http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/economics/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/to-be-fair-we-need-to-stop-people-dumping-on-australia/ President Barack Obama’s speech to the Australian Parliament, like those of his predecessors, was indeed an historic occasion. Amidst the hype and ceremony, I can’t help but wonder if a couple of Labor Ministers didn’t squirm a little in their seats as the President reminded us: “We seek trade that is free and fair. And we seek an open international economic system, where rules are clear and every nation plays by them.” In a reference to the G20 and the World Trade Organisation, which just days earlier had welcomed Russia to its ranks, the President stressed: “We need growth that is fair, where every nation plays by the rules – where workers’ rights are respected and our businesses can compete on a level playing field… so no nation has an unfair advantage.” piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/to-be-fair-we-need-to-stop-people-dumping-on-australia/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/to-be-fair-we-need-to-stop-people-dumping-on-australia/#item7202 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 Matt Granfield is a typical Gen Y guy with a social conscience. He joined his friends in protesting at the Occupy Sydney movement. His Uncle Barry was shocked to see him on the television. The Vietnam war veteran doesn’t understand what Matt’s generation could possibly have to complain about. While Matt thinks his Uncle, with his Medicare assisted health care and addiction to consumer goods, should question what he hears on the news every night. Below is a copy of their email exchange. From: Barry Granfield Sent: Sunday, 30 October 2011 10:20 AM To: Matt Granfield Subject: Occupy Wall Street Protests Dear Matthew, I saw you on the news last week. I have to say, I’m most disappointed. This Occupy Sydney thing is a farce. I know you’ll say it’s hypocritical of me, but back in the 70s we were fighting against The Vietnam War and a government who locked people in jail for refusing to be conscripted. We had a good reason. This is just silly. What on earth are you protesting against? And since when did you learn to play the bongos? Uncle Barry http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/in-my-day-we-had-a-whole-war-to-protest-about/ Matt Granfield is a typical Gen Y guy with a social conscience. He joined his friends in protesting at the Occupy Sydney movement. His Uncle Barry was shocked to see him on the television. The Vietnam war veteran doesn’t understand what Matt’s generation could possibly have to complain about. While Matt thinks his Uncle, with his Medicare assisted health care and addiction to consumer goods, should question what he hears on the news every night. Below is a copy of their email exchange. From: Barry Granfield Sent: Sunday, 30 October 2011 10:20 AM To: Matt Granfield Subject: Occupy Wall Street Protests Dear Matthew, I saw you on the news last week. I have to say, I’m most disappointed. This Occupy Sydney thing is a farce. I know you’ll say it’s hypocritical of me, but back in the 70s we were fighting against The Vietnam War and a government who locked people in jail for refusing to be conscripted. We had a good reason. This is just silly. What on earth are you protesting against? And since when did you learn to play the bongos? Uncle Barry piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/in-my-day-we-had-a-whole-war-to-protest-about/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/in-my-day-we-had-a-whole-war-to-protest-about/#item7032 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 Matt Granfield is a typical Gen Y guy with a social conscience. He joined his friends in protesting at the Occupy Sydney movement. His Uncle Barry was shocked to see him on the television. The Vietnam war veteran doesn’t understand what Matt’s generation could possibly have to complain about. While Matt thinks his Uncle, with his Medicare assisted health care and addiction to consumer goods, should question what he hears on the news every night. Below is a copy of their email exchange. From: Barry Granfield Sent: Sunday, 30 October 2011 10:20 AM To: Matt Granfield Subject: Occupy Wall Street Protests Dear Matthew, I saw you on the news last week. I have to say, I’m most disappointed. This Occupy Sydney thing is a farce. I know you’ll say it’s hypocritical of me, but back in the 70s we were fighting against The Vietnam War and a government who locked people in jail for refusing to be conscripted. We had a good reason. This is just silly. What on earth are you protesting against? And since when did you learn to play the bongos? Uncle Barry http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/economic-growth-making-you-really-really-fat/ According to Andy Warhol, everyone has their “15 minutes of fame”. Looking back at four decades of work as a health scientist mine will probably be the development of ‘GutBusters’, the world’s first men’s “waist loss” program in 1991. GutBusters lasted for over a decade before it was taken over by Weight Watchers and closed down for being unprofitable (men won’t admit to having anything wrong with their health and hence won’t pay for it). This is despite the fact that it achieved (and still has) world-wide acknowledgement as an ethically-based and economic scientific weight loss program. Those are rare, by the way. