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Tag Archives: Uncategorized

The meta-view from meta-nowhere

Pseudo-objectivity about pseudo-objectivity Jay Rosen coined the phrase “the view from nowhere” to describe the default stance of political journalism in the US and elsewhere, often defended as “objectivity”. This is closely linked to the concept of the Overton window, which I wrote about recently in relation to the AUKUS nuclear subs deal In essence, the “view from nowhere” amounts to treating all positions within the Overton window as equally valid, and providing neutral...

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On the benefits — and dangers — of reading

from Lars Syll As long as reading is for us the instigator whose magic keys have opened the door to those dwelling-places deep within us that we would not have known how to enter, its role in our lives is salutary.  It becomes dangerous, on the other hand, when, instead of awakening us to the personal life of the mind, reading tends to take its place, when the truth no longer appears to us as an ideal which we can realize only by the intimate progress of our own thought and the efforts of...

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Neoliberalism’s child

The latest Productivity Commission report marks the end of an era That’s the headline for my latest piece in Inside Story I look at the rise and decline of the Productivity Commission as an advocate of radical neoliberal reform. It spans the fifty years from the creation of the Industries Assistance Commission, replacing the old Tariff Board to the present, a period that spans my entire adult life. think I have outlived neoliberalism, at least as an intellectually credible...

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Weekend read – Inflation! The battle between creditors and workers

from Blair Fix I’ve been writing about inflation for the better part of three months. It’s been exhausting. Most of my time has been spent debunking misconceptions promoted by mainstream economists. Fortunately, I’m ready to move on. What’s interesting about inflation is not the fact that prices rise. What matters is that prices rise at different rates. In other words, inflation creates winners and losers — it redistributes income. In this post, I’ll dive into the redistribution dynamics...

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On fighting inflation

from Lars Syll [embedded content] Absolutely lovely! Comedian and television host Jon Stewart turns out to know much more about real-world economics than mainstream Harvard economist Larry Summers. Don’t know why, but watching this interview/debate makes yours truly come to think about a famous H. C. Andersen tale …

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The hierarchy of excuses

I’ve lived through quite a few financial crises, some local to Australia, and others global. Invariably, the first failures are those of obvious shonks (Australianism?) who would probably have failed anyway. Then there are seemingly reputable institutions that turn out to have been shonky. Then there are institutions that played by the rules, but it turns out the rules weren’t good enough. After that, no one is safe and the government steps in to bail the bankers out.Of course,...

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Modern money, 1579 edition.

Old charters still shed light on recent monetary developments… While in the Leeuwarden archive, investigating 19th century quantities and insurance prices of clay soil hay in central Friesland (a coastal part of the Netherlands) I got sub-focused and found myself thumbing through the Frisian ‘Charter books’ (internet version here). These books contain all Frisian government ‘oorkonden’ from the end of the fifteenth century onwards. ‘Oorkonden’ literally translates as ‘ear messages’. And...

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$18 million a job?

The AUKUS subs plan will cost Australia way more than that That’s the headline for my latest piece in The Conversation . Using defense procurement as a job creation policy is a really bad idea Australian governments have a long and generally dismal history of using defence procurement, and particularly naval procurement, as a form of industry policy. Examples including the Collins-class submarines, Hobart-class air warfare destroyers and, most recently, the...

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