Episode 12 (S2) of the Smith Family Manga is now available – Mrs Boff is called in!

Today (March 14, 2025), MMTed releases Episode 12 in the Second Season of our Manga series – The Smith Family and their Adventures with Money. This is the final episode in Season 2. There is a lot going on in the community at present with an election approaching and the government in crisis over its deliberate recession. Have a bit of fun with it while learning Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and circulate it to those who you think will benefit. Season 3 will begin on May 23, 2025 and there will be some shocking developments revealed.

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Industrial disputation remains at record lows in Australia – the complete victory of capital over the working class

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the latest data today (March 12, 2025) on – Industrial Disputes, Australia – which covers the December-quarter 2024. The data shows that there was a slight decline in the number of industrial disputes over the last 12 months, although the number of working days lost rose significantly (by 15.4 per cent in the quarter). However, disputation remains at record lows. That fact is one of the success stories of neoliberalism and the way that the interests of Capital have co-opted government to ensure the income distribution was shifted back in favour of profits at the expense of wages. There are all sorts of explanations given to explain the low real wages growth in Australia over the last few decades and all try to sheet home the blame to global factors or demographic shifts. But the fact remains that there was concerted action by government under pressure from the employer groups to introduce legislation and regulation that undermined the capacity of the trade unions to pursue action in the interests of their members. That action was very successful from the perspective of capital and devastating to workers. Today’s blog post is really just a set of notes about the trends shown in this data.

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Underlying inflation in Australia continues to decline

Today (November 27, 2024), the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the latest – Monthly Consumer Price Index Indicator – for November 2024, which showed that the annual underlying inflation rate, which excludes volatile items continues to fall – from 3.5 per cent to 3.2 per cent. The overall CPI rate (including the volatile items) rose slightly from 2.1 per cent to 2.3 per cent, but that was mostly due to the timing of government electricity rebates between October and November. In other words, the slight rise cannot be interpreted as signalling a renewed inflationary spiral is underway. All the indicators are suggesting inflation is declining and the major drivers are abating. The overall rate has been at the lower end of the RBA’s inflation targetting range (2 to 3 per cent) for four successive months now, yet the RBA continues to claim they fear a wages breakout and that unemployment needs to increase. The RBA has gone rogue and its public statements bear little relationship with reality. It is clear that the residual inflationary drivers are not the result of excess demand but rather reflect transitory factors like weather events, institutionally-driven price adjustments (such as indexation arrangements), and abuse of anti-competitive, corporate power. The general conclusion is that the global factors that drove the inflationary pressures have largely resolved and that the outlook for inflation is for continued decline. There is also evidence that the RBA has caused some of the persistence in the inflation rate through the impact of the interest rate hikes on business costs and rental accommodation.

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The federal government would sack the RBA Board and Governor except it is too busy jumping at its own shadow

It’s Wednesday and as usual I cover a few topics briefly rather than provide a deeper analysis of a single issue. Today, I consider yesterday’s RBA monetary policy decision which held interest rates at elevated levels despite the inflation rate dropping towards the lower range of its targetting band. The RBA has lost credibility and the federal government should sack the RBA Board and Governor. The problem is that the federal government is too busy jumping at its own shadow to actually take any meaningful decisions about almost anything. I also reflect on the recent decision by the Nobel Committee to award the Peace Prize to the – Hibakusha – which reminds us of the devastation that nuclear arms can (and did) cause. Some other matters then precede today’s great music segment.

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State of Climate 2024 Report signals worse is coming – like very nearly now

This is my Wednesday blog post on a Thursday, given that I spent yesterday dealing with Australia’s latest CPI data release. So today I consider a range of topics in less detail, which is my usual Wednesday practice. Today, I comment on the latest ‘State of Climate 2024’ Report just released in Australia. I also consider the view that underneath all the regional wars at present where war lords fight to gain control of failed states is a voracious surplus extraction system we just happen to call Capitalism. And then some other items that have interested me this week. And a music segment.

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