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/economic-growth-making-you-really-really-fat/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/economic-growth-making-you-really-really-fat/#item6846 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 Matt Granfield is a typical Gen Y guy with a social conscience. He joined his friends in protesting at the Occupy Sydney movement. His Uncle Barry was shocked to see him on the television. The Vietnam war veteran doesn’t understand what Matt’s generation could possibly have to complain about. While Matt thinks his Uncle, with his Medicare assisted health care and addiction to consumer goods, should question what he hears on the news every night. Below is a copy of their email exchange. From: Barry Granfield Sent: Sunday, 30 October 2011 10:20 AM To: Matt Granfield Subject: Occupy Wall Street Protests Dear Matthew, I saw you on the news last week. I have to say, I’m most disappointed. This Occupy Sydney thing is a farce. I know you’ll say it’s hypocritical of me, but back in the 70s we were fighting against The Vietnam War and a government who locked people in jail for refusing to be conscripted. We had a good reason. This is just silly. What on earth are you protesting against? And since when did you learn to play the bongos? Uncle Barry http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/little-brothers-big-brother-law-dumps-the-local-surf-club/ Christmas is going to be awkward at the Swans’ this year. And it won’t be an inappropriate gift causing the tension and a possible barney. It’ll be Labor’s mandatory pre-commitment policy for poker machines. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/little-brothers-big-brother-law-dumps-the-local-surf-club/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/little-brothers-big-brother-law-dumps-the-local-surf-club/#item6847 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 Matt Granfield is a typical Gen Y guy with a social conscience. He joined his friends in protesting at the Occupy Sydney movement. His Uncle Barry was shocked to see him on the television. The Vietnam war veteran doesn’t understand what Matt’s generation could possibly have to complain about. While Matt thinks his Uncle, with his Medicare assisted health care and addiction to consumer goods, should question what he hears on the news every night. Below is a copy of their email exchange. From: Barry Granfield Sent: Sunday, 30 October 2011 10:20 AM To: Matt Granfield Subject: Occupy Wall Street Protests Dear Matthew, I saw you on the news last week. I have to say, I’m most disappointed. This Occupy Sydney thing is a farce. I know you’ll say it’s hypocritical of me, but back in the 70s we were fighting against The Vietnam War and a government who locked people in jail for refusing to be conscripted. We had a good reason. This is just silly. What on earth are you protesting against? And since when did you learn to play the bongos? Uncle Barry http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-adjust-your-glasses-its-a-tax-forum/ “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades” was a 1980s American Top 20 hit for a husband-and-wife-led band called Timbuk3. They went on to release six albums but - sadly for them - they were one-hit wonders. The Gillard Government is about to put 180 economic and social policy wonks into Federal Parliament’s Great Hall for two days, feed them rubber chicken and red cordial and ask them to sing for their supper by chorusing about tax reform. The Tax Forum has modest aims - so let’s hope it doesn’t go the way of Timbuk3. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-adjust-your-glasses-its-a-tax-forum/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-adjust-your-glasses-its-a-tax-forum/#item6832 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 Matt Granfield is a typical Gen Y guy with a social conscience. He joined his friends in protesting at the Occupy Sydney movement. His Uncle Barry was shocked to see him on the television. The Vietnam war veteran doesn’t understand what Matt’s generation could possibly have to complain about. While Matt thinks his Uncle, with his Medicare assisted health care and addiction to consumer goods, should question what he hears on the news every night. Below is a copy of their email exchange. From: Barry Granfield Sent: Sunday, 30 October 2011 10:20 AM To: Matt Granfield Subject: Occupy Wall Street Protests Dear Matthew, I saw you on the news last week. I have to say, I’m most disappointed. This Occupy Sydney thing is a farce. I know you’ll say it’s hypocritical of me, but back in the 70s we were fighting against The Vietnam War and a government who locked people in jail for refusing to be conscripted. We had a good reason. This