Gorgritch_Umie_Killa @ Gorgritch_umie_killa @aussie.zone

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20

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351

Joined

2 yr. ago

Okay. If i haven't already made my first 'old person' comment. This definitely is it.

Who can't read cursive?

Too true. But, in this case, the ABC deserve the boot shoved in. It was such a poor reactionary decision. All because the word 'Lawyer' is so scary to management.

Just went and found a bit more detail on Saul Eslake's reasoning behind his comments. He's usually worth listening to. I found the essay below was quite illuminating. He has a good argument. Especially this passage,

"In particular, having been invited by the Terms of Reference to consider whether the long-standing HFE principles created “disincentives for reform, including reforms to enhance revenue raising capacities or drive efficiencies in spending”

This is exactly the, 'dole bludgers are incentivised not to work' argument. It's laughably being applied to whole States in this case which makes it attrocious and shameful of the WA Government to advance that pop-politics line.

Three points i still have an issue with are,

1. I wish he'd addressed the nature of how the GST is calculated, which i've previously been led to believe is the real issue with GST for a State like WA. From memory the ATO distribute amounts based on the average, (can't remember the average of what, maybe state income?), of the last three years. For more predictable economies this is fine, and probably a great idea, but for an economy that can turn from great to poo within a few months, like WA's, it means the GST isn't reactive in a timely period.
2. I don't know that he's right to tie the GST so closely to population size though, the distances in larger states do add cost, (ie transport infrastructure).
3. Finally I also don't know whether GSP is a good measure to use here. I worry that number is derived from an approach that is susceptible to the classic mining rush allegory. 'If you want to get rich in a mining rush, be the one selling the shovels'. In other words, because activity is high, cash is circulating quickly and pockets are lined doesn't mean prices are sustainable in a downturn. Prices have been high here since the mining construction boom, (around 15 years ago), and due to low competition and distances, they tend to remain at the higher levels once there. Of course Australia in general suffers from this. But the peaks and troughs are hopefully less pronounced in States less dependent on raw materials wealth.

Eslake's reasoning for GST deal being worst public policy decision this Century. ~40min read. pdf link also on page.

Comments on Danielle Wood Productivity Commission Appointment, Nov '23

You can get it riding... you can get it slidin... for a hard earned thirst....

If thats the case, then the wants of artists clashes with the wants of the payers to beautify the wall

From the article linked it seemed like he went looking for someone to vandalise his work

So, the artist 'mic' wanted someone to religiously challenge his work.

I don't mind that as art goes. Bit sensationalist. But i hope the artist didn't get paid a heap of money to beautify a grey cement wall only for the place to end up with a grey cement wall.

I've thought for a little while now that we should treat it like ANZAC day. The beginning of the day is reserved for ceremony and respectful reflection, which is followed by gradually more social things, like a community breakfast, then by lunch a more celebratory tone is adopted.

In this way the day comes round to identifying with all the emotions someone may hold in themselves about this place.

Whats the mural?

Hmm, you raise a good point. In the last few days the conversation has also been about colesworth. Maybe they're thinking about a more general corporations tax increase, or some kind of fine regime in situations where market power is seen to be being abused.

Me, i favour closing corporations tax loop-holes and increasing corporations tax a bit. As far as stage 3 goes, keep most of it, because bracket creep has happened. But reintroduce the removed tax bracket so the end result is everybodies income tax moves up in line with the tax we were paying years ago.

Yeah no, of course. I understand. For me it's a problem i never considered with all those stadiums. The worst the ones over here would get is like hail once a year, or a precipitation of Queenslanders every so often ;p

Yeah theres that comradery. "Tailgating with more sweat" thats such a vivid description lol! You need to be on these guys marketing team with lines like that.

$20/hour is actually a fairly reasonable hourly rate for the US isn't it. I'm just going off min wage being $15 in a lot of States now

Wow. That takes self serve to whole other level. I get the stadiums are big, but that kind of request needs to come with consideration, even reduced ticket prices could do the teick if they're asking fans.

Or yeah, they could just pay fair value for services rendered, i know alien concept isn't it! Lol

Are attendees going along with it?

