Remember the awesome trailer for Gravity? The movie has opened in Venice, to pretty much ecstatic reviews.
It's a must see for me....
Friday, August 30, 2013
Labor policies people might like, if they ever heard about them
Amongst all the "it's a disaster!" analysis coming from News Ltd and Fairfax and now even Lenore Taylor at the Guardian (Lenore, pull yourself together!), it seems to me there are some policy things that are more Labor than Coalition, and which most common sense people would support, with little need for explanation:
1. an emphasis on high speed rail from Sydney to Canberra, and then perhaps Sydney to Newcastle. The Sydney to Canberra route is particularly apt - the distance seems too short for a plane flight, it takes too long to get through the outskirts of Sydney in a car, and people are always going to need to travel there. If the train connected to Sydney Airport, it would be perfect. Why doesn't someone commit to that, at least?
2. the commitment to bring some Navy ship construction forward at Williamstown. Everyone thinks we should be able to build ships, don't they? It's manufacturing, it's a bit high-techy; it's the next best thing to having an aircraft industry.
3. the support to the car industry. Everyone sensible likes the fact that we can design and build cars, and I gather that lots of countries give support to car builders in one way or another. The Coalition presumably thinks it is quite OK that we attempt to emulate New Zealand, which is trying to build an economy on making frozen food, soap and Hobbit films, as far as I can make out. The way the Coalition is going about the FBT has let them off the media scrutiny hook on this one - it's a disgrace.
The other odd thing is that ideas which Rudd has flown seem to be being treated in media talk as if they would actually happen - the Northern Territory tax reduction, and the wholesale removal of the Navy from Garden Island. In fact, these were kite flying exercises and don't need to be treated all that seriously. There is plenty of scope for them not to happen at all, or on reduced scale.
But no, it's a disaster.
1. an emphasis on high speed rail from Sydney to Canberra, and then perhaps Sydney to Newcastle. The Sydney to Canberra route is particularly apt - the distance seems too short for a plane flight, it takes too long to get through the outskirts of Sydney in a car, and people are always going to need to travel there. If the train connected to Sydney Airport, it would be perfect. Why doesn't someone commit to that, at least?
2. the commitment to bring some Navy ship construction forward at Williamstown. Everyone thinks we should be able to build ships, don't they? It's manufacturing, it's a bit high-techy; it's the next best thing to having an aircraft industry.
3. the support to the car industry. Everyone sensible likes the fact that we can design and build cars, and I gather that lots of countries give support to car builders in one way or another. The Coalition presumably thinks it is quite OK that we attempt to emulate New Zealand, which is trying to build an economy on making frozen food, soap and Hobbit films, as far as I can make out. The way the Coalition is going about the FBT has let them off the media scrutiny hook on this one - it's a disgrace.
The other odd thing is that ideas which Rudd has flown seem to be being treated in media talk as if they would actually happen - the Northern Territory tax reduction, and the wholesale removal of the Navy from Garden Island. In fact, these were kite flying exercises and don't need to be treated all that seriously. There is plenty of scope for them not to happen at all, or on reduced scale.
But no, it's a disaster.
Pretty much how I see it
From The Economist:
The choice between a man with a defective manifesto and one with a defective personality is not appealing—but Mr Rudd gets our vote, largely because of Labor’s decent record. With deficits approaching, his numbers look more likely to add up than Mr Abbott’s. Despite his high-handed style, Mr Rudd is a Blairite centrist. A strategic thinker about Asia, he has skills that will be useful, especially as Australia has to balance its economic dependence on China with its security dependence on America. It would be nice if he revived his liberal approach to asylum-seekers. And, who knows, he may even live up to his promise to be less vile to his colleagues.
An upset possum
The Possum who runs Pollytics is very cranky about the reporting of the costing issue yesterday. It is fun to read an argument between two furry animals:
Surely the problem that Possum alludes to is the "sound bite-ese" which is used in all political reporting, but particularly at election time. That elevates an exaggerated bit of rhetoric into an unqualified claim, and both sides of politics both use it, and are victims of it, all the time. (Even Malcolm Turnbull, who has been happy to repeat a claimed $90 billion plus estimate for the NBN many times, completely without running through the questionable assumptions.) But this time, an out of context Rudd made some public servants worry that people might think they had been used inappropriately, and they made it clear they hadn't.
Meanwhile, the fact that the Coalition is playing silly buggers with paper that is already in their hands gets ignored in headlines.
