It’s time, once again for the Monday Message Board. As usual, civilised discussion and absolutely no coarse language, please.
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John Quiggin 
It occurred to me that with the PM and Opposition leader attending soldier’s funerals, a rather ticklish problem may present itself in future. Quite unintentionally, private Jake Kovco and the bungling of the repatriation of his body, may have started something future PMs cannot finish. A bombing incident or firefight causing half a dozen or more casualties in one hit would immediately illustrate the foolishness of not having a bipartisan approach to the PM’s necessary absence at military funerals. Ditto Opposition leaders. It is the military only that are required at such funerals and we should all have had the good sense and foresight to see that.
Of course in the bad old days and no doubt in observance of local custom considering the current location, the fallen would have been buried within 24 hours locally by his comrades and irrespective of the cause of death, his direct superior would write a letter how he died admirably in the service of his country. Considering the additional trauma of the circumstances of Private Kovcos death and subsequent, there appeared much sense in that. No doubt Kyoto fans would have additional reason to readily concur, at least in part and in that regard there may be many in the military who’d likewise agree. Perhaps we should ask them?
since oz soldiers are implementing the will of the pm, howard’s presence at their funeral is appropriate.
the opposition leader should be pointing out that these death’s have little relevance to the nation’s defense, or none. but as long as ozzies think war is like football, kevvie has to be seen supporting the home team.
as casualties mount, this will become impractical for both, and then distasteful, finally an electoral liability. even ozzies get tired of going all the way with , although each generation goes through a period of glamorizing warriors and leaders. let’s hope this crop gets over it quickly.
insert: way with (insert american president’s name), although..
Wanted Economist
Is it possible to “give” non inflationary Tax cuts?
‘Real’ tax cuts are rare more often they just adjust for bracket creep But is it possible to give tax cuts that will not increase interest rates and the $’s value
EG
I don’t “GET” the 38c a litre on petrol in a country as vast as Oz.
Plus 10% GST on the final price
A tax on a tax- crazy.
Can business recover any of this?
Doesn’t it make EVERYTHING dearer farmer’s out puts, cartage, post,exports, ploughing, transport, airfares, postage,delivery of goods etc.
In a county as big as Australia do we really need such an inflationary tax?
It especially hits those in rural areas who have such long way to travel to get ANYWHERE.
I know I am being environmentally politically incorrect as we need to know how much or how little petrol we have left.
Certainly we need to be looking at the heaps of gas we (or chevron- Mobile) has at Gorgon and transfer to gas or to ethanol from Qld. sugar cane.
But
In the meantime, rather than giving the rich income tax cuts, wouldn’t it be better to get rid of some, or all, of this double-tax excise?
It would be deflationary reducing prices, whereas income tax cuts will be inflationary causing interest rates to rise, the dollar to rise, and exports to become less competitive and home repayments higher yet again.
I know we need to be Internationally competitive [I](Singapore does tax free deals with companies who set up their Asian head Offices there[/I]) with corporate taxes
BUT
Does business get a rebate on fuel?
I have looked on the web and got more and more confused.
The only political party talking about it is the nice, but boring, Australian Democrats.
EG
http://www.democrats.org.au/news/index.htm?press_id=5316&display=1
http://www.democrats.org.au/speeches/index.htm?speech_id=1914&display=1
And ponderous government sites
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://comparativetaxation.treasury.gov.au/content/report/images/10_Chapter_8-75.gif&imgrefurl=http://comparativetaxation.treasury.gov.au/content/report/html/10_Chapter_8-03.asp&h=306&w=568&sz=8&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=1kYG92BOb1feqM:&tbnh=72&tbnw=134&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtake%2Bthe%2Bexcise%2Boff%2Bpetrol%2BAustralia%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1B3GGGL_enAU242AU242
What do you think?
Is my economic thinking wrong?
Tired of politicians not listening to a word you say?
