Val Noone
Bruce Haig
You won't find anything like either of these articles anywhere in the mainstream media for the simple reason that they are mythbustingly antimilitaristic and would be lambasted and discredited as unpatriotic. They both make valid points though.
I remember catching something about all this in high school but Val Noone brings it all back. OK, sure, it was just another trade war, but it was a trade war between world straddling empires, and everything began to change until the second part of it finished the job. It was always going to be messy, costly, and deadly, and as such must be remembered so that it can never happen again.
As to the supposed need for a nation to have a creation myth, we live in a time of internationalism. As noted previously on this blog, labour, the third factor of production, is finally internationalising, and this should herald the advent of the Keynesian/capitalist utopia and world government.
Indeed, one point of contrast between the first decades of the 20th and 21st centuries is the dominance of nationalist thought in the former and internationalist thought in the latter.
The Bruce Haig piece is a little harsh on our Bill Shorten. Bill hasn't shown his hand yet, and you won't see it until the coming election, but as I have said on theses pages. We are crying out for the imposition of a true leader, and we await his or her arrival.
With bated breath I might add.
Saturday, 25 April 2015
Friday, 24 April 2015
Friar Tuck, The Robbing Hood and Barnie Rubble
Tim Dunlop
And Again
GoooooooTimDunlop
Tim Dunlop for PM now.
I'll print the bumper stickers, you start the campaign.
"on the way to becoming a police state"?
Depending on debatable definitions we may already be living on a police state.
This incompetent government will eventually pass, but unfortunately we must keep our cringe meter to the fore and tolerate these buffoons for now. Friar Tuck, The Robbing Hood, and now Barnie Rubble and his mining mates will continue to make a mess of everything, stealing the common good, and enriching the already rich, but there will be an eventual reckoning with the electorate, and a change of government, where hopefully a capable operator is installed.
We in the West were hoodwinked into electing Barnie Rubble, bequeathing him a state debt of three billion dollars in the midst of the most spectacular mining boom yet seen. After six and a half years the boom has turned to bust - as all booms eventually do - and the state debt has been ramped up to $ 30 BILLION. Yes folks that is a tenfold increase of the state debt in the space of 6 & 1/2 years. Six and a half of the richest years in the state's history, with royalties and revenues through the roof, and the mining companies ripping out and exporting untold riches which are gone for ever, these caricatures managed to debase the state's credit rating, increase the state debt tenfold and also actively prevent all of us from ever seeing a red cent for all of the riches-now-gone-for-ever, by preventing a tax being imposed on the mining companies.
It is economic common sense that you save during the good times, putting some money away in expectation of the turning. The Times have now turned Barnie and you manage the situation by crawling, cap in hand, to Canberra, with the other hand out in supplication begging for more revenue to squander.
Once the political times turn who ever wins will be hamstrung to implement any policy by the extreme scarcity of capital with which to do so. The choice will be to wait and save up for it, or acquire more debt with which to implement the policies in their first term.
The behaviour of these non-governments borders on criminal negligence and our system is set up to reward them for it.
And Again
GoooooooTimDunlop
Tim Dunlop for PM now.
I'll print the bumper stickers, you start the campaign.
"on the way to becoming a police state"?
Depending on debatable definitions we may already be living on a police state.
This incompetent government will eventually pass, but unfortunately we must keep our cringe meter to the fore and tolerate these buffoons for now. Friar Tuck, The Robbing Hood, and now Barnie Rubble and his mining mates will continue to make a mess of everything, stealing the common good, and enriching the already rich, but there will be an eventual reckoning with the electorate, and a change of government, where hopefully a capable operator is installed.
We in the West were hoodwinked into electing Barnie Rubble, bequeathing him a state debt of three billion dollars in the midst of the most spectacular mining boom yet seen. After six and a half years the boom has turned to bust - as all booms eventually do - and the state debt has been ramped up to $ 30 BILLION. Yes folks that is a tenfold increase of the state debt in the space of 6 & 1/2 years. Six and a half of the richest years in the state's history, with royalties and revenues through the roof, and the mining companies ripping out and exporting untold riches which are gone for ever, these caricatures managed to debase the state's credit rating, increase the state debt tenfold and also actively prevent all of us from ever seeing a red cent for all of the riches-now-gone-for-ever, by preventing a tax being imposed on the mining companies.