Surely the problem that Possum alludes to is the "sound bite-ese" which is used in all political reporting, but particularly at election time. That elevates an exaggerated bit of rhetoric into an unqualified claim, and both sides of politics both use it, and are victims of it, all the time. (Even Malcolm Turnbull, who has been happy to repeat a claimed $90 billion plus estimate for the NBN many times, completely without running through the questionable assumptions.) But this time, an out of context Rudd made some public servants worry that people might think they had been used inappropriately, and they made it clear they hadn't.
Meanwhile, the fact that the Coalition is playing silly buggers with paper that is already in their hands gets ignored in headlines.
Free Advertising
Having paid for a digital subscription to Fairfax, I have put the App on the Samsung and iPad at home.
I had previously used the apps without paying for the subscription, and found the advertising intrusive and the navigation a bit annoying.
The subscription makes it a much, much better experience, and my wife is happy that she a supply of suduko.
Go on. Do it.
I had previously used the apps without paying for the subscription, and found the advertising intrusive and the navigation a bit annoying.
The subscription makes it a much, much better experience, and my wife is happy that she a supply of suduko.
Go on. Do it.
Headlines, headlines
Fairfax has had its fair share of "it's a disaster for Rudd!" headlines this campaign too; often with the headline sounding more extreme than the article itself.
And Tim Colebatch, who I have been quoting a lot over the last 12 months, actually said at the Hockey/Bowen press club debate on Tuesday that he assumed Hockey would be Treasurer.
So is it much surprise that he is running a "it's an absolute disaster!" column today about the costings issue yesterday?
It's interesting this self fulfilling prophesy business. I suggested a couple of times at places like John Quiggin's blog that if you keep talking down how Gillard is a failure, of course you're helping the public perception of that and assuring a Labor loss, even when you think the Coalition would be the true disaster.
It's also interesting how clearly David Koch on Sunrise this morning was doing what I would do - telling Hockey, who has transformed himself into a unlikeable s*#% for the purpose of getting government, that the real problem here is that the Coalition is sitting on papers which they claim support them, and could release them anytime to support their argument. The Coalition is hiding its assumptions, except, it would appear, to selected friendly journalists.
Mind you, Rudd himself did this in 2007. He faked his way into government, and Abbott and Hockey are doing exactly the same this time.
I was unhappy in 2007; I am very unhappy now, because the Coalition will seek to disassemble some decent policies and replace them with crap ones.
And Tim Colebatch, who I have been quoting a lot over the last 12 months, actually said at the Hockey/Bowen press club debate on Tuesday that he assumed Hockey would be Treasurer.
So is it much surprise that he is running a "it's an absolute disaster!" column today about the costings issue yesterday?
It's interesting this self fulfilling prophesy business. I suggested a couple of times at places like John Quiggin's blog that if you keep talking down how Gillard is a failure, of course you're helping the public perception of that and assuring a Labor loss, even when you think the Coalition would be the true disaster.
It's also interesting how clearly David Koch on Sunrise this morning was doing what I would do - telling Hockey, who has transformed himself into a unlikeable s*#% for the purpose of getting government, that the real problem here is that the Coalition is sitting on papers which they claim support them, and could release them anytime to support their argument. The Coalition is hiding its assumptions, except, it would appear, to selected friendly journalists.
Mind you, Rudd himself did this in 2007. He faked his way into government, and Abbott and Hockey are doing exactly the same this time.
I was unhappy in 2007; I am very unhappy now, because the Coalition will seek to disassemble some decent policies and replace them with crap ones.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
The Coalition trusts Rupert, but not you?
So, according to The Australian, Treasury is perhaps a bit peeved that Rudd is using some figures they did before the election was called to contradict Coalition costings of savings. But, says Treasury, their work wasn't a true costing of Coalition policy: it was more a hypothetical exercise and different assumptions would give different results.
OK.
But here's the thing: The Australian is saying it has seen the Parliamentary Budget Office costings on public servant cuts that Abbott and Hockey are refusing to release. (Maybe next week you'll some of their work?):
I think I should assume that the Coalition is leaking to Rupert what they won't give directly to the public.
How ridiculous is that?
OK.
But here's the thing: The Australian is saying it has seen the Parliamentary Budget Office costings on public servant cuts that Abbott and Hockey are refusing to release. (Maybe next week you'll some of their work?):
The costing, seen by The Australian, assumes that natural attrition would see the size of the federal public service cut by 6,000 positions by June 2014 and another 6,000 by September 2015.So who leaked this to The Australian - the surest source of a sympathetic account for the Coalition that is possible?
I think I should assume that the Coalition is leaking to Rupert what they won't give directly to the public.
How ridiculous is that?
It is done....