The Australian Government is thinking of setting up a ‘blog’ for the public to express their views on public policy.
Have your say on what form it should take here:
http://www.openforum.com.au/Survey
Yes, it’s for real.
Whereas there is visible ascendancy in the activities of extremists and incidents of terrorist attacks, including suicide bombings, IED [improvised explosive device] explosions, rocket firing and bomb explosions and the banding together of some militant groups have taken such activities to an unprecedented level of violent intensity posing a grave threat to the life and property of the citizens of Pakistan.
Whereas there has also been a spate of attacks on state infrastructure and on law enforcement agencies;
Whereas some members of the judiciary are working at cross purposes with the executive and legislature in the fight against terrorism and extremism thereby weakening the government and the nation’s resolve diluting the efficacy of its actions to control this menace;
Whereas there has been increasing interference by some members of the judiciary in government policy, adversely affecting economic growth, in particular;
Whereas constant interference in executive functions, including but not limited to the control of terrorist activity, economic policy, price controls, downsizing of corporations and urban planning, has weakened the writ of the government; the police force has been completely demoralised and is fast losing its efficacy to fight terrorism and intelligence agencies have been thwarted in their activities and prevented from pursuing terrorists;
Whereas some hard core militants, extremists, terrorists and suicide bombers, who were arrested and being investigated were ordered to be released. The persons so released have subsequently been involved in heinous terrorist activities, resulting in loss of human life and property. Militants across the country have, thus, been encouraged while law enforcement agencies subdued;
Whereas some judges by overstepping the limits of judicial authority have taken over the executive and legislative functions;
Whereas the government is committed to the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law and holds the superior judiciary in high esteem, it is nonetheless of paramount importance that the honourable judges confine the scope of their activity to the judicial function and not assume charge of administration;
Whereas an important constitutional institution, the Supreme Judicial Council, has been made entirely irrelevant and non est by a recent order and judges have, thus, made themselves immune from inquiry into their conduct and put themselves beyond accountability;
Whereas the humiliating treatment meted out to government officials by some members of the judiciary on a routine basis during court proceedings has demoralised the civil bureaucracy and senior government functionaries, to avoid being harassed, prefer inaction;
Whereas the law and order situation in the country as well as the economy have been adversely affected and trichotomy of powers eroded;
Whereas a situation has thus arisen where the government of the country cannot be carried on in accordance with the constitution and as the constitution provides no solution for this situation, there is no way out except through emergent and extraordinary measures;
And whereas the situation has been reviewed in meetings with the prime minister, governors of all four provinces and with the chairman joint chiefs of staff committee, chiefs of the armed forces, vice chief of army staff and corps commanders of the Pakistan army;
Now, therefore, in pursuance of the deliberations and decisions of the said meetings, I General Pervez Musharraf, Chief of Army Staff, proclaim emergency throughout Pakistan.
I hereby order and proclaim that the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan shall remain in abeyance.
This proclamation shall come into force at once
nick, they already know what we think. they spend lots of money to find out. then they do what they want, to the edge of insurrection at the ballot box.
the website is a lightening rod for children as much as an information gathering device. if you want to live in a society responsive to the welfare of most, find out what democracy means.
John,
Andrew Leigh has provided a link to a climate change debate in Agenda in which you participated:
http://andrewleigh.com/?p=1681 .
Aparently Agenda is now freely available to everyone online.
As an aside, the post by Andrew Leigh also mentions an article on indigenpous policy by Boyd Hunter and points out that Agenda is now an open-access journal.
Taliban saying: “The Americans have all the watches. We have all the time.”
It’s unlikely that Australia’s present military commitments to the Middle East will ever produce sufficient corpses to embarrass the appointments diary of either the PM or the Leader of HM’s opposition.
Its threatres are not that kind of war.
Rather, for Australia, they are wars where highly trained and expensively maintained soldiers are worn out chasing very cheap and infinitely replaceable shadows.
