It’s one of former ambassador Kim Beazley’s favourite White House stories: the time Tony Abbott met Barack Obama in the Oval Office.
“I was deeply worried,” Beazley told an audience gathered for a superannuation conference in Sydney yesterday. “It didn’t matter if it was social policy, or environmental policy, whatever it was, Tony Abbott had a totally different view to Barack Obama.”
Beazley diligently prepared briefing notes for the visiting PM, but Abbott wasn’t interested.
“It’s all bullshit. Don’t worry about it. I’m not going to use any of this stuff,” Beazley recalled Abbott saying.
So in they went to the Oval Office to find Obama, vice-president Joe Biden, secretary of defence Chuck Hagel, secretary of state John Kerry and national security adviser Susan Rice.
Then the president handed over to Abbott. Perhaps you might like to say something?
“Well, Mr President, I don’t actually have a list of complaints,” Beazley recalled Abbott opening. “I know most people who come to this office have a list of complaints. I’ve got nothing to complain about to you. Others come with a list of things that they want from you. We don’t want anything from you.”
Tony Abbott and Barack Obama
Beazley recalled Abbott continuing: “But I want to say one thing. I think you’re about to get into a lot of trouble in the Middle East. And when you do, I want you to understand this. We are going to be with you and we are going to be with you in numbers.”
Our former ambassador still remembers a sharp intake of breath along the line of Americans.
Australia’s 28th prime minister certainly made an impact.
Beazley said for months after that encounter, it was reported back to him that whenever Obama was frustrated by his various opponents, domestic or international, he would say: “We need more Tony Abbotts.”
If you are looking for Christmas ideas, you might consider Economics for Infants, the only book of its kind.
A perfect book to read to your children and grandchildren! How do you explain the complexities of the economic order to a child? This retro-inspired illustrated book attempts this task in storybook form. A basic primer on economics for the youngest of readers.
For myself, what I like best about the book are its pictures which illustrate the points with an astonishing clarity. There is no children’s book anywhere, past or present, that has illustrated Say’s Law so incredibly well along with so much more. In a recent pee’er reviewed study, 97% chose Economics for Infants as their favourite book (astonishingly, the same as the proportion of climate scientists who believe global warming is caused by humans!). The above photo was taken during that study and is conclusive proof that if your child is to succeed in getting into the best kindergartens and play groups, this is the book you will need to ensure they have read and its contents absorbed. You can see how the other books were ignored while Economics for Infants held the attention of this particularly bright child not entirely chosen at random.
And let me also say this. There may be parents of young children whom you may feel need a refresher course in the economics of the market. Give a copy to their children and contemplate the pleasure it will give in reading about how the capitalist system works for the betterment of all, that is, the pleasure it will give you contemplating their parents vetting the book while deciding whether to pass it along.
Every so often someone is able to slip the bounds of political correctness and he is one and is near unique since he can say all of what he says and not be pulled to the ground.
A Pareto pattern – a small proportion of people end up with the bulk of the goods. But it’s not the same people, just the same one percent proportion but with different groups at the top.
The only movie that has ever been made from a book I wrote. The movie was put together by that genius, John Papola, producer of the greatest economic video ever, The Keynes-Hayek Rap. And as noted in the credits for Macro Follies, there I am found in truly stellar company:
Special Thanks to Russ Roberts, Steven Kates, Larry White, Steve Horwitz, James Adams and Steve Fritzinger
As for the book, if you are looking for a Christmas present, let me recommend my Free Market Economics which is the book from which the movie was made. It is the only economics book written in approximately the last 150 years that is built on classical economic principles. As it says at the Book Depository website
“In this thoroughly updated third edition of Free Market Economics, Steven Kates assesses economic principles based on classical economic theory. Rejecting mainstream Keynesian and neoclassical approaches even though they are thoroughly covered in the text, Kates instead looks at economics from the perspective of an entrepreneur making decisions in a world where the future is unknown, innovation is a continuous process and the future is being created before it can be understood. Key Features include: * analysis derived from the theories of pre-Keynesian classical economists, as this is the only source available today that explains the classical pre-Keynesian theory of the business cycle * a focus on the entrepreneur as the driving force in economic activity rather than on anonymous `forces’ as found in most economic theory today * introduces a powerful though simplified model to explain the difference between modern theory of recession and classical theory of the business cycle * great emphasis is placed on the consequences of decision making under uncertainty * offers an introductory understanding, accessible to the non-specialist reader. The aim of this book is to redirect the attention of economists and policy makers towards the economic theories that prevailed in earlier times. Their problems were little different from ours but their way of understanding the operation of an economy and dealing with those problems was completely different. Free Market Economics, Third Edition will help students and general readers understand classical economic theory, written by someone who believes that this now-discarded approach to economic thought was superior to what is found in most of our textbooks today.”
You can order a copy here. For anyone who wants to get a sense of how an economy works, and also why government intervention beyond a minimum creates harm, this is the place to go. Of course, you might instead decide to save your money and have an even better Christmas next year, but you might also instead just think of it as helping to build your own human capital, as well as helping you to contain your rage watching Malcolm and Co butcher economic policy before Bill and Co are allowed to take over who will do even worse.
It is the only economics book written in approximately the last 150 years that is built on classical economic principles. As it says at the Book Depository website 
Law of Markets 