But only in November will we know whether it has a happy ending.
It’s a horror story so far
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Author Archives: lawofmarkets
Defund the ABC
Modern Monetary Theory: How MMT is challenging the economic establishment
From the dumbest economic analysts in Australia, our very own ABC: Modern Monetary Theory: How MMT is challenging the economic establishment.
What if everything we thought we knew about public finance over the past 40 years has been wrong? A new economic theory has emerged that could rewrite our understanding of how governments create and spend money and what type of society we can afford to build.
And if it is correct, people may be furious. Because it could show that Australia’s political elite can afford to spend far more than they are on public health and education, social housing, scientific research and green energy schemes, while eliminating unemployment.
And yet they’re not — either from a misunderstanding of government finances or because they don’t want to. However, to embrace this radical economic theory you will have to forget what you’ve learned about budget deficits (that they’re bad) and government debt (that it burdens future generations).
Why? Because proponents of the theory say that far from being a problem, budget deficits are often a good thing — they can be the source of healthy economic growth.
More at the link and some previous discussion of MMT here.
Daniel Andrews is showing the way. He spends enormous amounts of money, but never finishes a project so that nothing is ever completed. Tunnels, train lines, you name it, he has left all kinds of useless projects halfway done, which even if completed would never earn as much in revenue as they cost to build. Just build it and they will come, they in this case being massive debt and deficits.
The ABC is filled with such deadheads. I never watch the thing myself but only found out about this from someone else who monitors the place. I don’t know how anyone can listen to such ignorance day after day, but I guess someone has to do it.
ABC delenda est which is Latin for Defund the ABC.
Davy Crockett provides advice on how to be a politician
If it’s cynical, it is nevertheless just how it seems to be. He was much more than the King of the Wild Frontier. This was, of course, all I ever knew which came via Walt Disney when I was seven.
It also was the moment that something changed in my life. I was watching Davy Crockett at the Alamo in full colour on our black and white TV and then, suddenly, I realised that it wasn’t a colour TV set and ever since a B&W TV has been black and white. But until then, I imagined and saw everything in colour.
Anyway, a bit more of Davy Crockett wisdom. Shame Walt Disney didn’t focus on any of this.
The President’s Lady and the Battle of New Orleans
I have just finished a novel on Andrew Jackson’s wife, The President’s Lady written by Irving Stone in 1951:
In this acclaimed biographical novel, Irving Stone brings to life the tender and poignant love story of Rachel and Andrew Jackson. “Beyond any doubt one of the great romances of all time.” — The Saturday Review of Literature.
An incredible story of both of them, but it ends just as he becomes president and she almost exactly at the same time passes away. She never even made it to the inauguration. They both had an amazing life – he meets her when she is 16 and already married in what we would today call an abusive relationship. But in 1792 a divorce was only available at the initiative of her husband, which must go through the state legislature which her first husband, unbeknownst to her, never undertakes although she thinks he has. So beyond everything else – including a duel to the death – the marriage is a major political scandal where he is elected although she is, according to the morality of the time, an adulteress!
He arrives in Washington without his beloved wife and finds the atmosphere cold and distant. This, however, is how the book ends.
But he reckoned without the mob of his followers who had come to Washington City from ever part of the Union to witness his inauguration. They poured down Pennsylvania Avenue, streamed through the gates of the White House, found their way into the East Room, devoured the ice cream and cakes and orange punch. They climbed on the furniture to catch a glimpse of Andrew, soiling the damask chairs with their muddy boots, staining the carpets, breaking glasses and china, shouting and surging and pushing, all thousands of them, wanting to reach Andrew and embrace him.
He stood at the back of the room, imprisoned, yet feeling the first glint of happiness since Rachael’s death. These were the people; they had stood by him. They had loved Rachael, they had vindicated her. For that, he loved them, and would fight for them the rest of his days.
They were “the deplorables” of their own time. I was not the first to notice how similar Donald Trump is to Andrew Jackson, but it is more obvious to me now than it was before.
The video of the Battle of New Orleans above is all that I can find of the movie made from the book at the time. In the book, the battle is a minor moment in the story since it is mostly about her and not him. Lots about him, but almost everything is only seen through her own eyes. If she was not present, virtually all other events are only described where she is being told about them either by her husband or by others. A brilliant book and a story I had never even heard hinted at before. This, btw, is the flyer for movie that was made from the book.