It’s just a matter of time before the Australian government (of whatever colour) declares victory and goes home. That’ll make everyone happy, including Australia’s enemies.
Singapore is to host a 1.5 Gigawatt/year photovoltaic manufacting facility:
http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story;jsessionid=89003658D0F2C500B04E7E86D01D07FD?id=50475
“Singapore — it’s the country where Norway’s Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (REC) has decided to build its new integrated solar manufacturing facility. Fully developed, the manufacturing complex will incorporate wafer, cell and module production facilities — and have a production capacity of up to 1.5 gigawatts (GW).
The decision to set up operations in Singapore was made after a comprehensive nine month screening process of more than 200 possible locations, followed by due diligence of close to 20 of them and finally negotiations with a handful of sites.”
Solar PV is starting to get serious – the world’s installed manufacturing capacity is increasing at a massive rate.
I recently heard it claimed that China is opening a new coal-fired power plant every 10 days. Forty PV fabs the size of the Singaporean plant could supply the same new generating capacity every year. A couple of hundred would be able to supply the entire world.
Dear friends and comrades;
Below is the opening few paragraphs of an article I have written on ‘the privatization of public space’. The article criticizes the narrowing down of civic activity into mere consumption: a phenomena inseparable from the growing domination of public space by privately owned shopping malls. The article argues that public space again needs to be delivered into the hands of the people: so that an independent civil society can thrive, and a culture of active citizenship thrive. The article has been published in On Line Opinion – where readers are able to freely comment on and criticize opinion pieces – and the author welcomes any contribution to the debate.
Follow the following link to find the full article:
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au:80/view.asp?article=6600
As indicated, the first few paragraphs are below. Follow the URL above to reach the entire article.
“The capacity for any nation to support a thriving, independent and autonomous public sphere is, at least in part, predicated upon the ready availability of public space, open for free use by the various groups and interests that comprise broader civil society. The Greek, ‘Agora’ for instance, refers to a public space for such purposes, much the same as the traditional ‘city square’. Traditionally, such public spaces were to be found at the heart of civil centres, allowing various groups to organise and articulate their ideas in an open forum.
Today, however, in our suburban centres, with the rise of sprawling shopping malls, the ‘public space’ of our suburban ‘civil centers’ has been privatised, and opportunities for expression limited to those with deep enough pockets to pay for the privilege. As a consequence, citizens groups, community organisations and social movements are excluded from any central role in the ‘everyday life’ experiences of most people.
The ‘civil sphere’ is being reduced merely to a sphere of consumption, with no scope for free, autonomous civil organisation. Modern shopping malls are awash with department stores, food courts, supermarkets and specialty stores. Lacking any other form of social outlet or forum, thousands flock to these sprawling malls on an almost daily basis to partake in consumption as atomized consumers.”…
Again – The full article can be found here:
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au:80/view.asp?article=6600
Does the very substantial rise in the price of oil and coal in the last few years mean we don’t need a carbon tax anymore to control co2 emissions!? Of course its not that simple, but I’m unclear what one needs to do in one’s design of carbon emissions trading (or a carbon tax) to cope with fluctuations in price due to short term supply problems
I’m surprised by the government’s claim that housing interest rates are lower than at any time in the Hawke-Keating years. I thought that post-recession they got lower in the early ’90s?
I’m even more suprised by Costello’s claim this morning that the previous government had never delivered a budget surplus. I wonder if he truly believes that or if he is being deliberately misleading.
I guess today’s journos were at school at the time. But the surpluses were from about 1988 to 1991 I think.
But does anyone know the answer to no. 15, above?
PK, although the cash rate was lower, the standard variable rate was higher – bank margins were higher then. That said, if banks add their own increase to match the RBA, the statement will become inoperative.
There are a lot of quite justified concerns about biofuels, their effect on food supplies and the environmental impacts.
