Friday lay day blog
Its Friday blog lay day – which might mean anything. But today I provide some commentary on the scientific acumen of our federal government and a recipe to soothe souls torn by neo-liberal economic policies.
Australian labour force data – policy failure now stark
Today’s release of the – Labour Force data – for July 2014 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows a deteriorating situation. The Australian labour market is weakening. While the participation rate rose by 0.1 points, which pushed extra workers into the labour force,the negative employment growth was well below the underlying population growth and so unemployment would have risen without the participation rate rise. In fact, unemployment rose sharply in July to 6.4 per cent. This is a terrible outcome. There are now 789 thousand officially counted as unemployed. Overall, the labour market is scudding along a very flat path and unemployment continues to eke its way up. The teenage labour market also weakened and in my view represents a national emergency. Overall, the policy failure at the federal level is now stark.
Intergenerational fairness improved by fiscal deficits
There was an interesting article in the UK Guardian today (August 6, 2014) – Debt and housing costs make young worse off than past generations – which reported on the so-called ‘intergenerational fairness index’ published by the – Intergenerational Foundation, which is a UK-based organisation which “researches fairness between generations” and believes that “government policy must be fair to all”. The – 2013 Edition – is the most most recent published version of the index. The UK Guardian journalist has the most recent index, which has not yet been publicly released (probably in London later today). The points I wish to make are not dependent on knowing the detail of the 2014 result. My concern is about principles and basic neo-liberal macroeconomic myths that are embedded in an otherwise reasonable exercise. A case of progressives shooting themselves in the foot again!
When the left became lost – Part 1
I read a book a long time ago (1994) called “The Principle of Duty: An Essay on the Foundations of Civic Order”. I note it was republished in 2009. The book by David Selbourne – who is a British philosopher and these days writes regularly for the British Magazine New Statesman. His latest article (July 24, 2014) – How the left was lost: the need to relearn what true progress means – reprises the argument made in his book. He has been making the argument for a long time, which, in itself is not a bad thing if it a reflection of a good idea being ignored. At the time I read the book the Dark Age of neo-liberalism that we are within was forming but its internal contradictions had not yet manifested fully. But the left had certainly lost direction by then, getting caught up in a Post Modernist haze with career politicians and their union buddies abandoning progressive principles and, instead, adopting neo-liberal economic stances to prove that they were ‘responsible’. The aim – to get power. That was the end game. Selbourne’s book and current article captures a lot of that but, I think, also misses some vital parts of the story.
Information is dangerous for neo-liberals
On Friday, I reported that a senior psychologist working in the off-shore detention centres was alarmed at the growing mental health problems of children of refugee-seeking parents who are detained with their families in these hell-hole prisons that Federal Government has set up in PNG and elsewhere. I noted the doctor had admitted to a National Inquiry that he was told by the Department of Immigration to take out some of the damaging research evidence covering the incidence of mental illness in the off-shore refugee prisons. Here is a followup of how systematic the government is in using its power to repress the release of information that might alter the public perception of its competence and desirability.
Saturday Quiz – August 2, 2014 – answers and discussion
Here are the answers with discussion for yesterday’s quiz. The information provided should help you work out why you missed a question or three! If you haven’t already done the Quiz from yesterday then have a go at it before you read the answers. I hope this helps you develop an understanding of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and its application to macroeconomic thinking. Comments as usual welcome, especially if I have made an error.
Saturday Quiz – August 2, 2014
Welcome to the Billy Blog Saturday Quiz. The quiz tests whether you have been paying attention over the last seven days. See how you go with the following questions. Your results are only known to you and no records are retained.
Friday lay day blog
It is Friday and so a short blog only. It has been a terrible week for Australian government abuse of human rights. I have dealt with the treatment of the unemployed already this week. Yesterday, it was revealed that the federal government is exhibiting the same behaviour that characterises totalitarian regimes. We often get moralising lectures from so-called liberals about abuses in, say North Korea, including the suppression of information which helps the regime sustain activities that would not be tolerated by the public if they were aware. Welcome to Australia.
Australian government now engaged in psychological torture of its citizens
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the US legislation – Economic Opportunity Act – introduced by Democrat president Lyndon B. Johnson. The law created the so-called local Community Action Agencies, which were directly regulated by the US Federal government. The aims of that legislation were relatively straightforward – “eliminate poverty, expand educational opportunities, increase the safety net for the poor and unemployed, and tend to health and financial needs of the elderly”. The legislation came out of the President’s – State of the Union Address – delivered on January 1964, where he made the famous statement “This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America. I urge this Congress and all Americans to join with me in that effort”. The Economic Opportunity Act became known as the – War on Poverty. Times have changed. 50 years later, federal administrations around the World have declared a new type of War! The War on Poverty has become the War on the Poor. In Australia, this has manifested in recent weeks as an outright attack on the victims of mass unemployment – the unemployed. The Australian government has introduced what I have described in a number of press interviews with the national media as advanced psychological torture.
Britain has not recovered the losses caused by the GFC
As a followup to Monday’s blog – UK growth not all that it seems – there was an additional issue that is worth exploring about the ONS data publication, given that the financial and economics commentators seem to mislead their readers, through ignorance or choice. Representative of the issue was the statement in last Friday’s UK Guardian article (July 25, 2014) –
Fresh boost for George Osborne as economy recovers banking crisis losses – which built on that title with the opening line “Britain’s economy has finally recovered the losses caused by the financial crisis, passing its pre-recession peak in the second quarter of the year …”. This conclusion was reiterated by many other commentators in different publications as a source of celebration. The only problem with it is that it plain wrong and to suggest that Britain has now made up the losses is deeply misleading.