A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Gummo Trotsky, Amanda Rose, Tim Sterne, Stephen Hill and Saint. Politics Australian Petering Time is listening to Kevin and hearing a dog-whistle . Despite the end...
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Paradox one Over the very time we were clearing away the detritus of the various collectivist institutions we cobbled together under the name of the Australian Settlement, or 'protection all round', while we proceeded with economic reform by deregulating markets to try to opti...
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Courtesy of Clive Crook , here's a fascinating chart on skills development across OECD countries. The graph shows the proportion of the labour force with at least a college degree, by age group, for OECD countries. The bigger the span of the vertical lines, the more younger ge...
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Hillary Clinton is a strange female politician. Politicians have to play to their strengths, and some of those are gendered. I argued in this post that it would surely be very difficult for Hillary Clinton to win by being aggressive. I think that's a taboo with women politicia...
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Here's an example, but there's a whole gallery of pretty amazing landscape's here . Not bad for an (excellent) economic journalist.
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They're all off to America and the UK .
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Gummo Trotsky, Amanda Rose, Tim Sterne, Stephen Hill and Saint. Politics Australian Derek Barry is unimpressed by the gimmickry of Earth Hour . Apathetic Sarah was...
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Gummo Trotsky, Amanda Rose, Tim Sterne, Stephen Hill and Saint. Politics Australian Gary Sauer-Thompson is skeptical about whether co-operative federalism will imp...
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A few years ago I sponsored a bunch of Afghani kids on a soccer playing tour of Queensland and NSW. It was a privilege to meet some of the kids. I expected to find kids who'd grown up in a peasant culture, who would not be particularly interested in education. One tends to thi...
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In the furore that has broken out over Chinas crackdown in Tibet, Ive been surprised that so little has been said about President Hu Jintaos previous administration of Tibet as a rising communist party cadre. After all, it was Hus iron fisted handling of the last riot in Tibet...
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For rugby fans who've been watching with increasingly frustrated bemusement Ewen McKenzie's bizarre coaching of the NSW Waratahs to play stereotypical 10 man rugby despite boasting one of the most potent backlines in the Super 14 and despite the fact that the Crusaders and eve...
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Gummo Trotsky, Amanda Rose, Tim Sterne, Stephen Hill and Saint. Politics Australian Lewis Holden relays suggestions of incrementally enacting a Clayton's Republic,...
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For some reason, Saint decided to include an anti-global warming rant in today's Missing Link . It's part of an "interview" between warming denialist Institute of Public Affairs shill/ scientist Jennifer Marohasy and denialist pundit Michael Duffy: Duffy asked Marohasy: Is the...
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Gummo Trotsky, Amanda Rose, Tim Sterne, Stephen Hill and Saint. Politics Australian RWDB JF Beck thinks this Guardian photo is typically misleading greenie propaga...
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Steve Randy Waldman's blog interfluidity is a good read. He's a knowledgeable fellow with a penchant for trying to work things out from first principles. He's good to read on what's wrong with hedge funds and much else besides in modern financial markets. Here's a parable of h...
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A fascinating review of Craig Venter's autobiography . Naturally I'm sympathetic to this guy who looks like he values scientific creativity and achievement above other things, and will improvise through the miasma of institutions that exist to further science to get what he's...
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I'm pleased to see that the apparent suicide death of the hideously disfigured and terminally ill Chantal Sebire seems to have reopened the debate about euthanasia in Europe. Pity the same isn't true here in Australia. Apparently her pain couldn't be reduced even with morphine...
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This post began as a comment on my previous Obama post which consisted of a trivial post by me followed by some great content from commenters. I was thanking Tim Lambert for his comments and the links he provided - to Charles Murray of all people, but it all got away from me s...
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Amazing what creatures of habit we are, and how powerful curiosity is. I was on Brad DeLong's Feedblitz email drip for a year or so and typically checked out the daily email's contents, and then followed up if there were items of interest. I took myself off it and didn't repla...
