Econobabble

Author: Richard Denniss
Publisher: Black Inc.
ISBN: 1925203808
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 143

Book Description
Economics is like a tyre lever: it can be used to solve a problem, or to beat someone over the head. What is econobabble? We hear it every day, when politicians and commentators use incomprehensible economic jargon to dress up their self-interest as the national interest, to make the absurd seem inevitable or the inequitable seem fair. This book exposes the stupid arguments, bizarre contradictions and complete lack of evidence upon which much ‘common sense’ about the economy rests in Australia. Econobabble is for those who, deep down, have never believed that it makes sense, economic or otherwise, to help poor people by slashing public spending on the services they need. It’s for those who have a sneaking suspicion that it would be cheaper to avoid the effects of climate change than to let them happen and then ‘adapt’. And it’s for those who think pitting public health and aged care against the economy is a false dilemma, one that’s short-sighted, callous and potentially dangerous. In this new edition, Richard Denniss demolishes the tired and misleading arguments of right-wing economic ‘experts’ with humour and precision, empowering you to cut through the babble and reach the truth. ‘The best guide you’ll find to the literal non-sense that usually passes for economic debate in this country.’ —Ross Gittins

Supermarket Monsters

Author: Malcolm Knox
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781459686151
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 198

Book Description
Down, down . . . In hardware, petrol, general merchandise and liquor, and above all in groceries, Coles and Woolworths jointly rule Australia's retail landscape. On average, every man, woman and child in this country spends $100 a week across their many outlets. What does such dominance mean for suppliers? And is it good for consumers? In Supermarket Monsters, journalist and author Malcolm Knox shines a light on Australia's twin mega - retailers, exploring how they have built and exploited their market power. Knox reveals the unavoidable and often intimidating tactics both companies use to get their way. In return for cheap milk and bread, he argues, we as consumers are risking much more: quality, diversity and community.

Curing Affluenza

Author: Richard Denniss
Publisher: Between the Lines
ISBN: 1771133686
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 202

Book Description
"Affluenza is that strange desire we feel to spend money we don’t have to buy things we don’t need to impress people we don’t know . . . A truly modern affliction, affluenza is endemic in Western societies, encouraged by those who profit from a culture of exploitation and waste. So how do we cure ourselves? In this sparkling book of ideas, Richard Denniss shows we must distinguish between consumerism, the love of buying things, which is undeniably harmful to us and the planet, and materialism, the love of things, which can in fact be beneficial. We should cherish the things we own – preserve them, repair them, and then gift or sell them when we no longer need them. We must foster new ways of thinking and acting that do not squander limited resources, and which support the things we value most: vibrant communities and rich experiences. At once a lucid explanation of a critical global issue and a stirring call to action, Curing Affluenza will change the way you think about your place in the world. With special contributions from Bob Brown • Kumi Naidoo • Marilyn Waring • John Quiggin • Leanne Minshull • Jim Stanford • Bill McKibben • Craig Bennett"

Dead Right

Author: Richard Denniss
Publisher: Black Inc.
ISBN: 174382081X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 119

Book Description
An updated and expanded edition of the bestselling Quarterly Essay

How did the banks run wild for so long? Why are so many aged-care residents malnourished? And when did arms manufacturers start sponsoring the Australian War Memorial?

In Dead Right, Richard Denniss explores what neoliberalism has done to Australia. For decades, we have been led to believe that the private sector does everything better, that governments can’t afford to provide the high-quality services they once did, but that security and prosperity for all are just around the corner. In fact, Australians are now less equal, millions of workers have no sick leave or paid holidays, and housing is unaffordable for many. Deregulation, privatisation and trickle-down economics have, we are told, delivered us twenty-seven years of growth ... but to what end?

Denniss looks at ways to renew our democracy and discusses everything from the fragmenting Coalition to an idea of the national interest that goes beyond economics. This is a sparkling book of ideas, and the perfect starting point for thinking about how we can best shape Australia’s future.

