Blogs

(my response to something posted on a forum):

Following last week's thoroughly unceremonious dumping of the more centrist Liberal Party prime minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, a popular meme has made a re-appearance. The meme states "In 1672, a mob of angry Dutch killed and ate their prime minister. Options.

Some highlights of Scott Morrison’s newish cabinet:

Marise Payne is the new Minister for Foreign Affairs. Payne was an obvious choice to fill the void left by Julie Bishop, having also spent 20 years in Parliament achieving bugger all.

As Minister for Education, Simon Birmingham cut university funding, increased fees and lowered the income level at which HECS debt repayments start. So, if nothing else, it will be a relief to students that he is now the Minister for Trade.

MMT is mostly the result of having a scientific approach to economics rather than an abstract theoretical approach. It's what you learn about economics if you look at facts and data rather than contemplating abstract hypotheticals.

Classical/Austrian/Chicago economists: "I wonder how money and taxes work? Let's suppose that Robinson Crusoe is stranded on a desert island with his friend Friday...."

Fiscal policy is monetary policy. You can't have an efficient and functional monetary system or market without taxation. The only feasible vision of market anarchism is geo-mutualist, where you have something like democratic confederalism, a sovereign money issuing bank of the people, and a system of taxation. Most modern anarchists think that geoism, Proudhonian mutualism, and democratic confederalism looks a lot like statism. Perhaps. The lines do blur. It's a spectrum, not a binary. The anarchist social democracy that I used to advocate really does look a lot like statism.

Worried about no one running the country while the Government squabbles over the leadership?

Worry no more.

Scott Morrison has been appointed to replace Peter Dutton’s as the minister in charge of Border Force, so the country of Nauru will continue running as normal.

With Dutton heading off to the backbench to pad out his CV and assist Tony Abbott with the sniping duties, Morrison has been given the opportunity to return to his favourite pastime of abusing children in Immigration detention.

This week in Canberra politicians on both sides of parliament made speeches condemning racism and congratulating each other for them.

This week on Nauru Medical staff reported a 12-year-old refugee boy on a hunger strike for more than a fortnight is close to death.

The boy has been held with his family on Nauru for five years since fleeing Iran. They have been assessed as refugees but refused resettlement in the USA, as are all refugees from Iran.

Lovely to hear both sides of Parliament condemn Fraser Anning’s repugnant speech today. It’s been a change from the rhetoric we’re use to hearing from Parliament in recent times.

We’ve heard George Christensen constantly attack Muslim immigrants calling for them to be banned. He’s also spoken to the far right-wing Q Society and appeared on a Neo-Nazi podcast.

Neo-republicanism, which tends towards social democracy, departs from classical republicanism in one important sense. Whereas traditional republicans wanted liberty for propertied white men, neo-republicans want liberty for all, which means universal healthcare, abolition of wage-slavery, etc.

I once knew a person on Facebook who was reasonably intelligent, a network engineer by profession, but alas has been infected by that strange political expression of methodological individualism. In other words, they were a Libertarian, of the capital 'L', good ol' U.S.A variety. Now I have some sympathy for such people, especially when what they are talking about in terms of civil rights and liberties, self-governance, and so forth.