Inspired by the appalling standards of the Murdoch press (and, I have to admit, the paywall that kicks in after 30 visits in a month) I have just for the first time ever paid for a digital news subscription to Fairfax.
Go on, join me. Keep alternatives to Murdoch alive (at least while ever Gina isn't telling them what to write.)
But please - don't pay for the AFR with their Murdoch escapee Stutchbury. He should not have been let into the place.
New subscribers will be sent my entertaining video "Hey Kids! Make your own Tony Abbott Voodoo Doll!" in time for the election.
Go on, join me. Keep alternatives to Murdoch alive (at least while ever Gina isn't telling them what to write.)
But please - don't pay for the AFR with their Murdoch escapee Stutchbury. He should not have been let into the place.
New subscribers will be sent my entertaining video "Hey Kids! Make your own Tony Abbott Voodoo Doll!" in time for the election.
Short answer: no, they don't
Do Hockey's clean energy cuts add-up? | Business Spectator
Read it for some explanation of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, and how Coalition claims of where money will be saved is on very, very shaky grounds.
Read it for some explanation of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, and how Coalition claims of where money will be saved is on very, very shaky grounds.
Andrew's band of twits
Cooling ocean blamed for hiding missing warming | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog
You have to wonder: does Andrew Bolt take pride in being the ringleader for a band of followers who don't have a clue about science, and aren't bright enough to even realise they don't have a clue about science?
Read some of the comments following the article for illustration. It's gobsmacking.
Mind you, I reckon Judith Curry is about to get some heavy smackdown from other climate scientists for her [mis] interpretation of the implications of the study, too.
Sometimes, it's quite OK to not understand
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub has noted this letter from the Financial Times:
From Mr. K N Al-Sabah.Which is a relief. I mean, my lack of knowledge of the geo-political significance of this civil war is now fully justified as being one of those things just a handful of my fellow citizens probably understand. (And note, the letter doesn't even mention Russia backing Assad.)
Sir,
Iran is backing Assad. Gulf states are against Assad!
Assad is against Muslim Brotherhood. Muslim Brotherhood and Obama are against General Sisi.
But Gulf states are pro-Sisi! Which means they are against Muslim Brotherhood!
Iran is pro-Hamas, but Hamas is backing Muslim Brotherhood!
Obama is backing Muslim Brotherhood, yet Hamas is against the US!
Gulf states are pro-US. But Turkey is with Gulf states against Assad; yet Turkey is pro-Muslim Brotherhood against General Sisi. And General Sisi is being backed by the Gulf states!
Welcome to the Middle East and have a nice day.
K N Al-Sabah
London EC4, UK
History to drink to
Gin and tonic kept the British Empire healthy: The drink’s quinine powder was vital for stopping the spread of malaria. - Slate Magazine
I didn't realise the full extent of quinine's historical importance:
I didn't realise the full extent of quinine's historical importance:
Quinine powder quickly became critical to the health of the empire. By the 1840s British citizens and soldiers in India were using 700 tons of cinchona bark annually for their protective doses of quinine. Quinine powder kept the troops alive, allowed officials to survive in low-lying and wet regions of India, and ultimately permitted a stable (though surprisingly small) British population to prosper in Britain’s tropical colonies. Quinine was so bitter, though, that British officials stationed in India and other tropical posts took to mixing the powder with soda and sugar. “Tonic water,” of a sort, was born.
And another bit of quirky history from the article:Still, tonic water was basically a home brew until an enterprising Brit named Erasmus Bond introduced the first commercial tonic water in 1858—perhaps not coincidentally, the very same year the British government ousted the East India Co. and took over direct control of India, following the so-called Sepoy Mutiny, a violent rebellion and counterattack.
Bond’s new tonic was soon followed by Schweppes’ introduction, in 1870, of “Indian Quinine Tonic,” a product specifically aimed at the growing market of overseas British who, every day, had to take a preventative dose of quinine. Schweppes and other commercial tonics proliferated both in the colonies and, eventually, back in Britain itself.
Quinine proved as critical to the battle over the Pacific in the second world war as it had to the struggle over India. As Amy Stewart notes in her new book, The Drunken Botanist, Japan seized Java, the home of huge cinchona plantations, from the Dutch in 1942, cutting off nearly all of the Allied supply of quinine. The last American plane to fly out of the Philippines before it fell to the Japanese carried some 4 million quinine seeds. Unfortunately, the effort was largely in vain: The trees grew too slowly to provide sufficient quinine to the Allied war effort.
Some more skepticism needed
Abbott to hit business with hikes
Apart from Colebatch's column linked above, there seems to be little in the way of commentary about on whom the Coalition's claimed savings are falling.