Even more than before, I understand that Donald Trump is the Andrew Jackson of our own time.
And here is The Battle of New Orleans as sung by Johnny Horton:
As amazing to me as anything is that this is a compilation of the pictures with the words put together by Diana West which has had almost 18 million hits. If only American Betrayal had had as many hits and readers.
And then there is this, the story of how The Star Spangled Banner was written.
I may have been born and brought up in Canada where the War of 1812 has always had a different meaning. But I am at one with freedom and liberty and in the world today it means to side with the United States of America against its enemies both foreign and domestic.
The Jewish Arts quarter in Elsternwick
An artist’s impression of the proposed Jewish Arts Quarter in Elsternwick.
In the morning, on the way to the station I turn right onto Sinclair Street and there is Sholem Aleicham with all of the children playing in the playground. And then I turn left onto Selwyn Street which is where the Holocaust Centre is located. Same Jewish children exactly, only separated by place and date. It often spooks me out. This is from The Age today:‘Our own Lygon Street’: Jewish arts precinct set for Elsternwick.
Melbourne could get its own “Jewish Lygon Street”, showcasing the diaspora’s art, history and culture in the city’s south.
The proposed Jewish Arts Quarter, on Selwyn Street in Elsternwick, includes a new eight-storey building featuring exhibition, co-working and education spaces.
From Israeli dance workshops to Yiddish performances, art and craft markets, and street festivals, it is hoped the quarter will be a creative hub to learn, shop, eat, meet and schmooze.
Project co-chair Joe Tigel grew up blocks away from the Kadimah, where his father, a Holocaust survivor, threw himself into cultural life after arriving in Australia from Poland through Germany following the Second World War.
“The Kadimah was this massive repository of Jewish life because the post-Holocaust generation … came to see it as its cultural home,” he said. “It gave you a richness of being.
“We just enjoyed [a] celebration of being who we were and freedom.”
Mr Tigel, who is also the Kadimah’s vice-president, described the new quarter as an expansion and reimagining of the area that would provide a cultural home for generations to come.
He said while Melbourne had many Jewish religious and educational institutions, it lacked a hub that catered to the diversity of Australian Jews.
“We want to be a broad church and that is to give a sense of Jewish culture, creativity, expression, without dogma,” he said.
Mr Tigel hoped the precinct would attract all Melburnians, similar to how people travel to Oakleigh for Greek culture and to Footscray for Vietnamese experiences.
“This is an opportunity for our community to celebrate itself, but also for others to be welcome in it and start to get a feel for our food and culture,” he said.
Jewish Museum of Australia director Jess Bram said it was “phenomenally exciting” and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the organisations to offer an experience as a collective.
“It’s a reinvigoration of Jewish life and culture in one streetscape,” she said. “There’s a profound impact that will have, not only in the way that we engage with our audiences and the Jewish community, but more globally as well in terms of the storytelling that we can do.
“There’s going to be some magic that comes to Elsternwick.”
MP for Caulfield David Southwick said it would help fight growing anti-Semitism.
“The best way to combat hate is through education and experience,” he said. “It will teach the worst atrocity known to man … the Holocaust, but also show … how resilient the Jewish community has been. It’s creating our own Jewish Lygon Street.”
Glen Eira mayor Margaret Esakoff said although the proposal was yet to go before the council, it had been well received.
“It has certainly been something that we’ve envisioned as being appropriate for this particular part of Elsternwick,” she said.
“It should be something that ends up very valuable and vibrant.”
Residents have been rallying against another proposal for Selwyn Street, on the corner of Sinclair Street, where supermarket giant Woolworths wants to turn ABC’s old studios into twin towers, one 14 storeys high.
The proposal by the supermarket, which is before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, includes selling a 1000-square-metre space to the Jewish Arts Quarter at a reduced rate.
Stop the Elsternwick Towers member Kathy Deacon said the group was in favour of the Jewish quarter, but against the Woolworths development.
Locating a supermarket on a site that can only be serviced by trucks running along small side streets and opposite the School must be against every form of zoning regulation ever devised. We hardly need another supermarket in the area, but this would be unique. And in a perfect setting for what it wishes to become.
Whiteness are personal characteristics and not a skin colour
The poster is found here: Smithsonian’s Anti-White Propaganda. It supposedly provides the characteristics of “white culture”, which seems like an astonishingly racist term and generalisation. Even “people of colour” have now also adopted many of these character traits.
