It's Wednesday and there are a few topics that caught my attention this week as…
Politics in a Podcast – fiscal statements and the pandemic future
It’s Wednesday and just a few things today while I attend to other things (writing, meetings, etc). I will have an interesting announcement to make in a few weeks (around then) about a project I am working on that I hope have wide interest. Today, we have a podcast I recorded a few weeks ago with the Politics in the Pub, Newcastle group – now, in this coronavirus era being rebadged and reformatted as Politics in a Podcast. And then we celebrate a great musician who died last week but left some memorable songs for us to take into the future.
Politics in a Podcast
A few weeks ago, I did a podcast for the group that has organised ‘Politics in the Pub, Newcastle’, which is a monthly event where a speaker(s) address a topic of public interest in a local Newcastle hotel and answer questions from the audience.
It is meant to be an educative engagement with the interested public.
The coronavirus has halted all events like that and so the organisers have done a deal with my university to run a series of interviews with special guest(s) each month on issues that impact on the political debate.
The latest edition, published today (October 28, 2020) features yours truly and discusses the recent fiscal statement from the federal government from an Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) perspective.
While it is focused on Australian specifics, the principles outlined and form of analysis is universal.
Thanks to the convenor Peter Hooker for organising this and producing the show.
It runs for 39:46 minutes.
Music – Spencer Davis
On October 19, 2020, at the age of 81 – Spencer Davis died in California.
He was of Welsh origin and started out as a skiffle, jazz and blues musician in the 1950s.
I first really was attracted to the – Spencer Davis Group – as a young teenager when I obtained the singles:
1. Gimme Some Lovin’ – written by Stevie Winwood, Muff Winwood and Spencer Davis, released in late 1966.
2. I’m a Man – written by Stevie Winwood and Jimmy Miller and released in 1967.
These were great examples of the British beat era and were in sharp contrast to the sugary stuff that The Beatles were putting out (sorry I was never a fan).
Stevie Winwood – playing the Hammond organ was one of the best sounds of my youth – which culminated in my aesthetic sense when he jammed with Jimi Hendrix at the Electric Ladyland Studio in New York on the extended version of Voodoo Child – that is a magical track.
Once he left the band, I lost interest and they disbanded a couple of years later.
My focus then shifted to – Traffic – which Stevie Winwood started with his brother and others.
In some of the bands I have played in over the years, we have dome covers of I’m a Man – one of the great songs of the 1960s.
Here it is …
There was also a 1969 cover by the – Chicago Transit Authority – which is worth listening to. A tougher guitar sound.
RIP SD.
That is enough for today!
(c) Copyright 2020 William Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.
The Howard government prided them selves on getting into surplus, after the Keating government”s recession they had to have. But what they don’t tell us is that they sold off public utilities, airports, and industrial relation reforms to run this surplus and in the mean time house hold debt tripled over that period and from that point on governments have kept lowering interest rates up til this point in time.
Now with their relaxed lending policies I see a repeat of household debt rising, if housing prices drop well then there could be another GFC.
Also I’ve been reading about a 12,000 hectare solar farm being constructed on New Castle Waters Station in the NT by a company called Sun Cable ( https://www.suncable.sg/ ) running an underground cable to Singapore…..It has been given Commonwealth major project status. Why aren’t they talking about this and other renewable energy proposals that the Commonwealth is investing in, like hydrogen?
I feel major projects like these should be owned by the Commonwealth and the people of Australia benefit as a whole, not a hand full of billionaire miners who personally benefit from resources that are not theirs but belong to the Commonwealth….(it’s all in the name).
Being major project status probably receives huge incentives like tax concessions, like the coal & gas industry or profits are exported over seas as with the tech giants while the every day Australian is fed a constant barrage of debt and deficit rhetoric, industrial relations reform etc etc more debt to make ends meet…Rant Over…
cheers