Like Spoilt Little Brats

It was not paranoia, it was real. The past three weeks saw our supposed free press, our once proud doyens of truth and justice forsake their role and barrage us with a one-sided attack on Bill Shorten, in a manner not seen since their failed attempt to hang draw and quarter him during the Trade Union Royal Commission.

Read more at: The Australian Independent media Network

WEALTH AND POWER KEEP ON WINNING

As a committed advocate of Modern Monetary Theory and one who thinks it should be renamed, Modern Monetary System, for reasons I will explain, there have been occasions when I have felt a sense of futility, trying to explain something so simple, but finding myself unable to convince even those who should know better.
Firstly, MMT should be referred to as MMS because it is no longer a theory. It is the way our fiat economy was set up to operate and does operate today. Its implementation took place in 1983 and the fact that it has never been used as it was intended, does not mean it is theoretical.

Read more at: The Australian Independent Media Network

Rubbery Figures in the Budget

Regardless of how Treasurer Scott Morrison might try to sugar-quote the numbers with his breathtaking rhetoric, be assured at least some of his forward projections are based, not on hard numbers, but on aspirational and ambitious expectations.

Read more at: The Australian Independent Media Network

Are You Feeling Lucky, Malcolm?

My question is directed to the Prime Minister. Your treasurer has just brought down your 2018/19 budget laced with tax cuts to woo the low paid. Some of it will be delivered in a year’s time when everyone files their tax return. The rest over the next seven years.

Read more at: The Australian Independent Media Network

The Hypocrisy is Mind-Blowing

It’s hard to recall the last time we saw Barrie Cassidy take a blowtorch to a government minister on Insiders, but that’s what happened this morning.
And it was obvious that his target, Kelly O Dwyer, never saw it coming, either.

The first thought that came to mind while watching the interview was, can you believe the hypocrisy? After calling Bill Shorten’s announcement in 2016 that Labor would set up a royal commission into the financial services industry, reckless and ill-conceived, very dangerous, and bad for the economy, here she was trying to take credit for this week’s revelations.

Read more at: The Australian Independent Media Network

Why a Universal Basic Income is a very bad idea

Economists tell us it could replace all government spending on welfare, as well as housing, health and education. Even if that were true (it isn’t), it would still be a very bad idea.

Read more at: The Australian Independent Media Network

Shorten smells blood

Bill Shorten can smell blood and is becoming bolder by the week. His announcement last week that the cash payments tied to the dividend imputation scheme would end, was just the beginning.

Read more at: The Australian Independent Media Network

Shorten draws a line in the sand

Bill Shorten and the Labor party are beginning to demonstrate true grit. The latest policy announcement that will see an end to a welfare handout to the rich, otherwise known as the Dividend Imputation Scheme M2, is a masterstroke.

Read more at: The Australian Independent Media Network

The Myth of the 2020/21 Surplus

Scott Morrison’s belief that he will be able to produce a surplus budget by 2020/21 is either a pipe dream or a con-trick. It is simply not achievable.
And, to our collective relief, it is ignorance rather than good management, that will ensure it doesn’t happen. Notwithstanding the fact that a surplus budget is the last thing our economy needs now or then, it is government policy that will stop it from happening.

Read more at: The Australian Independent Media Network

The Stock Market … better it never existed

Are we witnessing the end of the surge on Wall St? Or is, what we witnessed this week, no more than a minor correction? The current roller coaster ride on the NYSE and other world markets including Australia, demonstrates just how much of a casino these places are.

Read more at: The Australian Independent Media Network