In fact, there seems to be little skepticism about the claim that the Paid Parental Leave plan would actually save money in the long run. To give just one example, I'm pretty sure that in the summary Hockey provided, it made mention of savings from double dipping being reduced in State public service schemes. How does that work? Why is a saving to a State budget being credited to a Federal bottom line?
But back to Colebatch:
Apart from Colebatch's column linked above, there seems to be little in the way of commentary about on whom the Coalition's claimed savings are falling.
In fact, there seems to be little skepticism about the claim that the Paid Parental Leave plan would actually save money in the long run. To give just one example, I'm pretty sure that in the summary Hockey provided, it made mention of savings from double dipping being reduced in State public service schemes. How does that work? Why is a saving to a State budget being credited to a Federal bottom line?
But back to Colebatch:
The Coalition will pay for its campaign promises by raising taxes on business, cutting support for middle-income and low-income earners, and cutting environmental programs, under the list of savings given out by shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey and shadow finance minister Andrew Robb....
The decision to hit business - mostly small business - with $4.6 billion of tax hikes was politically shrewd. Not one business lobby came forward on Wednesday to criticise the Coalition's new taxes on its members. They would have screamed had Labor done the same.
The Coalition made its riskiest cuts known long ago, and they don't seem to have hurt it.
The savings claimed are surprisingly large - $4.6 billion from axing the Schoolkids' Bonus, $3.7 billion from scrapping superannuation contributions for low-income earners and $5.2 billion from cutting 12,000 public service jobs.
These claimed savings are higher than previous estimates, even by the Coalition. It was a surprise to learn that the Coalition will over-fund its controversial paid parental leave scheme by $1.1 billion in its first two years. The policy it released two weeks ago made no such claim.
There are some errors in Hockey's costings. Innovation Minister Kim Carr pointed out that the Coalition could not claw back the $680 million it claims from axing two business programs without breaking contracts: the money it already committed.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Save a bit of money now, pay more later
Can Australia afford the Coalition’s NBN?
No doubt the writer is biased, but this article does set out in pretty good detail the reasons I have read elsewhere why the Coalition's planned revision to the NBN is not technically or financially a good idea.
No doubt the writer is biased, but this article does set out in pretty good detail the reasons I have read elsewhere why the Coalition's planned revision to the NBN is not technically or financially a good idea.
Hint to Kevin Rudd No2
Kevin, a politician who has a video in circulation containing what seems like 5 minutes of swearing to the camera and room in frustration at not being as good at something as you thought you were should not talk about the poor temperament of your opponent.
The way to attack Tony Abbott on how he would conduct foreign affairs is to note that he's never shown much interest in the topic, as Peter Costello said about him with respect to economics; he would take over-simplified lines with no nuance ("Go Israel!" would be the guiding principle for anything to do with the Middle East, just as it is with the Tea Party), and he keeps putting his foot in his mouth with odd comments on all matters. (What was that line about "maybe you shouldn't be there" in reference to being king hit in Kings Cross at 2 am all about?)
The way to attack Tony Abbott on how he would conduct foreign affairs is to note that he's never shown much interest in the topic, as Peter Costello said about him with respect to economics; he would take over-simplified lines with no nuance ("Go Israel!" would be the guiding principle for anything to do with the Middle East, just as it is with the Tea Party), and he keeps putting his foot in his mouth with odd comments on all matters. (What was that line about "maybe you shouldn't be there" in reference to being king hit in Kings Cross at 2 am all about?)
Well, that's odd
I could have sworn I heard Judith Sloan on the Drum last week saying something about how she was writing a column about all the ways she considered the Coalition's Paid Parental Leave scheme a bad idea.
So what do we get today? A Sloan column that boosts the suggestion that the PPL will not actually cost any money to the budget at all! So, does that mean you actually like the policy now, Judith? One could be excused for thinking so. (And by the way, you caused a bit of a stir a year or two ago amongst Labor types by talking about how it probably made sense to increase unemployment benefits. I haven't seen that mentioned in an Australian column for a long time - or did it ever appear there?)
The headline to her column, which she presumably did not come up with personally, is of the "Ha! Take that Rudd!" variety, which is very, very popular at the Australian at the moment.
If a photo like this was real, the Murdoch headlines would be:
So what do we get today? A Sloan column that boosts the suggestion that the PPL will not actually cost any money to the budget at all! So, does that mean you actually like the policy now, Judith? One could be excused for thinking so. (And by the way, you caused a bit of a stir a year or two ago amongst Labor types by talking about how it probably made sense to increase unemployment benefits. I haven't seen that mentioned in an Australian column for a long time - or did it ever appear there?)