Big

Author: Richard Denniss
Publisher: In the National Interest
ISBN: 9781922633033
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 96

Book Description
Scott Morrison wants to spend a lot more money on defence, the business community wants more spending on infrastructure and education, an ageing population wants better health and aged care, and young Australians want more action on climate change and affordable housing. Each problem requires more public spending, but for decades Australians have been told that the less government spends, the better their lives will be. Furthermore, while spending more money will be essential to fund more submarines, aged-care nurses and infrastructure, money alone will not solve the problems faced by Australia. Decades of declining standards of accountability and transparency, of privatisation, deregulation and tax cuts, combined with a lack of energy in strengthening the positive role of government, have led to apathy among the public and parliamentarians. We have allowed our public institutions to shrink and atrophy, and our creativity to wane in choosing not just which services government should provide but how best to provide them. There is a clear alternative: follow the lead of the Nordic countries in the provision of great public health, education, housing and infrastructure, and in doing so boost economic productivity and deliver higher standards of living at lower cost. It is time to jettison the obsession with the 'unfinished reform agenda' of the 1990s, to consider the breadth and depth of the new challenges confronting Australia, and to chart a course in which governments take more responsibility for solving the problems that will dominate Australian lives in the years ahead. We must abandon decades of denial that the public sector can play a bigger and better role in improving our lives. To build the bigger government these times demand, we must first abandon the baggage of the past.

Dead in the Water

Author: Richard Beasley
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1761061062
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Book Description
Full-throated and provocative, this is a very personal battle cry to save our most precious natural resource. 'I LOVE IT.' Peter FitzSimons 'With a deft mixture of outrage, humour and in-depth knowledge, only Beasley could make water policy a page turner.' Craig Reucassel 'It's great to shed some more light on the policy creep and mismanagement that is driving environmental degradation of many of the Murray-Darling Basin rivers.' Professor Richard Kingsford, Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists 'We want to reset these bio-diversities and the ecologies in our country. We want to see our fish spawning as they once were, our animals coming back down to drink. Fresh quality water out of the Coorong, not this super saline stuff that we're living in today's environment. It's slowly dying. You can smell the impact of what's happening . . .' Grant Rigney, Ngarrindjeri Nation, from his sworn evidence at the Royal Commission into the Murray-Darling Basin. Richard Beasley is fed up. He's fed up with vested interests killing off Australia's most precious water resource. He's fed up with the cowardice and negligence that have allowed Big Agriculture and irrigators to destroy a river system that can sustain both the environment and the communities that depend on it. He's fed up that a noble plan to save Murray-Darling Basin based on the 'best scientific knowledge' has instead been corroded by lies, the denial of climate change, pseudoscience and political expediency. He pulls no punches. He's provocative, he's outrageous, he points the finger without shame. And he will leave you very, very angry. Dead in the Water would be political satire of the highest order . . . if it weren't so tragically true.

ECONOBABBLE

Author: RICHARD. DENNISS
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780369367334
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description

With the Falling of the Dusk

Author: Stan Grant
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 1460711793
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 205

Book Description
A deeply powerful, poetic and compelling book on the challenges facing our world, from one of Australia's most experienced journalists and international commentators, Stan Grant. History is turning. In only a few short decades, we have come a long way from Francis Fukuyama's declaration of the 'end of history' and the triumph of liberal democracy in 1989. Now, with the inexorable rise of China, the ascendancy of authoritarianism and the retreat of democracy, the world stands at a moment of crisis. This is a time of momentous upheaval and enormous geopolitical shifts, compounded by the global pandemic, economic collapse and growing inequality, Islamist and far right terror, and a resurgent white supremacy. The world is in lockdown and the showdown with China is accelerating - and while the West has been at the forefront of history for 200 years, it must now adapt to a world it no longer dominates. At this moment, we stand on a precipice - what will become of us? Stan Grant is one of our foremost observers and chroniclers of the world in crisis. Weaving his personal experiences of reporting from the front lines of the world's flashpoints, together with his deep understanding of politics, history and philosophy, he explores what is driving the world to crisis and how it might be averted. He fears the worst, but begins to chart the way forward. There is bitterness, anger and history here, but there is also the capacity for negotiation, forgiveness and hope. A powerful and incisive analysis of the state of our world, and our place within it.