But “biofuels” covers a vast range of different crops and while some are problematic (such as corn-derived ethanol), others have a lot of promise:
http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story;jsessionid=A2A9C2534F9CFFD609BF9E49D7006A5D?id=50480
Haiti’s Hopes for Biofuels Rest on Jatropha Plant
by Brian Wagner, Voice of America
The rising cost of foreign oil has governments and researchers around the world searching for cheaper and more sustainable forms of energy. In Haiti, the hope is centered on a native plant called jatropha curcas, which bears oily seeds that can be crushed and processed to produce diesel fuel for generators or vehicles.
The hardy shrub grows in a variety of climates, and already has helped launch biodiesel programs in India, Mali, Indonesia and other regions.
Kathleen Robbins, who has been promoting non-profit development programs in Haiti, says jatropha could work in the Caribbean nation, where two thirds of the population relies on farming.
“It [jatropha] has the potential, because it can be grown virtually anywhere, of creating a really positive economic impact in rural Haiti,” said Robbins.
Robbins says jatropha could provide a cheap source of fuel for rural areas that are cut off from the nation’s electricity grid. And she says, with a hectare of jatropha seeds selling for about $600, it could become an important new cash crop.
“Six hundred dollars a hectare could make a huge difference on a country where a lot of people are living on a dollar or less a day,” said Robbins.
Jatropha also provides a unique opportunity for Haiti, where soaring demand for charcoal from timber has lead to deforestation of much of the nation’s hilly terrain. Advocates of jatropha say it can thrive in the denuded land, and its small branches cannot be used for charcoal.
The challenge now is convincing farmers of the promise of jatropha, when planting the seed oil crop could mean displacing traditional food crops that are the main source of cash for many peasants.
Georges Valme, a Haitian-born American, thinks farmers should not have to make that choice. With a small personal investment, Valme has been helping to build nurseries in Haiti to produce thousands of jatropha seedlings as well as avocado, tomato and other food crops. Valme says farmers will need to plant both in their fields, because jatropha seedlings will not mature for at least three years.
Thanks John Q.
“Does the very substantial rise in the price of oil and coal in the last few years mean we don’t need a carbon tax anymore to control co2 emissions!?”
Good God, you mean leave it to the market to sort out? Suit yourself, but with Rann introducing legislation to force power utilities to pay 44c/kwhr for power from solar power to the grid, I’m into a decent size solar system and grabbing the Feds $8000 taxback and the money I save I’ll be pouring into coal shares http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22721497-5005962,00.html
Costello lies all the time and the media(and the ALP)let him get away with it.
Another one is his continuing to claim that he set the 2% – 3% inflation target.
The RBA set the target well before the current government came to power.
Labor government deficits and 17% interest rates is another example.
This is the crux of the problem with not having a universally agreed form of carbon taxing on all fossil fuels
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aCDV150sCm1I&refer=home
It demonstrates the total bankruptcy of the cap and trade approach to CO2 emissions control, in the event that different jurisdictions have large discrepancies in their caps. Essentially if any corporate entity faces higher restrictions and hence costs in one jurisdiction, it, or else it’s competitors will shift to the lowest cost jurisdiction. Furthermore, with the breaking news that BHP Billiton has made a takeover/amalgamation offer for Rio Tinto, as I forewarned, the race for ownership of the world’s resources has begun in earnest. There are huge monetary reserves ready to join the race and pounce now. The only way govts like ours can overcome this giant threat to sovereignty such globalised capital flows presents, is to move swiftly and totally to reliance on resource taxation, including carbon taxing. Either that, or they’ll have to turn inwards and insular in terms of foreign ownership and concomitant capital flows and that is now a preposterous proposition. I predict the swift and total end of income and company taxation, for total reliance on resource taxing now. Buy every resource stock you can lay your hands on in the interim now.
Observa – that article is basically nonsense.
Outside of a handful of oil-exporting countries such as Iran virtually nobody uses oil for power generation.
