This will hurt me...

A grey old day in Hobart today, but it is anything but grey in my heart! I thought after yesterday’s tale of poor parenting and the outrage that it prompted, I’d best switch on the positive vibe and look on the bright side of life. In order to do that, I felt it appropriate to post some lovely blossoms that I photographed right next to the bus stop this morning Congratulations are in order for Paul Krugman, on his receipt of the Nobel Prize for Economics. Krugman will be a familiar name to many – even those not interested in the dismal science , but I will forever remember him for helping convince me of the positives that can emerge from the on the liberalisation of trade, and more generally to the multiplicity of impacts related to the globalisation of capital. His work on Mexico and the Philippines in the mid-1990s, in particular, helped me broaden my outlook considerably and helped lead to the reconstruction of a lad who at that point was a wholly unreconstructed social democrat ...

The title today is a favourite of mine from Abe Lincoln (the President, although it does rather sound like the astute gentleman from Brookville, Ohio ). I think that captures very well my feelings toward the now (for the most part) privatised Australian telecommunications giant Telstra . Once the envy of the world, they are now renowned for their poor service. Let’s just say that the transition from bloated relic of an era where state ownership was the go into a competitive field where dynamic responses to technological change is crucial in maintaining relevance has been somewhat difficult for the artist formally known as Telecom Australia. Certainly this Geilston Bay resident feels so, anyway! I myself would have written "Typical Bloody Telstra !!! ", but I am known for the odd dramatic flourish now and again... [Now don’t forget today’s question , there is a lot riding on this...]

A number of days ago I spoke about a concept often used in teaching political science called The Tragedy of the Commons . To illustrate, I used one of my stock examples, that of whaling. Today, I could not help but photograph another of my hoard of examples to demonstrate public policy problems, which may be more readily apparent to people the world over. The building in which my office is located houses a number of businesses. Each floor of the converted warehouse has a small kitchenette, shared between offices. There are just three offices on the top floor, ours; a barrister/solicitor office; and an IT crowd who seems to do some sort of animation. As one might expect, the barrister and staff are all very neat and tidy, and for the most part our lot buy their lunch and don’t really use the kitchenette. I do, however, enjoy an instant coffee on a cold morning, so regularly use the kettle. That is generally the extent of my usage. The IT crowd, predictably, consists of a group of young,...

I was looking at this photo essay from Foreign Policy magazine this morning, and one photo struck me in particular. It essentially was someone packing a briefcase full of cash. As I mentioned yesterday , with inflation running at over 100,000 percent, Zimbabwe's rate of inflation is currently the highest in the world. Now, like most I suspect, I'm struggling to get my head around what that means, and its broader implications for people. Using a couple of different online currency convertors, ZWD$1 million fetches roughly: AUS $37 or US $34 or Euro €21. Now this is achieved using flat currency transaction on market rate. In the real world, Zimbabweans would have to take whatever the black marketers are offering. The scantest of research reveals that the best that they might hope for out of that same ZWD $1 million is somewhere between US $3 to US $5. To be totally honest with you, I still can't get my head around it. Surely wages cannot keep up with that sort of inflation....

The always amusing Clarke and Dawe weigh in on the state of the economy. Well worth a look!

I was looking at the Marginal Revolution site today and stumbled across an interesting little post (and subsequent discussion) by economist Tyler Cowen on Robert Nozick 's famous "Wilt Chamberlain" argument around tolerable wealth and taxation. For the uninitiated, Nozick's line was that if people were prepared to pay to see Wilt play, then he was entitled to higher compensation because of his demonstrably superior ability. Nozick used Chamberlain as a real-life example to demonstrate that non-entitlement theories of justice (most pointedly, that of John Rawls ) were inherently unjust. Now, as my earlier stated interest in both the Young Hegalians and the Frankfurt School probably indicate, I obviously take some issue with Nozick's assumptions. Broadly identifying myself as a 'reconstructed' social democrat (with a pragmatic streak), I found myself locking horns on numerous occasion with my favourite undergrad lecturer. Now, despite our philosophical ...

This is a poster that appeared during the Spanish Civil War, seems to be encouraging roosters and their girlfriends to have more and more little chicks. Perhaps there was some grand plan to train and arm these revolutionary offspring and send them to the front to tackle Franco and his troops. Or perhaps there wasn't. Anyway, I am a sucker for chickens, especially cute little fluffy ones, and I feel that this is a good companion piece to the last ad that I posted, which I lovingly titled “Soviet Cock” . I’ve no doubt that a crucial factor undermining the eventual goal of communist domination of the entire globe was not enough chickens. Or at the very least, a lack of revolutionary zeal in the chickens that were produced. Now if you doubt my reasoning, and are actually interested in the real story behind this poster, the title maybe gives it away. “Intensificar la reproducción es hacer obra revolucionaria” pretty much translates as “Intensifying reproduction is revolutionary work”. ...