The Nordic Edge

Author: Andrew Scott and Rod Campbell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780369395375
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Climate and energy. Work/life balance. Mining taxes. Progress on policy issues like these is essential, and yet they have become subject to the most rancorous partisanship, the precipitation of culture wars, and have brought down governments. It is impossible to make any progress without major political upheaval. Or so it seems in Australia. Yet Nordic countries have taken a 'ja, we can' approach to these and other issues such as independent foreign policy, prison reform, gender equality, retraining for workforce participation and media diversity. Their experience shows that progress in these areas is not only possible, but can be achieved while increasing prosperity and community wellbeing. The Nordic Edge explores policies adopted by Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland and the exciting possibilities they provide to overcome Australia's seemingly intractable problems. Leading Australian and Nordic thinkers and policy practitioners, including Sweden's recent Foreign Minister, outline proven approaches to help Australia become a fairer, happier, wealthier and more environmentally responsible country. Re-enter Australia's policy debates with optimism, new ideas and a Nordic edge. Contributors: Professor Andrew Scott; Rod Campbell; Dr Richard Denniss; Matt Grudnoff; Tom Swann; former Swedish Foreign Minister Margot WallstrÃ¶m; Dr Lenita Freidenvall; Professor Marian Sawer; James Fleming; Richie Merzian; Dan Cass; Audrey Quicke; Ebony Bennett; Dr Maria Rae; and Associate Professor Anna Eriksson, with a foreword by Ben Oquist.

Into the Rip

Author: Damien Cave
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781760857097
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Book Description
When Damien Cave brought his young family to Sydney to set up the New York Times' Australian Bureau, they encountered the local pursuits of Nippers and surfing - and a completely different approach to risk that changed the way they lived their lives. Damien Cave has always been fascinated by risk. Having covered the war in Iraq and moved to Mexico City with two babies in nappies, he and his wife Diana thought they understood something about the subject. But when they arrived in Sydney so that Cave could establish The New York Times's Australia Bureau, life near the ocean confronted them with new ideas and questions, at odds with their American mindset that risk was a matter of individual choices. Surf-lifesaving and Nippers showed that perhaps it could be managed together, by communities. And instead of being either eliminated or romanticised, it might instead be respected and even embraced. And so Cave set out to understand how our current attitude to risk developed - and why it's not necessarily good for us. Into the Rip is partly the story of this New York family learning to live better by living with the sea and it is partly the story of how humans manage the idea of risk. Interviewing experts and everyday heroes, Cave asks critical questions like: Is safety overrated? Why do we miscalculate risk so often and how can we improve? Is it selfish to take risks or can more exposure make for stronger families, citizens and nations? And how do we factor in legitimate fears and major disasters like Cave has covered in his time here: the Black Summer fires; the Christchurch massacre; and, of course, Covid? The result is Grit meets Phosphorescence and Any Ordinary Day - a book that will change the way you and your family think about facing the world's hazards. 'Into the Rip is a beautiful tale of one family trying to figure things out - and, at the same time, a brilliant synthesis of a century of psychological science on how all of us can learn to dive headfirst into challenges, grow and adapt, and ultimately do well in life.' - Angela Duckworth, New York Times bestselling author of Grit 'Damien Cave does an excellent job of deconstructing the phenomenon of trauma and risk to understand why some people are more vulnerable than others. His experience in war zones must have given him crucial insights into the topic.' - Sebastian Junger, author of Tribe, War, Fire, The Perfect Storm.