It is economic common sense that you save during the good times, putting some money away in expectation of the turning. The Times have now turned Barnie and you manage the situation by crawling, cap in hand, to Canberra, with the other hand out in supplication begging for more revenue to squander.
Once the political times turn who ever wins will be hamstrung to implement any policy by the extreme scarcity of capital with which to do so. The choice will be to wait and save up for it, or acquire more debt with which to implement the policies in their first term.
The behaviour of these non-governments borders on criminal negligence and our system is set up to reward them for it.
Thursday, 23 April 2015
The Internationalisation of the Final Factor of Production
Jeff Sparrow
As usual, Jeff Sparrow contributes entertaining insight.
We are witnessing the final spurt to the Keynesian/Capitalist utopia where all material needs and many wants are available and accessible to everyone.
Financial capital has been moving across borders for centuries leading to the creation of multinational conglomerates of capital, which even threaten to displace nation/states as the ultimate source of sovereignty.
In the centuries-long conflict between human and financial capital the human element is now expressing itself in the demographic pressure across the edges of nations. Land borders are not defendable and sea borders lead to this sort of thing.
This is the beginning of a transition to world government and the Keynesian capitalist utopia.
As usual, Jeff Sparrow contributes entertaining insight.
We are witnessing the final spurt to the Keynesian/Capitalist utopia where all material needs and many wants are available and accessible to everyone.
Financial capital has been moving across borders for centuries leading to the creation of multinational conglomerates of capital, which even threaten to displace nation/states as the ultimate source of sovereignty.
In the centuries-long conflict between human and financial capital the human element is now expressing itself in the demographic pressure across the edges of nations. Land borders are not defendable and sea borders lead to this sort of thing.
This is the beginning of a transition to world government and the Keynesian capitalist utopia.
Of Political Leopards and Spots
Lewis and Woods
"Favouring the rich" is what conservative governments do. I know these guys are telephone pollsters but seriously, what else could anyone possibly have expected, knowing the colour of these guys' political stripes.
At the time of the last election I naively thought that the electorate was too intelligent to fall for the rhetoric of the LNP. I mean, OK the infighting and backstabbing of the ALP was pretty bad, to put it mildly, but the Gillard government had, what I thought was a good track record of consensus-driven progressive legislation even though a lot of it possibly was not progressive enough for my liking. Sure, the shock jocks were ranting against her, but really, that is what shock jocks do. Little did I know.
Superficially, these rantings were the misogynistic ravings of an alcohol affected boys club. Surely the electorate wasn't like that. No but it wouldn't tolerate disunity.
I suppose one could say that it has been interesting to watch all of this unfold. I might further characterise it as disheartening, even depressing, but the basic fact remains that the LNP never altered its stance one whit on any issue. Political leopards never change their spots.
Most of the commentariot has said that the change back to Rudd saved the ALP from annihilation but really the infliction of this non-government on us was a punishment for disunity and I think it possible, if not likely, that Julia Gillard may have beaten Friar Tuck in a fair fight.
We will never know, but this all speaks to the self-imposition of topical myopathy by voters, and the media is largely to blame. Yes it is the media which insists on a 24-hour news cycle, the reduction of every issue to a sequence of sound bytes on the television and the obfuscation of reality with white noise. No one forces them to. To write it off as simply an unavoidable byproduct of advances in IT is incorrect.
But that can wait for another post.
"Favouring the rich" is what conservative governments do. I know these guys are telephone pollsters but seriously, what else could anyone possibly have expected, knowing the colour of these guys' political stripes.
At the time of the last election I naively thought that the electorate was too intelligent to fall for the rhetoric of the LNP. I mean, OK the infighting and backstabbing of the ALP was pretty bad, to put it mildly, but the Gillard government had, what I thought was a good track record of consensus-driven progressive legislation even though a lot of it possibly was not progressive enough for my liking. Sure, the shock jocks were ranting against her, but really, that is what shock jocks do. Little did I know.
Superficially, these rantings were the misogynistic ravings of an alcohol affected boys club. Surely the electorate wasn't like that. No but it wouldn't tolerate disunity.
I suppose one could say that it has been interesting to watch all of this unfold. I might further characterise it as disheartening, even depressing, but the basic fact remains that the LNP never altered its stance one whit on any issue. Political leopards never change their spots.