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James Farrell needs to take a break from Missing Link editing for a few months for work reasons. As a result, we need a replacement member of the Missing Link team, to cover his half of the "lefty" blogs. That involves reviewing articles from around 30 or so left-leaning blogs...
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If you haven't seen or read Obama's speech on the Reverend White, you should. Or if you're stretched for time, Clive Crook edits it down to the best bits - which are still pretty extensive. He really isn't just a pretty face.
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I missed this program on the ABC but I recommend it highly. Paul Woodley is a guy with a good grasp of economic theory who's spent a lot of time in the markets and has come to the simple conclusion that financial markets seem to be dysfunctional. He's presumably made a packet...
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Everyone knows by the now that Bear Stearns the venerable, bulge bracket, but not white shoe Wall Street firm basically went under earlier this week. For those who prefer a more redistribution leaning economic system you love this story. When Wall Street goes into redistributi...
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There's been something of a libertarian theme at Club Troppo this week, what with Fred Argy's rather unlikely characterisation of Kevin Rudd as a libertarian on any topic other than shameless self-promotion, and my snarky comment about libertarians' self-confessed lack of attr...
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Read this piece and cry. Steketee
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Darlene Taylor and Saint. Politics Australian Andrew Bartlett puts the case for a "peoples' boycott" of the Beijing Olympics . It's a brave stance for a politician...
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Darlene Taylor and Saint. Politics Australian John Quiggin responds to Ross Gittins' accusation that he and Nicholas Gruen didn't address the 'real reasons' for th...
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Prompted by the exchange between Gruen and Gittins on NSW privatisation, I asked myself a much broader and pertinent question: what should be the proper role of government in the allocation of capital in Australia? At the two ideological extremes, the answer is simple. The int...
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Darlene Taylor and Saint. Politics Australian Gam and Currency Lad both posted fitting tributes on the finding of the wreck of HMAS Sydney after 67 years. CL, howe...
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Jonathan Powell, Tony Blairs former chief of staff, has given his first interview about life inside No.10 during the Blair government. For those unfamiliar with him, Powell (pronounced Pole) was amongst the former PMs longest standing consiglieres; he was there the day Blair e...
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The Love Gods are back after a much-needed rest to recharge their advisory potency. Replete with psychic Viagra they're ready again to hop into another romantically beset reader. This week we've raided the mailbag of Murdoch lovelorn columnist Kate de Brito, whose brother Sam...
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Darlene Taylor and Saint. Politics Australian From Students for a Free Tibet - also see this CNN video Andrew Bartlett invites submissions to a Senate committee he...
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After Ross Gittins' recent generosity to me , I can't complain. But this column is a bit - um . . . simplistic. He begins thusly. YOU don't have to be very bright to pick holes in the arguments Morris Iemma and Michael Costa have been using to sell their plan to privatise elec...
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Clive Crook defends Obama's oratory from accusations that it's vapid and empty. "Of course it is" he insists. And when you think about it, he has a point. The great speeches, however uniquely crafted are usually simple exhortations. "We shall fight them on the beaches and all...
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Meanwhile, an avalanche on Mars, the first extra-terrestrial avalanche observed by humangoes. And just to remind you of your place in the world, here's a bit of a galaxy - which appropriately enough is part of one of your standard galaxy clusters. It's 50,000 light years acros...
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I've been playing around today with a Google Map Generator utility, to show CDU law students how to find the venues for various interstate intensive seminars we're running for our external undergraduate program over the next few weeks. It's pretty nifty, and depicts a location...
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Thanks to Ken Parish for sending me a link to this (pdf) article on Gordon Tullock's critique of common law. As I read the article I was respectively irritated, pleased and then irritated again. But it's a good and interesting article. My irritation comes from the Procrustean...
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I went to the Archibald when in Sydney yesterday. I didn't think much of the winner - though I don't think I really 'got' it. But I was amazed at how many good portraits there were - I'd say at least ten really good ones. I looked around and thought - "well maybe that's what a...
