RPG Review, Work and eResearch Conference, US roundup

[tcpip]

Whilst I was hoping to have RPG Review out this Monday, I fell sick late last week which knocked a couple of days off my planned schedule. Just as well it was advertised with the ambigious "late September". As it is I'm just finishing the final pages and layout and as opposed to the advertised 48 pages, it looks like the first issue will be a fairly massive 64 pages - and a fair bit of the second issue is already done! Perhaps, just perhaps, it is indeed well about time that something like RPG Review was released. Despite illness I managed to work in several story threads for Sunday's RuneQuest game for the second scenario of Shadows on the Borderland.

Not for the first time my workplace has indicated that they are more than pleased with my abilities. After receiving a "not insubstantial" pay rise recently, I have also been told that work will pay for the $2K+ tuition fees of a Certificate IV in Training and Assesment. VPAC does more than a fair bit of training and I've had a fair bit to do with writing the basic training manual and tutorials for the partnership. On another work related topic much of this coming week will be dedicated to preparing a presentation to the eResearch Australasia 2008 conference.

Everything you need to know about the US election in one comprehensive post. The United States and Pakistan on the edge of war against each other. No surprise to regular readers of this journal; cheap credit and land speculation runs riot - and then stops with an incredible crunch: Tectonic Shift on Wall Street as Lehman Fails, Merrill Sold. How long have I been ringing this warning bell?!

Comments

Re: fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt

[darknova666.livejournal.com]

not entirely true, as its a matter of demand and supply.

immigration (as per oz) leads to greater demand and increased prices.

a growing population will push up prices.

also a move from rural to metropolitan areas will push up city prices.

also improvements to the land - houses etc add to its value

of course do we really own the land or does it own us.

howeever i do mostlyagree that:

"Much of the wealth represented by housing is illusory. It is created by government rationing of land. This causes inflation in land prices."

well around cities anyway. u can buy a block of land in the country and built in alot of spots if u dont want services.

however this right winger's real agenda is to get outer suburbs rezoned so his land banking mates can profit!

also a lowering of land values decreases consumer confidence leading to more chance of libs getting back in...

dont forget also that governments dont rezone excessively as they have to provide all the services, roads schools etc

dont forget also the very generous interest tax deductions that investors get that helps price out new buyers.

Re: fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

not entirely true, as its a matter of demand and supply.

Or more importantly, the relative elasticity land demand and supply to other goods and services, which explains why economists (since Adam Smith onwards) have all universally recognised the efficiency of land tax. As Paul Samuelson remarks.

The striking result is that a tax on rent will lead to no distortions or economic inefficiencies. Why not? Because a tax on pure economic rent does not change anyone's economic behavior. Demanders are unaffected because their price is unchanged. The behavior of suppliers is unaffected because the supply of land is fixed and cannot react. Hence, the economy operates after the tax exactly as it did before the tax--with no distortions or inefficiencies arising as a result of the land tax.

The problem with Alan Moran's remark:

"Much of the wealth represented by housing is illusory. It is created by government rationing of land. This causes inflation in land prices."

.. is that public and private landholders reduce supply. Thus his 'solution' is to take land out of democratically-controlled management in favour of private landlords. This too will increase the price of land by reducing supply. So it's not a solution at all - worse still, Alan Moran knows this. I am astounding by his dishonesty in this issue. It's not as if he needs the extra money that the IPA provides.