is just silly. What on earth are you protesting against? And since when did you learn to play the bongos? Uncle Barry http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/bloody-rabblerousers-and-their-ridiculous-protests/ Sometimes it’s all too easy to dismiss the significance of public protests. Like so many others, I scoffed contemptuously at the truck convoy that rolled into Canberra last month, with its very clear statement of anger against… something? I know it had something vaguely to do with the carbon tax, but that message got lost somewhere amidst all the frothing at the mouth, and the placards warning us that the United Nations is secretly plotting to take over the world. Of course, it’s easy for me, as a young, commie, pinko elitist to have a go at a bunch of hard-working truckies, so in the interests of balance it’s worth acknowledging that many of the rallies attended by people who share similar ideological dispositions to me are often no better. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/bloody-rabblerousers-and-their-ridiculous-protests/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/bloody-rabblerousers-and-their-ridiculous-protests/#item6824 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 Matt Granfield is a typical Gen Y guy with a social conscience. He joined his friends in protesting at the Occupy Sydney movement. His Uncle Barry was shocked to see him on the television. The Vietnam war veteran doesn’t understand what Matt’s generation could possibly have to complain about. While Matt thinks his Uncle, with his Medicare assisted health care and addiction to consumer goods, should question what he hears on the news every night. Below is a copy of their email exchange. From: Barry Granfield Sent: Sunday, 30 October 2011 10:20 AM To: Matt Granfield Subject: Occupy Wall Street Protests Dear Matthew, I saw you on the news last week. I have to say, I’m most disappointed. This Occupy Sydney thing is a farce. I know you’ll say it’s hypocritical of me, but back in the 70s we were fighting against The Vietnam War and a government who locked people in jail for refusing to be conscripted. We had a good reason. This is just silly. What on earth are you protesting against? And since when did you learn to play the bongos? Uncle Barry http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/aussie-economy-kicking-goals-a-league-above-the-rest/ We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that Australia is still in a “different” economic league to the rest of the world and there are five rocks underpinning those solid foundations. The global financial turmoil is definitely a worry. Many are saying it’s based on fear… and they’d be right. But it is also based on reality. Some of the economic numbers coming out of the US and Europe are seriously bad. So bad that the global market reaction has been justified. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/aussie-economy-kicking-goals-a-league-above-the-rest/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/aussie-economy-kicking-goals-a-league-above-the-rest/#item6561 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 Matt Granfield is a typical Gen Y guy with a social conscience. He joined his friends in protesting at the Occupy Sydney movement. His Uncle Barry was shocked to see him on the television. The Vietnam war veteran doesn’t understand what Matt’s generation could possibly have to complain about. While Matt thinks his Uncle, with his Medicare assisted health care and addiction to consumer goods, should question what he hears on the news every night. Below is a copy of their email exchange. From: Barry Granfield Sent: Sunday, 30 October 2011 10:20 AM To: Matt Granfield Subject: Occupy Wall Street Protests Dear Matthew, I saw you on the news last week. I have to say, I’m most disappointed. This Occupy Sydney thing is a farce. I know you’ll say it’s hypocritical of me, but back in the 70s we were fighting against The Vietnam War and a government who locked people in jail for refusing to be conscripted. We had a good reason. This is just silly. What on earth are you protesting against? And since when did you learn to play the bongos? Uncle Barry http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Carbonomics-is-nice-in-theory-but-does-it-add-up/ With the debate on the carbon tax getting very emotive it’s essential to understand the economics of the tax and whether it will achieve what it’s setting out to do. Here the issue is very simple. Will the introduction of a carbon tax lead to a significant reduction in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions? Given that the stated objective of a carbon tax is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it’s clear that the success or failure of the tax will depend on the whether or not a reduction is achieved and at what cost. Understanding the cost of the carbon tax is fundamental to understanding its impact on the consumer, particularly given that it’s the consumer who will ultimately pay the tax. