Time to rant about economics and politics

[tcpip]

It's been a while since I've had a jolly good rant about politics and economics and related subjects and this is as good as time as any. So let me get stuck into three favourites; land and housing prices, religion and the NSW government, and finally, the environment and vested interests.

Firstly, let me draw your attention to the collapse of the UK housing market. A few days ago Barratt Development has announced cuts of 1200 jobs in attempt to crawl out the £1.66bn debt it's found itself in - and it's not an isolated incident. Housing prices have been falling for months now in the the UK, with expectations that a million homeowners could end up in negative equity. Why does this occur and why now? Because the value of land is hopelessly inflated, fuelled by speculation in what Winston Churchill accurately described as "the mother of all forms of monopoly", a fact well recognised by almost all economists. Many months ago, Alan Moran of the Institute of Public Affairs, commented correctly that "land based wealth is an illusion" and condemned government rationing of useful land as a restriction on supply. He's right of course, but regrettably typical of the IPA he lacks the intellectual and moral courage to point out that all landlords - public and private - reduce supply. Hence the need for a massive increase in land taxes with an equivalent reduction in taxes on productive goods and services. As that most heroic lawyer (yes, they do exist) Clarence Darrow deemed to say: "The 'single tax' is so simple, so fundamental and so easy to carry into effect that I have no doubt that it will be about the last land reform the world will ever get."

Sometimes Green Left gets it right, such as their article on Religion and Socialism. However these principles have not been embodied in the legislation by the NSW Labor government for World Youth Day 2008 which carries fines of up to $5500 for those causing "annoyance" and "inconvenience" to participants. Apropos, a student who smuggled out a Eucharist wafer has been receiving death threats. Back in NSW however, it is clear that with the decision to go ahead with electricity privatisation (contrary to public opinion) and this fundamental breach of civil liberties and the right to protest, that Premier Morris Iemma simply has to go. Fortunately, there seems to be some moves against him.


In recent weeks, the Garnaut Review has been released, an independent assesment of the effects of climate change to the Australian government and commissioned by the Australian Commonwealth government and the State and Territory governments. Following on with this is the aim of the G-8 nations to halve carbon emissions by 2050 (perhaps too little, too late). Whilst all this is happening, OnlineOpinion publishes an article entitled The UN climate change numbers hoax, where the authors cannot understand why review commentary on the IPCC working groups was, in their eyes, minimal (maybe they agreed with it?). I took the opportunity to show that one of the authors (Tom Harris) one held dual positions as the Executive Director of Natural Resources Stewardship Project whilst holding a position as Director of Operations for the registered energy-lobbying firm, the High Park Group. Further, Mr. Harris has been on the public record advocating a campaign to deliberately create chaos and confuse everyone about climate science. In response to this, the chief editor Graham Young has deleted these true and directly verifiable comments three times. If there was ever any doubt of OnlineOpinion being a highly-biased in favour of the AGW denial industry, it is certainly all over now - and others have noticed.

Comments

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

The sad decline of Online Opinion has been noted. What is it about climage change denialism that causes such urge for the rats to run towards this particular sinking ship? I was particularly disappointed when Ian Plimer, whose demolition of creationism Telling Lies for God I much enjoyed, leapt on board the denialist clueless train.

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

Oh, and you know about the problems with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the US? The housing bubble continues to drag everything down with it - if the two FMs really seriously go down, it will be pretty damn hard to get a mortgage at all in the US.

[razorgirl-au.livejournal.com]

"Back in NSW however, it is clear that with the decision to go ahead with electricity privatisation (contrary to public opinion) and this fundamental breach of civil liberties and the right to protest, that Premier Morris Iemma simply has to go. Fortunately, there seems to be some moves against him."

He has been very disappointing.

In other news, there are alternative ways that people can protest against WYD in a manner that is:

a) Funny
b) Actively takes steps to support a good cause

...

World Youth Day Protest Give to the Taronga Zoo Lion Exhibition. "Zoo Parent sponsorship is 100% tax deductible... And for every $1 donated, the NSW State Government contributes a further $3, so your contribution becomes even more valuable." Which makes donating to this cause even funnier, 'cause the NSW will support your protest! : D Sponsor a Lion today!

Unfortunately, the minimum donations you can make is for $85, but if you get some friends together, it's very "doable".

The only question now is what to call our protest group?

* Roman Entertainment?...
* Colosseum Support Group?..
* Catholicism Wow?...

I like option 2 myself.

: )

[nicked-metal.livejournal.com]

Oh crap, I didn't even call. I'm sorry.

Next weekend is a write-off...

Saturday August 2?

[redcountess]

Reading PZ Myers post, it's not the student who originally took the wafer who is receiving the death threats but Myers, and while I don't support the threats of violence, he quite frankly *was* disrespectful in his "only a cracker" piece. I'm still very much Agnostic but it seems to me that Atheists are going out of their way to be offensive to believers whether they follow a particular religion or not.

[grailchaser.livejournal.com]

The Green Left got it right?! Now there's a rarity.

I used to quite enjoy that rag till I noted in an article that as a Detention Officer at Woomera, I was supposed to be equipped with both a cattle prod and a shotgun. I complained to my supervisor that I was underequipped and he directed me to the riot equipment officer who couldn't find any of these weapons either. We were most put out. :)

It was a watershed moment for me, allowing my cynicism to extend to all sides of mass media.

Some land tax questions

[taavi.livejournal.com]

Would a land tax be levied annually on the value of land, or only levied at the point of sale? The latter seems more reasonable to me as taxing unrealised income seems a bit dubious - but most of the arguments you link to are to the former. Wouldn't this force people to e.g. borrow against or sell their land or assets if they were caught in a boom and had to pay a large tax on only a notional value increase? Or is that the idea? (I'm aware that part of the purpose of the tax is to reduce the likelihood of booms, but what I get from chaos theory is that booms are an inherent part of any complex system).

[wylde-writer.livejournal.com]

I have a huge activism streak, and an interest in issues beyond the borders of the U.S. where I live. If I were paying attention to news headlines and current events right now I'd probably be ranting right along with you about a variety of things. I can't afford to do that while I'm trying to stay immersed in my writing zone with a deadline drawing closer, but I appreciate where you're coming from.