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
Is Barnaby’s career done and dusted?
As we all know, Federal politicians spend nearly half their lives away from home. It can be a lonely life, we know that too. But should we cut them any slack because of it?
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
Time is running out, Malcolm
Malcolm Turnbull just doesn’t get it. Or, perhaps he does, and he is hoping against the odds that the situation will improve by the time he finds himself forced to call an early election.
The problem is wages growth, or more particularly, the lack of it. He has been trumpeting the success of his government’s ‘jobs and growth’ platform now for months, citing the creation of 377,000 jobs in 2017 as evidence of that success.
Read more at: The Australian Independent Media Network
A Politician’s Guide to telling the truth about taxation
Following an interview with an unusually frank and forthright politician, a journalist was struggling to absorb the reality that taxes don’t fund government spending. He was, however, still conscious enough to ask the next obvious question: if taxes don’t fund spending, why do governments tax?
The next day, while still trying to grasp how sovereign monetary governments pay for things, he returned to continue the interview. While it was questionable as to whether he was mentally ready to learn the truth about why governments tax people, he did have a deadline to meet.
read more at: The Australian Independent Media Network
A Politician’s guide to the question, “How are you going to pay for it?”
If there’s one question a politician fears being asked, it is this one. After announcing a decision to undertake a bold new and expensive development project, the question always arises, “How are you going to pay for it?”
It shouldn’t be a horror moment for politicians, but it is, and the reason is simple. They are afraid to be caught out. Such is the millstone they have tied themselves to, over the years, trying to discredit their opposition, or portray themselves as fiscally responsible. In the process, they have shot themselves in the foot because they don’t understand how sovereign money works.
Read more at: The Australian Independent media Network
House of Cards
A quite lengthy article published back in November last year by Matt Barrie and Craig Tindale on Medium.com entitled, “Australia’s economy is a House of Cards”, gives us a comprehensive view of where the Australian economy is at present.
What is revealed should shake Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison out of their overly optimistic complacency, but as unlikely as that is, the report warns of what is to come. It is a long and highly detailed read, so for those who are time-poor, here is an overview…
Read more at: The Australian Independent Media Network
John Kelly