{"id":28408,"date":"2014-07-11T15:33:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-11T05:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billmitchell.org\/blog\/?p=28408"},"modified":"2014-07-11T15:33:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-11T05:33:00","slug":"blog-lay-day-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billmitchell.org\/blog\/?p=28408","title":{"rendered":"Blog lay day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tIt is Friday, my blog lay day, so no real blog. I am editing my Europe book in the freezing weather down in Melbourne. The laugh of the week was the Federal governments bungled attempt to get rid of the carbon tax. It will probably go next week and then we will rely on that expert on the environment, Prime Minister Tony Abbott (see credentials overleaf) to lead the way into the future.
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\nOn January 30, 2013, our now Prime Minister Tony Abbott staked his credentials as the man to protect the natural environment. In this report from the gutter national daily The Australian – Roads good for environment, says Tony Abbott<\/a> – he said:<\/p>\n

\nBetter roads means better communities; better roads are good for our economy; they’re good for our society … They’re good for our physical and mental health …<\/p>\n

They’re even good for the environment because cars that are moving spew out far less pollution than cars that are standing still.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Australia is about to become the first nation in the world to repeal a carbon tax or related measure aimed at addressing climate change. We are becoming a laughing stock in the world.<\/p>\n

Even dodgy nations like China are innovating hastily to move to renewables and away from coal.<\/p>\n

And … just for the record, I am an economist not an expert in climate change science. But I am trained to read scientific reports and assess evidential argument. I conclude that there are an overwhelming majority of those who are ‘experts’ in climate change science who tell us there is something bad happening and we are at the centre of it.<\/p>\n

I accept that the overwhelming majority of economists know nothing about the way the monetary system operates. So why trust the climate change majority?<\/p>\n

Simple: there is no evidential backing for the dominant economic ideology. One cannot say that about the climate change science arguments.<\/p>\n

Music to groove and edit by!<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is what I have been listening to today while I have been working. It features the great jazz-reggae guitarist – John Kpiaye<\/a> – of his 1997 album Red, Gold and Blues<\/em>, a true classic. He plays with the band that backs London poet Linton Kwesi Johnson.<\/p>\n