Most of the commentariot has said that the change back to Rudd saved the ALP from annihilation but really the infliction of this non-government on us was a punishment for disunity and I think it possible, if not likely, that Julia Gillard may have beaten Friar Tuck in a fair fight.
We will never know, but this all speaks to the self-imposition of topical myopathy by voters, and the media is largely to blame. Yes it is the media which insists on a 24-hour news cycle, the reduction of every issue to a sequence of sound bytes on the television and the obfuscation of reality with white noise. No one forces them to. To write it off as simply an unavoidable byproduct of advances in IT is incorrect.
But that can wait for another post.
Sunday, 19 April 2015
Stealing the Common Good
Paul Krugman
"Elections determine who has the power, not who has the truth"
You Can't argue with the truth of this statement, but this presupposes that there is only one truth: the truth. We all like to believe in a world of absolutes where such a thing exists, yet we delve into the media, innocently believing that we will be enlightened with it, but are hoodwinked not believing in myths.
"A better, more democratic answer would be to seek a better-informed electorate. One really striking thing about the British economic debate is the contrast between what passes for economic analysis in the news media — even in high-end newspapers and on elite-oriented TV shows — and the consensus of professional economists. News reports often portray recent growth as a vindication of austerity policies, but surveys of economists find only a small minority agreeing with that assertion. Claims that budget deficits are the most important issue facing Britain are made as if they were simple assertions of fact, when they are actually contentious, if not foolish."
Public education is a good topic. Conservative political elites who have gained power through devious means such as these are notorious for having as one of their core beliefs, the debasement of public education to produce a more malleable electorate, more easily fooled into electing incompetent assholes who are good for nothing but stealing the common good.
Briefly reported in the media this week was an Australian professor of economics displayed on tv saying words to the effect that the only good tax reform would be an increase or expansion of the GET.
This is so breathtakingly ignorant it beggars belief, yet it stemmed from the mouth of a teacher of economics at the highest level.
That is all for now. Read this article. It is a good one.
"Elections determine who has the power, not who has the truth"
You Can't argue with the truth of this statement, but this presupposes that there is only one truth: the truth. We all like to believe in a world of absolutes where such a thing exists, yet we delve into the media, innocently believing that we will be enlightened with it, but are hoodwinked not believing in myths.
"A better, more democratic answer would be to seek a better-informed electorate. One really striking thing about the British economic debate is the contrast between what passes for economic analysis in the news media — even in high-end newspapers and on elite-oriented TV shows — and the consensus of professional economists. News reports often portray recent growth as a vindication of austerity policies, but surveys of economists find only a small minority agreeing with that assertion. Claims that budget deficits are the most important issue facing Britain are made as if they were simple assertions of fact, when they are actually contentious, if not foolish."
Public education is a good topic. Conservative political elites who have gained power through devious means such as these are notorious for having as one of their core beliefs, the debasement of public education to produce a more malleable electorate, more easily fooled into electing incompetent assholes who are good for nothing but stealing the common good.
Briefly reported in the media this week was an Australian professor of economics displayed on tv saying words to the effect that the only good tax reform would be an increase or expansion of the GET.
This is so breathtakingly ignorant it beggars belief, yet it stemmed from the mouth of a teacher of economics at the highest level.
That is all for now. Read this article. It is a good one.
Saturday, 18 April 2015
What a Good Turn of Phrase
Darrin Barnett
"But with polls out this week confirming Abbot and Hockey are doing laps of the toilet bowl, waiting for someone to push the flush button, Morrison might be singing to a different audience."
Need I say more?
Friday, 17 April 2015
My Cringe Metre Has Settled Down Now
Greg Jericho
Well written Grog.
Barnie Rubble, our fearless leader here in the West, continues to show his true colours: blue LNP as you would expect.
After declaring bankruptcy so I could afford my anticringe medication, I nonetheless tried to be admitted to our fabulously expensive Fiona Stanley Hospital due to complications caused by my catching a glimpse of him on the news, only to find that the management contractor forgot to hire the specialist.
Well written Grog.
Barnie Rubble, our fearless leader here in the West, continues to show his true colours: blue LNP as you would expect.
After declaring bankruptcy so I could afford my anticringe medication, I nonetheless tried to be admitted to our fabulously expensive Fiona Stanley Hospital due to complications caused by my catching a glimpse of him on the news, only to find that the management contractor forgot to hire the specialist.
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