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An accelerating number of institutions and individuals are moving their money out of planet-heating fossil fuels and into climate solutions. The total assets guided by some form of divestment policy was $3.4 trillion at 2 December last year, 50 times more than what was up for divestment 12 months earlier. It sounds like a lot, but it's a small amount compared to the $100 trillion-plus invested in the usual way. That's our money, in banks and super funds, managed funds and insurance companies.
Inequality is dangerous. And inequality is at a near all-time high. At its core, the Government’s recent budget not only engenders but actively exults in the creation and maintenance of inequality, a phenomenon rapidly expanding not just in Australia, but around the world.
An ethos of tough love balks at taxpayer subsidies for anyone foolish or unlucky enough to make the wrong investment decision. In Australia we prefer to see people as victims and expect the government to clean up the mess.
Some of the soup van's clients collect cans to sell to a scrap dealer. The work supplements their welfare income and provides a sense of fulfillment. Since the global market crash business has been slow: 'China doesn't want aluminium now.'
On the day the markets bled we rushed to hear Stiglitz's diagnosis. The Nobel Laureate used to be Chief Economist of the World Bank, ending his term in fisty cuffs with the IMF and the US over their financial bullying of developing nations. Stiglitz had schadenfreude written all over his face. (October 2008)
Circumstantial evidence suggests that during the past few weeks we have seen a massive manipulation of monetary policy to support US bank stocks. The manipulation has been played out in plain view, which, of course, is the best place to hide a secret.
On the day the markets bled we rushed to hear Stiglitz's diagnosis. The Nobel Laureate used to be Chief Economist of the World Bank, ending his term in fisty cuffs with the IMF and the US over their financial bullying of developing nations. Stiglitz had schadenfreude written all over his face.
The 'trickle down' of wealth proclaimed by neo-liberalism is debatable, and hardships flowing from sub-prime activities descend on the disadvantaged with the finesse of a freight train. Some economists have demanded the GDP measure be replaced by goods and services data that promote the common good.
Many low-paid workers experience stress and illness due to jobs that are dangerous, arduous or powerless. Perhaps it is they who should be compensated with higher pay, rather than those who perform interesting, high-status work.
It is not just Joe and Jo Suburbia that have a lot riding on real estate. Taking the heat out of house price inflation is extremely difficult, because the whole system is based on the expansion of credit and consumption that house price inflation allows.