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Carbonomics-is-nice-in-theory-but-does-it-add-up/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Carbonomics-is-nice-in-theory-but-does-it-add-up/#item6263 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 Matt Granfield is a typical Gen Y guy with a social conscience. He joined his friends in protesting at the Occupy Sydney movement. His Uncle Barry was shocked to see him on the television. The Vietnam war veteran doesn’t understand what Matt’s generation could possibly have to complain about. While Matt thinks his Uncle, with his Medicare assisted health care and addiction to consumer goods, should question what he hears on the news every night. Below is a copy of their email exchange. From: Barry Granfield Sent: Sunday, 30 October 2011 10:20 AM To: Matt Granfield Subject: Occupy Wall Street Protests Dear Matthew, I saw you on the news last week. I have to say, I’m most disappointed. This Occupy Sydney thing is a farce. I know you’ll say it’s hypocritical of me, but back in the 70s we were fighting against The Vietnam War and a government who locked people in jail for refusing to be conscripted. We had a good reason. This is just silly. What on earth are you protesting against? And since when did you learn to play the bongos? Uncle Barry http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Obama-and-Gillard-defy-the-theory-of-voternomics/ Just as it sinks in here that an election is two full years away, the political circus that is American politics is sending in the clowns and pegging out its big-top for another round of primary races. As it does so, one sobering factoid for the Obama administration is that no president in the modern era has been re-elected with an unemployment rate above 7.5 per cent. Which is just another way of saying Bill Clinton famous maxim, “it’s the economy stupid’‘. Yet here in Australia, it ain’t just the economy. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Obama-and-Gillard-defy-the-theory-of-voternomics/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Obama-and-Gillard-defy-the-theory-of-voternomics/#item6103 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 Matt Granfield is a typical Gen Y guy with a social conscience. He joined his friends in protesting at the Occupy Sydney movement. His Uncle Barry was shocked to see him on the television. The Vietnam war veteran doesn’t understand what Matt’s generation could possibly have to complain about. While Matt thinks his Uncle, with his Medicare assisted health care and addiction to consumer goods, should question what he hears on the news every night. Below is a copy of their email exchange. From: Barry Granfield Sent: Sunday, 30 October 2011 10:20 AM To: Matt Granfield Subject: Occupy Wall Street Protests Dear Matthew, I saw you on the news last week. I have to say, I’m most disappointed. This Occupy Sydney thing is a farce. I know you’ll say it’s hypocritical of me, but back in the 70s we were fighting against The Vietnam War and a government who locked people in jail for refusing to be conscripted. We had a good reason. This is just silly. What on earth are you protesting against? And since when did you learn to play the bongos? Uncle Barry http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Forget-the-cat-calls-the-economy-still-has-claws/ Australia is not heading for a recession but our precise economic destination over the next few years can’t be forecast because of the swirl of factors buffeting certainty around the globe. We simply don’t know exactly what is going to happen in Greece, Spain, Portugal, the United States and China. Or even in Australia. This means the Government will have to be careful as it tip-toes towards a Budget surplus in 2012-2013; and the Opposition will have to use caution when predicting calamity from carbon pricing. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Forget-the-cat-calls-the-economy-still-has-claws/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Forget-the-cat-calls-the-economy-still-has-claws/#item5997 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:13 +0000 Matt Granfield is a typical Gen Y guy with a social conscience. He joined his friends in protesting at the Occupy Sydney movement. His Uncle Barry was shocked to see him on the television. The Vietnam war veteran doesn’t understand what Matt’s generation could possibly have to complain about. While Matt thinks his Uncle, with his Medicare assisted health care and addiction to consumer goods, should question what he hears on the news every night. Below is a copy of their email exchange. From: Barry Granfield Sent: Sunday, 30 October 2011 10:20 AM To: Matt Granfield Subject: Occupy Wall Street Protests Dear Matthew, I saw you on the news last week. I have to say, I’m most disappointed. This Occupy Sydney thing is a farce. I know you’ll say it’s hypocritical of me, but back in the 70s we were fighting against The Vietnam War and a government who locked people in jail for refusing to be conscripted. We had a good reason. This is just silly. What on earth are you protesting against? And since when did you learn to play the bongos? Uncle Barry