There is essentially zero substitutability between coal and oil. Coal is used almost exclusively for electricity generation and steel-making, oil almost exclusively for liquid fuels and petrochemicals.
Europeans aren’t importing US coal to substitute for expensive oil – they’re taking advantage of the low US dollar to substitute cheap US coal for most expensive coal from local mines and other suppliers such as South Africa and Australia.
Billiton, Rio, Woodside whatever. This is about to be the greatest bull run world stockmarkets have ever seen with that tsunami of cash sloshing about. It’s going to force on you all the third way answer to our major dilemmas, but more on that later.
It’s still meeting an insatiable total fossil fuel demand Ian and it won’t make a blip on Australia’s upward supply curve.
Cap and trade suffers the fatal flaw of being a jurisdictionally based control mechanism. Essentially Kyoto must fail if it goes down that path, rather than getting collective agreement on a carbon taxing regime and a level playing field for all players. Basically if we can’t agree on a universal carbon tax, then there’s Buckleys chance of agreeing on caps AND policing them to boot. That’s certainly been the experience so far. You see if the likes of China and India, et al, are allowed to carry on business as usual, under the quite reasonable grounds that their per capita outputs of GG are still way below those of the developed world, then rational players will simply move their dirty businesses there. Why would you wear the carbon cap and trade costs of gathering Oz iron ore and coal, etc together in Oz to make steel, when you could export it and do it cheaper in China? Doubly so if the Peoples Great Leap Forward Future Fund are the owners of the BHP Billitons and Rios and want to engage in some transfer pricing to speed up the process. Think of the SingTels and Dubai Ports here on a massive scale in the world’s resources market. The only answer Govts can possibly have to that loss of sovereignty and their tax base is resource and carbon taxing. Rex Connor was about a third of a century before his time.
As Mankiw pointed out so succinctly- cap and trade = carbon tax plus corporate welfare, but it won’t take much arithmetic or foresight for some to realise it can be no carbon tax plus Peoples Future Fund welfare.
http://www.gizmag.com.au/first-commercial-cellulosic-ethanol-plant-in-the-us/8316/
Cellulosic ethanol appears finally to be getting off the drawing board:
November 9, 2007 The production of ethanol as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuel throws up a number of challenges – in particular it has been argued that the amount of land required to produce crops for ethanol fuel production is too great, taking away land that is needed for food production. The use of cellulosic biomass to make commercial ethanol has been seen as a possible solution to this problem and now Range Fuels has now announced plans for the first commercial ethanol plant in the U.S. to use cellulosic biomass.
Advances in biotechnology mean that straw and other plant wastes can be transformed into what is called cellulosic ethanol. While chemically identical to ethanol produced from corn or soybeans, cellulosic ethanol exhibits energy content three times higher than corn ethanol and emits low levels of greenhouse gases. Unlike corn, wheat, rice and soybeans, cellulosic biomass doesn’t compete with food crops and estimates have put its level of production as high as 2,000 gallons of renewable petroleum per acre. Range Fuels’ Soperton Plant in Georgia will use wood and wood waste from Georgia’s pine forests and mills as its feedstock and will have the capacity to produce over one hundred million gallons of ethanol per year.
Range Fuels selected Georgia for its first plant based upon the state’s robust wood products industry supported by Georgia’s vast sustainable and renewable forest lands. The state’s environmental sensitivity and responsible stewardship of its forest lands have created resources that allow Georgia to support up to two billion gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol production. “Range Fuel’s production of cellulosic ethanol from wood materials will make Georgia a national leader in innovative alternative energy production,” said Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue. “This project, and others like it, will boost economic development in rural Georgia and reduce our state’s dependence on foreign oil.”
Might be interesting if Gunns scrap the paper mill for cellulosic ethanol Ian. Win win eh?
Why scrap it? Just use the offcuts to make ethanol as a value-added byproduct.