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Good on the monthly for putting up videos of various things related to its flagship publication - the monthly mag. But one request. I virtually never look at videos on the computer. I've got too much else to do. So when I go to Ted if I want to listen to something, I'm gratefu...
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Yikes? The last house that Adam Smith lived in - at Canongate - is up for sale. And the local council may let it go to developers. Oh cruel irony of ironies, the ultimate Adam Smith problem - a council that doesn't know the difference between the Theory of Moral Sentiments and...
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Well books actually! But the heading above was the caption of an early Leunig cartoon - with the graphic being . . . yes, a tong sale. And remember, print the linked coupon out as many times as you like for separate book purchases.
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Darlene Taylor and Saint. Politics Australian Gummo Trotsky's Word of the Day (Expression of the Day?) is ex gratia , as in the ex gratia payments to carers that t...
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Has anybody else who has read Mark Bahnisch's Online Opinion article today about Kevin Rudd's IR reforms been instantly reminded of the Monty Python sketch about how to rid the world of all known diseases ?
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Darlene Taylor and Saint. Politics Australian Ken Lovell highlights the hijinks of a WA building industry employer : Given this long history of bastardry by builde...
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So the cash rate has gone up to 7.25%, and the banks will probably raise their lending rates by more than 0.25%. We all understand the official reasons why the RBA has done this. The inflation rate is too high and shows no immediate signs of falling. It's too high because tota...
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There was an extraordinary article in the Australian yesterday ( here ) by Vaclav Klaus. In his article, which is a condensation of a speech for a conference of climate sceptics, Vaclav makes mince meat out of the climate alarmists and accuses them of having bad intentions. He...
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Darlene Taylor and Saint. Politics Australian Mary, Frederik and family as Bald Archy winners Peter Martin is contemptuous of media and Coalition scare-mongering o...
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Hello boys and girls. See if you can work out where this picture was taken?
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Darlene Taylor and Saint. Politics Australian Terry Sedgwick continues his focus on occasional Coalition MP Mark Vaile The Currency Lad on the limits of Rudd's Bru...
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On Line Opinion (OLO) asked for some ideas for the Rudd 2020 Summit. I submitted a piece which was published today in OLO . It argues that fear of inflation should not force Australia to accept a permanent army of half a million jobless persons. There are alternatives. If I ha...
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Darlene Taylor and Saint. Politics Australian Jim Fryar takes a libertarian look at (repugnant) police raids in Melbourne on the homes of terminally ill people con...
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Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams on the result of the Wyoming caucuses - which split 61% to Obama and 38% Clinton. "We are thrilled with this near-split in delegates and are grateful to the people of Wyoming for their support." Wyoming's 12 delegates go 7 to Obama and...
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I was intrigued to find that when the Public Service Commission launched into the project of tackling red tape, they found they were beset by myths. Just like Lateral Economics said in its report on Regulation and Innovation for the Victorian Government: The finer points of mu...
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Hillary is hopping into Obama any way she knows how. Jonathon Chait takes up the story. The morning after Tuesday's primaries, Hillary Clinton's campaign released a memo titled "The Path to the Presidency." I eagerly dug into the paper, figuring it would explain how Clinton wo...
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HT: Henry Ergas for the picture
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Darlene Taylor and Saint. Politics Australian via Terry Sedgwick Pommygranate summarises former Treasury Secretary John Stone's arguments on why John Howard was Au...
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Watching The 7:30 Report last night, I found myself quickly checking the remote to make sure I hadn't accidentally switched over to A Current Affair or Today Tonight . The ABC's slant on a story about the "need" for enforced ISP filtering to protect the kiddies from porn was e...
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Picking up on Nicholas Gruens posting of 4 March on Bowles and Gintis essay ("Is equality passe?"), I notice that B and G point to opinion survey evidence that Americans, while hating welfare, support many redistribution measures which are consistent with reciprocity norms, in...
