Trickle-down economics

Budget will worsen inequality

The wealthy and corporations got a visit from Santa Claus, but the rest of us got Scrooged again on Budget night.

A windfall in tax income 鈥 derived in part from higher than expected royalties and corporate taxes in the mining sector, owing to higher prices for iron ore, coal and oil 鈥 provided ideal conditions for the government鈥檚 pre-election budget.

There was never a chance that Treasurer Scott Morrison would use this windfall to boost social spending 鈥 that just wouldn鈥檛 accord with the Malcolm Turnbull government鈥檚 鈥渢rickle down鈥 economics.

Does your view of the world tally with what the media are telling you?

I awoke this morning to Radio National telling me that United States President Donald Trump could be in line for a Nobel Peace Prize.

What the 鈥 is black white? Had I awoken in a dystopian parallel universe?

Last week, the creep was bombing Syria. This week he鈥檚 the world鈥檚 greatest peacemaker and British bookies are slashing the odds on Trump and Kim Jong-un getting a Nobel Prize!

Inequality report presents data to challenge the system

Yet another report has been released showing the capitalist 鈥渢rickle down鈥 promise is rubbish.

The 鈥 produced by the World Inequality Lab at the Paris School of Economics 鈥 busts the neoliberals鈥 myths about globalisation and privatisation working for everyone. It shows that the wealth gap is widening and, in some countries, very dramatically.

TPP: Good for profits - bad for people and planet

Negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) were finally completed in Atlanta on October 5. Final agreement on the treaty had been delayed for years as negotiating countries tried to protect their own industries while trying to gain market access in others. The TPP was negotiated by countries on the Pacific Rim: the US, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Chile, Brunei, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Vietnam and Japan. These countries represent about 40% of global GDP.

How Murdoch cares for the underprivileged

At a G20 meeting last October, Rupert Murdoch surprised some with a speech that criticised world leaders for, as it was described in his Australian newspaper, 鈥渢heir policies [that] have caused a 鈥榤assive shift鈥 in societies to benefit the super-rich with a legacy of social polarisation鈥. In particular, Murdoch criticised youth unemployment: 鈥淭he unemployment rate for Americans under the age of 25 is 13%, which sounds awful until I remember that in the eurozone that number is 23%, and it is twice as high in places like Spain and Greece, and parts of France and Italy.