associated with economics and too many opportunities for politicians to hoodwink people into believing something because it sounds right, rather than something else, which is right. If people understood the principle of the three sectoral balances, which is an accounting principle not a matter of opinion, they would…
Source: Government Surpluses Threaten Consumers’ Savings. – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Negative gearing is a deeply flawed policy, because – amongst other things – it encourages risky debt driven speculation in an already overheated market.
Source: The truth about negative gearing
Things may be gloomy in other countries, and even in parts of our own economy, but there’s one aspect of Australian life where everything’s on the up: we’re enjoying a sustained prison boom.
After several interest rate reductions over the past two years, a tool used by the Reserve Bank to stimulate activity, not much has happened. Business has not been prompted to invest and consumer spending is flat. So one might well ask, what’s going on behind the scenes? One would think that with interest rates so…
Source: We are Governed by Idiots. – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Thursday 21 January 2016 1 The growing curse of inequality. Did you know that 10 per cent of Australians now hold more wealth than the other 90 per cent combined? Let me put it another way. The richest one per cent of Australians are collectively wealthier than the poorest 60 per cent. Or try this…
Source: Day to Day Politics ‘That’s a bit Rich Mate’ – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The Australian Government faces a crisis of their (and past governments’) own making. Ian McAuley explains.
Source: Australian Government Revenue Slides, But Our Spending Rages On – New Matilda
Over the last two years, while our GDP has risen by about five per cent, our GNI has not risen at all. Therefore, on a per-capita basis, our income has been falling. In fact it has been falling for about the last four years, the same period as our household savings have been running down. The graph below is one you are unlikely to find in any of Morrison’s press releases.
Source: Despite Morrison’s Rhetoric, The Economy Is Still Shackled By Abbott’s Failed Agenda – New Matilda
Left unchecked, extraordinarily generous concessions on superannuation will land our tax system in danger.
Source: Scott Morrison will no longer be able to claim there’s no revenue problem
Former Greek finance minister warns Australia has ‘false sense of well-being’ and needs to change direction to avert crisis
Once a nation of homeowners, we are becoming a nation of renters.
Source: No longer a nation of home owners, now we’re renting
Joe Hockey recently said it was only clowns out there talking about recession. Well, with falling commodity prices, slow wage growth and a looming housing bubble, I’m ready to join the circus.
It leaves Adani without an approval for the biggest coal mine in Australia, no approval for dredging in Great Barrier Reef waters, and no investors in sight.
Thank you to everyone who chipped in. And thank you to the incredible Mackay Conservation Group who ran the case.
We’ve just won a huge battle, but the war’s not over yet. The law states Minister Hunt must now reconsider the mine, and either grant a new approval or reject it forever. Can you spread the incredible news and tell Greg Hunt MP to reject the mine forever?
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull calls a snap summit of Australian business leaders to discuss the nation’s economic future.
This week’s mini-summit will come to nothing if it fails to address Australia’s shortfall in public revenue.Australia has a problem with budget deficits, and a consequent steady accumulation of government debt.
The Treasurer must accept we have a revenue problem as well as a spending problem.
The free trade deal is now about jobs, except the government has got the number all wrong.
Source: How many jobs? The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement will create hardly any
Like the old black and whites chronicling the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the bellicose arguments for and against the China-Australia free trade agreement do not yet connect.
One sign that the government is losing ground publicly is that it has suddenly stopped using the term “free trade agreement”. Focus groups perhaps? (The government is approaching the issue as if they were selling a Mars Bar.)
Is it fine for inequality to increase as long as everyone’s incomes rise? That worked OK in the boom but now the richest households are pulling away
The aims behind forcing car makers to close were superficial, and the ramifications will be dreadful.
Australia’s trade position has collapsed dramatically with the June quarter current account deficit blowing out 41 per cent to $19 billion.
olddogthoughts 
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