Club Troppo

I was reading this post by a favourite lefty last night and getting pretty depressed at the US's massively greater propensity for hysteria than our own political culture - maybe it goes back to the witch trials in Salem, or perhaps the madness the South pre and post Civil War...

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I went to see the film The Dutchess the other night about Georgiana Dutchess of Devonshire Tea (In the film they pronounce her name Georgaina in case you care). I didn't expect much but just wanted to see a movie and knew that if it was awful the costumes would be just fine. A...

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Someone who used to do some 'spot' research assistance for Lateral Economics has got a new job which means he can no longer do it. Anyone interested in doing occasional research assistasnce should drop me an email at ngruen AT lateraleconomics DOT com and after that add a DOT...

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On this analysis two major factors in the train wreck were the regulations that pushed lenders to water down prudent criteria for lending and the flight of speculators from the housing market when prices ceased to rise. A nuance in this analysis is to point out that it was not...

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A companion site to the 200 years of Australian technology, " Bright Sparcs ", hosted by the University of Melbourne. A register of people involved in the development of science, technology, engineering and medicine in Australia, including references to their archival material...

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I recently received an offer to buy some David Jones shares of mine - bought for the discount that I think they're in the process of phasing out. The offer is to buy the shares for $2.04 per share when their market value - at the time the letter was sent was $4.08. All this is...

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Fortunately executives of 'rescued' outfits realise how important it is for them to reassure the rest of us by showing us that life goes on and we should continue to lead it (as best we can in our newly straitened circumstances) as usual. Thus for instance the Washington Post...

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[caption id="attachment_6021" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Clearwater, Fla (6th October)"] [/caption] Conservative commentators* piled on after the vice presidential debate last week. Greg Sheridan made no attempt to hide his pleasure: "Sarah Palin, the pitbull in li...

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Here's today's AFR column. No pain no gain. Were all familiar with the cliché. Meet its twisted sister. Courting the pundits respect for taking tough decisions, our politicians simply make the economy worse. Call it all pain, no gain. In the next few weeks the Federal Governme...

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The Henson episode has raised some questions about the role of art and artists that Jacques Barzun addressed in his book The Use and Abuse of A rt. Barzun (1907 - ) turned 100 last year and deserves to be better known as arguably the premier scholar in cultural studies in the...

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I'm thinking about Aussie Mac again. The Federal Government has been led to water but only wants a sip - it's investing $4 billion of its surplus in buying mortgages when the credit that was taken out by the collapse of the residential mortgage backed securities market was aro...

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From last Tuesday's Financial Review: The Oppositions proposal for a $30 a week boost to the single age pension has not died, let alone been cremated. To avoid more political embarrassment, the government will grant an expensive pension increase before the next election. The a...

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On the weekend the ABC News reported on the excitement about Bill Henson being given permission by a primary school principal to trawl for photography models. The news then covered the various photo ops put on by Kevin and Malcolm telling us how disgusted they were. (Malcolm w...

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From The Melbourne Age on 1st October 2008 Monday nights rejection by the US House of Representatives of the US Treasury Secretary Paulsons Troubled Assets Recovery Plan, which had been modified to accommodate the concerns of Congressional leaders, has propelled the financial...

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Getting back to the basic things that really matter. If the Manly Seaeagles are to fulfull their promise as the favorites for this event, and defeat the reigning champions, the Melbourne Storm, the Manly pivot Jamie Lyon holds the key due to his responsibilities in both defenc...

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For people who have the time or the need to get into the details of the proposed bailout package, this link provides a section by section summary of the bill. Given the size of the bill, something like this is the only way that most people will ever get a glimpse of the mechan...

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Paul Krugman, the op ed maestro has another great column for us all. But I must say the first commenter on the column stole the show. Joe Idaho says... I like McCain. I think he has a strong understanding of the issues, and that he is a strong leader who will lead us towards p...

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Here is Pundit Grattan thinking aloud about government spending. Meanwhile, it is a bit rash, with revenue uncertain, to be talking up expectations on spending, as Rudd did this week when he said it was time to "bite the bullet" on a paid maternity scheme, "and we intend to do...

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The recent post on architectural delights reminded me that during the Beaconsfield mining disaster I googled Beaconsfield and turned up some pictures of the Batman Bridge nearby. That led to some more pictures of Tasmanian bridges and one of them led to some other bridges in V...

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