Yet for me, reading through the individual items, there does not seem to be a single negative characteristic. Most of it just seems to outline characteristics required for personal achievement in the modern world for anyone who wishes to get on with their own talents and abilities to achieve personal success. Whether anyone personally fits the description, unless they are a member of some dynasty or part of the ruling class where they have been born, their own wealth and wellbeing seem to be largely determined by whether the population they are embedded within have these characteristics, although some do seem to be unnecessary:
- hardly seems necessary to be from North America
- Christian religion seems optional – all religious traditions welcome
- female “subordination” again seems perfectly unnecessary
- “blonde, thin and Barbie” is plain idiotic
- not restricted to European traditions
- virtually no one thinks in terms of “win at all cost”
- introverts also succeed
The people who put this together are genuinely ignorant at a very deep level. Produce something that others will buy, or possess a skill that others will hire, and you can succeed anywhere within this culture.
Absent either some product provided to the market or some specialised skill, it is hard to earn a large personal income, but can still succeed as an employee. Many do exactly that, and it has nothing to do with “whiteness”.
For more, there is this, which really has been put out by the Smithsonian: Whiteness. These personal characteristics have nothing to do with the colour of one’s skin. They can make all the excuses they like, but skin colour makes no difference in the modern world.
We are surrounded by dangerous fools at every turn. The left is repulsive in almost every respect. How can anyone take such stupidity seriously?
It’s worth having a look at the comments thread at Instapundit.
Why is it legal for a state to order a lockdown?
Can this be legal? Why is this incompetent fool, Daniel Andrews, allowed to shut down an entire state on his own say so?
Here’s the latest rumour: Australia Victoria is considering Stage 4 coronavirus restrictions.
Melburnians have been put back under Stage 3 restrictions, but what would Stage 4 look like? Source: AAP
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Mandatory mask-wearing, additional testing, and forcing businesses to close their doors are just some of the potential restrictions on the cards if Stage 4 were to be introduced.
Seriously, how insane is this?
But after a fifth day of new case numbers over 200 since the second outbreak began, authorities have flagged these rules could be tightened.
200 new cases in a state with 6.5 million people. That is approximately 200/6,500,000 which is 0.003% of the population of Victoria.
Dan Andrews is an hysterical fool. He is a blight on the population of Victoria. Virtually everything that has gone wrong since CV began has been Daniel Andrew’s own personal responsibility.
There is now even a Victorian version of the virus that has been detected in Sydney. It should be named after Daniel Andrews which is all the immortality he deserves as the most incompetent Premier Victoria has ever had.
How can such an order be challenged? If under the present constitution we can do nothing, then we must amend the constitution. Does no one any longer care about their personal freedoms? Is Labor now the party of tyranny?
You are almost certainly not going to die from the Corona Virus but you might yet be bankrupted.
LET’S ALSO NOT FORGET THIS: Conroy ‘s ‘red underpants’ comments.
Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has defended a comment he made about Australian telecommunications bosses wearing red underpants on their heads.
Senator Conroy made the remarks in a presentation he gave in New York earlier this week.
A scratchy recording has emerged of Senator Conroy talking about telecommunications and the cost of broadband in Australia during the presentation.
“I’m in charge of spectrum auctions and if I say to you everyone in this room, ‘if you want to bid next week in our spectrum auction you better wear red underpants on your head’, you’ll be wearing them on your head,” he said.
“I have unfettered legal power.”
Senator Conroy made the comments comparing the Government’s position in the telecommunications industry in Australia to that in the United States.
“Not many regulators have quite that much power,” he said.
“But we don’t just have the power, we believe we have the responsibility to do something.”
So the Feds can tell us to wear whatever they like. Can the States? And can we do anything about it?
PDT latest press conference
Perhaps the most interesting part is that the President’s hair has gone completely white. Most of what he says you can find out in the media, but only through the distortions and outright lies the media inevitably brings.
Jeff Kennett and the mess in Victoria
Both are from Andrew Bolt. He does it so naturally you have to wonder why Michael O’Brien can’t do it. But Kennett understands what’s wrong with Daniel Andrews and beyond that can explain it.
Does anyone know what is really happening by reading the press?
Even discusses human rights! What’s that got to do with anything? Mostly about media lying.
Law of Markets 