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Whats the difference between James Lovelock environmental scientist and inventor of the Gaia hypothesis, and Andrew Bolt Herald Sun columnist and inventor of such useful terms such as red mist, green gods and compassion industry? Well... less than you might think. James Lovelo...
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Darlene Taylor and Saint. Politics Australian via Bastards Inc John Quiggin rejoices in the Federal Government's decision to buy water from irrigaters and give it...
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The Boston Review is a good thing. I found this article on Alexander Hamilton , which is a serious debunking job on the hagiographies of Alexander Hamilton. I'm not well read enough to arbitrate between this guy and those he's taking on, but despite the occasional intemperance...
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The architect Victor Gruen 'invented' the shopping mall. He was the first person to come up with and execute the idea of a hermetically sealed shopping area - something that dovetailed with the imperatives of property development, retailing, as well as ideas of femininity and...
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Paul Krugman's theory is that the Bush administration and the Replublican Party are so bad, so partisan, that the Democrats should be unafraid of a little populism of their own to knock them off. No objections there. They're a very special breed, US Republicans. But then they...
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The SMH which published an op ed of mine has just sent me their editorial ethics policy. I have no trouble agreeing to it. But I have some concerns about their journalists. This isn't a criticism of them. And it's not a criticism of the policy - but there is a bit of a disconn...
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From yesterday's Fin Many Australians are mesmerised by an inquiry into Wollongong City Council and some of its councillors and staff and developers. NSWs Independent Commission Against Corruption is unveiling a plot which links sex, bribes, blackmail, greed, abuse of office a...
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Darlene Taylor and Saint. Politics Australian The Victorian Government's big new land release won't solve the housing crisis if people can't get there, argues Jere...
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In recent months, in newspaper articles and letters and in Club Troppo positings, I have been hammering the theme that (a) the short term inflation risk is largely cost push and only marginally driven by excess demand (as reflected in wages and profit margins) (b) the RBA and...
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"Is equality passé " by Bowles and Gintis is a terrific essay which I thoroughly recommend to all who've not read it. It's a much stronger foundation for what has often been the flailing around of the 'third way' than some of the more widely acknowledged high priests like the...
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Darlene Taylor and Saint. Politics Australian tigtog believes that a Federal Government scheme for national registration of medical professionals will help to weed...
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A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, James Farrell, Gilmae, Darlene Taylor and Saint. Politics Australian Does D.S. stand for "diced and sliced" or ... ? Nicholas Gruen finds time off from zig-a-zig-ahhing to compare and co...
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" Now listen, you queer . Stop calling me a crypto Nazi or I'll sock you in your goddamn face and you'll stay plastered..." Everyone agreed that William F Buckley was good television. When the American Broadcasting Company were looking for a conservative commentator for the 19...
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I am a state in the US. A higher proportion of my economy is given over to research and development than any other comparable area. I am unlikely to be where you'd think. Which state am I? And what proportion of gross state product is given over to research and development?
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Henry Ergas is in my pantheon of 'most' Australian economists. Of the Australian economists I've known, Glenn Withers knows most about Australian (and other countries') public policy, John Quiggin is probably the cleverest and most academically and polemically productive, and...
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I'm a fan. He was the editor of The Economist's excellent "Economics Focus" for a good while. He may even have been nice enough to have been the person who decided to write up some of my work for the world. Anyway he went off to Atlantic Monthly where I think he still writes s...
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Peter Martin rang me yesterday morning because he told me he was going to write up my ideas on regulation, though we didn't talk as long as both of us would have liked because his commitments at the time, and my subsequent commitments meant we couldn't speak again. Journalism...
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Here is a piece published in the AFR yesterday. I. Just as Marshall McLuhan argued that, in media the medium was the message, one can say something similar about style and substance in politics. The style is the substance or at least comes to determine it. The political histor...
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