The headline to her column, which she presumably did not come up with personally, is of the "Ha! Take that Rudd!" variety, which is very, very popular at the Australian at the moment.
If a photo like this was real, the Murdoch headlines would be:
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Looks familiar
Record-breaking floods in Russia force thousands to evacuate - ABC News
The story carries this photo, which looks remarkably like much of Australia in 2011:
Actually, the long buildings also put me in mind of the scenery in the zombie infected world of DayZ, which I have played a bit with my son in the last 6 months. I've never written an appreciation of that game - I should do so one day.
The story carries this photo, which looks remarkably like much of Australia in 2011:
Actually, the long buildings also put me in mind of the scenery in the zombie infected world of DayZ, which I have played a bit with my son in the last 6 months. I've never written an appreciation of that game - I should do so one day.
Some good Krugman
This Age of Bubbles - NYTimes.com
I've been forgetting to check in on Paul Krugman. (How I wish he lived here for some clear and erudite commentary on what passes for economic policy in the Coalition now!)
The column at the link above notes the renewed economic worries in India and Brazil. He doesn't think it will cause a world meltdown, but sounds slightly nervous. (He expressed worries about China recently too. From a lay man's point of view, the publicity that it has recently had with its "ghost" empty cities has certainly made me think - surely this is a bad sign.)
But he writes with common sense on most topics he touches. Have a look at his post on Microsoft and Apple, for example. I feel pretty much the same.
He's also taken delight in noting that changes to Singaporean health system will no longer make it the free market poster child for health that US Republicans used to claim it was.
As for his summary of the current state of American politics:
I've been forgetting to check in on Paul Krugman. (How I wish he lived here for some clear and erudite commentary on what passes for economic policy in the Coalition now!)
The column at the link above notes the renewed economic worries in India and Brazil. He doesn't think it will cause a world meltdown, but sounds slightly nervous. (He expressed worries about China recently too. From a lay man's point of view, the publicity that it has recently had with its "ghost" empty cities has certainly made me think - surely this is a bad sign.)
But he writes with common sense on most topics he touches. Have a look at his post on Microsoft and Apple, for example. I feel pretty much the same.
He's also taken delight in noting that changes to Singaporean health system will no longer make it the free market poster child for health that US Republicans used to claim it was.
As for his summary of the current state of American politics:
If you haven’t been reading the political blogs much — say, Greg Sargent — you may not have a sense of just how dire the political environment is. But here’s the situation. You have a Republican base that truly believes that guaranteed health insurance is the work of the devil. Meanwhile, there’s a Republican majority in the House that owes its position not to broad popular support — Democrats actually got more votes in 2012 — but to a district map that concentrates Democrats in a minority of districts, which in turn means that most Rs are more afraid of Tea Party challengers than outraged independents.How depressing...
And the debt ceiling looms, with many ideologues assuring the base that Obama can be bullied into gutting his main achievement, which he won’t.
Everyone seems to assume that this will be worked out somehow, but nobody has even a halfway plausible story about how this will be done. Default looks like a real risk.
Hint to Kevin Rudd
Stop announcing things that appear to be, or are, all your own idea.
That was the problem with you the first time around.
You must emphasise the consultative process by which you came to a policy or initiative. Assuming you did consult.
And if you didn't consult with more than Bruce Hawker or your daughter or son - do not announce the policy or initiative at all.
That was the problem with you the first time around.
You must emphasise the consultative process by which you came to a policy or initiative. Assuming you did consult.
And if you didn't consult with more than Bruce Hawker or your daughter or son - do not announce the policy or initiative at all.
Piffle
Why Abbott is right to abandon surplus promise
Geoffrey Garrett is saying Tony Abbott is doing the right thing in abandoning a promise to get the budget back into surplus in a few years.
What piffle.
Everyone knows that the "budget emergency" will be declared worse than they thought, and that greater public service and spending cuts than claimed will be made in all of the areas a large slab of the Coalition thinks it is having a "cultural war" with - climate change, science generally, education - in particular.
Abbott should be given credit for shifting on nothing in the run up to this election.
Geoffrey Garrett is saying Tony Abbott is doing the right thing in abandoning a promise to get the budget back into surplus in a few years.
What piffle.
Everyone knows that the "budget emergency" will be declared worse than they thought, and that greater public service and spending cuts than claimed will be made in all of the areas a large slab of the Coalition thinks it is having a "cultural war" with - climate change, science generally, education - in particular.
Abbott should be given credit for shifting on nothing in the run up to this election.
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