I haven't been to the NFL, but friends took me to a baseball game while i's there. It was a Mariners game, very fun night. But i felt the pressure to spend on everything as soon as you walked in, it felt like the stadium was incompetition against each specatator over the contents of your wallet.

Luigi Zingales, a Chicago University Economist, recently did a Q&A where he talked about the two meanings of competition that the English language roles into the one word, that of competitions to defeat an opponent, and competitions creating something in kind. There are parts of the community that have opted for the first definition and act in all times against their opponents, as you say "weaponized greed". What they don't realise is what makes the market a force for good is acting with competitors, following the second defintion.

A good example is the downtown nightlife district of a city. Alone those bars and eateries might be nice establishments, but if they're the only option in town their product offering can become stale, but together in competition with each other they act to collectively create this fantastic and flexible destination for a night out.

As for hostile public spaces the same happens here l, in Australia, so so much. I even have to catch myself and correct my preconceived notions when i see someone laying in a park. I suppose the only difference is the economic interests are more evenly weighted, due to no detroit-like lobbyists.

Its also societal construction and built environment issues. There is a genuine lack of agency in the Millenial generation, and likely less again in the younger generations.

Take the built environment, its unfriendly to those with low resources, leading to isolation or dependency on those with resources, often boomer parents. The suburbs stretch on and on, all services public or private have been bundled together more and more, think super hospitals. Then they are placed further away because they now serve vast areas, there is also a fragility in these cost cutting 'efficiencies'. If your one hospital is out of action what do you do? Even down to ever wider roads for ever larger cars, this impacts other activities an area could be engaging in.

Societal construction has undermined any civic engagement organisations that don't have a pro-owner slant. Its telling that unions have been smashed, but chambers of commerce? They are basically unions for business owners. It's also an unwillingness of boomers to let go of power in certain community groups. How many of these locak groups are almost exclusively full of very mature age people?

My last point i think ties into the above though. The X'ers, Millenials, and younger are getting hit progressively harder by the wage worker depression, while no risk financial speculation, and asset driven wealth inflation, line the beds of those with the means to participate. Usually the older, or children with inherited wealth. This means longer working hours for less relative income, a need to keep upgrading your 'skillset' to prove your value to HR, creating a poorer strata financially and in time. If the younger generations weren't forced to change careers every six or so years to finally reach an 'adult' job, we would have time to participate more in our society.

I think the Millenial generation (mine) is going to be rather boring in the footnotes of history. (X'ers had a bit of punk and metal that keeps them spicy.) We won't have the resources to be anything but rather conservative in our policies (classically so, not the radical republican-conservatism of the 80's on).

On the bright side, in my country, Australia, the predicted shift to the 'right' as people get older seems to have broken. Which signals a rejection of the policies those parties stand for. Which are the policies causing the most acute problems for Millenials, and generations younger. So, maybe as the boomers fade, a generational solidarity will rise due to a union of desires, and our countrys will begin to feel less like generational trench warfare. That is my firm hope for the future of my time on this planet with you lot.

Isn't that two more colours than Henry Ford gave you! Sheesh! Ungrateful much!

I could see that happening, its probably what holds a lot of States and Countys back.

A lot of States are happy not to have a large corporations tax, because they get their share through another means, say income, or land tax. Which they charge employed persons, if a company doesn't employ many people, then they will be less value to a State like that.

Long time reddit lurker here. I'm active now i'm here. I wonder how many peeps there are here like me?

I actually came here to comment the same thing. For any philosophy question, be it a person, or an ideology 'Philosophize This' is one of my first stops every time. Stephen West (i thonk thats hos name) explains things so well, and respectfully no matter who he's talking about.

And i've only caught one of his episodes on Anarchism, but it was packed full of really useful information for an initial basis for understanding.

So, a little while ago climate change deniers used the fact of fluctuations in temperature throughout the year as a basis for a false claim that climate scientists were hiding the 'real' data in the less jumbly plots you suggest the use of. (And any sensible person would see the benefits of).

Whoever produced this is likely aware of those cynical and false claims, and decided they don't want any risk the point they are making, being similarly undermined.