Sunday 29 December 2013

Henry Ergas's nose is growing

Henry Ergas is in really bad form.
Firstly Ross Gittins was mostly right. The main culprits behind the structural deficit at present was the Howard Government and their removal of the petrol excise and the reductions in income tax in the expectation company tax would more than make up for it. (see here) The ALP have culpability as they did not criticise these stupid policy moves and then added to them when in Government.

Moreover you have to take into the circumstances of spending . Under Howard and a strongly growing economy it merely added to inflationary pressures as we saw and thus interest rates had to rise up significantly.

The ALP had to contend with the GFC. You do not remove a stimulus too quickly otherwise you get the economy slowing. Interest rates did not move up when the ALP was in power because of inflationary pressures or potential so the charge of profligate spending is without foundation

Moreover the last full Swan budget was the most austere budget this generation has ever seen.This was a budget Ergas has been calling out for all the time. did he applaud it or even acknowledge this. No! Maybe he thought it was expansionary like his two ignorant colleagues Davidson and Samuel J!!

It is amazing what information our Enry can leave out.. He doesn't want to know the facts. He just wants to distort information to fit in with his ideology.

Another person is well known for doing this in history. He went by the name of Goebbels.

No wonder his nose gets larger ever time he writes!

Thursday 26 December 2013

Around the Traps 27/12/13 Christmas Edition

It is time for Around the Traps. Smaller than usual because of Christmas.
Still those numbers men Andrew Gelman and that wily Canadian Dave Giles don't seem to notice.

As you might expect a bit smaller than usual but updates through the weekend as there is no cricket for me. Poms still
getting thrashed in the Ashes however!


Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy
Northern America
Europe
Asia
nuttin again!
Wonk
General
Climate
Andrew Gelman( Stats man!)
Dave Giles( Econometrics)
Dianne Coyle ( quirky + Book Reviews)
vox wonk

Wednesday 25 December 2013

The Ashes. Why we won!

The Melbourne test has started and it is a sell-out.

Tony and the boys are already talking about it.

Why did we win the Ashes.

Easy peazy.

Batting.
 The Poms footwork have been all over the place. Cook is the prime example. Both Petersen and Bell did not pay enough respect to bowlers ( mainly Lyon) and paid the price. They the found it hard to regain their 'mojo'!
Also their strategy has changed. When they only played short wide balls outside the off stump and played him off the hip Johnson was hit all around the park. When you drive at him and he is slanting across the batsman you snick him!

Bowling
They have been bowling far too short. given the only weapon is swinging the ball it reduces the potency of your attack. Both Broad and Anderson are 10 wicket bowlers yet both have struggled because of their poor length.

Fielding

The Poms have dropped catches they previously took whilst we have done the opposite.


Indeed one might well say the teams are playing exactly opposite of what occurred last time the Ashes were fought for in Australia.

Why Satanists support Santa Claus

ah that got your attention.

One essence of Christmas is that is signifies the birth of Jesus the Christ. He came into this world to save people.
Everyone person sins. and the punishment for sin is death!
Jesus not only took our punishment on the cross, He proved by his resurrection he was without sin and thus could take our punishment.

Now let us examine Santa Claus. He apparently knows whether we are good or not. If we are good we get Christmas presents.If we are bad we do not!

Notice how the tale of sin is being twisted.

Now if only good people got Christmas presents then no-one but no-one would get Christmas presents. Only the unthinking  people believe differently!

That is why people who sin cannot stand Christianity. It means there is only one way for salvation and if you deny Jesus then he doesn't take your punishment!!

People love Santa Claus because he is the balance sheet man. If your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds you get presents. He is the get out Claus!  Notice the similarity to almost all religions!!
 That is why satanists love Santa Claus.  It is why the world embraces Santa Claus.
It is the antithesis of Christianity.

Tuesday 24 December 2013

Merry Christmas

from the greatest oratorio ever written Handel's greatest song.

The man was a genius!



People have asked for my favourite. Perhaps this


Sunday 22 December 2013

Nazi Germany and Privatisation

the Nazi regime was an evil and very odious regime but in some aspects they very very innovative.


  • Broken windows.  They were the very first to test the broken window theory much later promoted by James. Q. Wilson. It was highly successful in reducing crime which was pervasive until then.

  • Education. The Nazis attempted student centred learning well before it became trendy in the West. However their attempts at using this within the RAD failed just as it did in the USA with the CCC. Incidentally a lot of people believe the RAD gained numbers because it was made compulsory. This is incorrect. The numbers did not change much at all from when it was voluntary to being compulsory.The reason for this is because by 1936 Germany was experiencing full employment. Hence there were numerous loopholes to get out of 'compulsory' service.

  • Privatisation Almost alone amongst Western Countries the Nazis successfully implemented a large scale privatisation programme. As you might imagine it was highly nuanced.

Thursday 19 December 2013

Around the Traps 20/12/13

It is time for Around the Traps.

Matt Cowgill is on fire in the OZ section. In wonk there is an interesting discussion on the microfoundations by a few notables.Real Climate has a very good article on discussing the rise in world temperatures and what has occurred since 1998. (Sorry Katesy you won't understand). I have highlighted all in bold.

I will update on Sunday


Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy
Northern America
Europe
Asia
nuttin
Wonk
General
Climate
Andrew Gelman ( Statistics)
Dave Giles ( Econometrics)
Dianne Coyle ( Quirky + Book Reviews)
Voxwonk

It is like watching a murder ( pun intended)

Just read from here. Steve C takes dot/Sheldon or in reality Mark Hill to pieces.

It is not pretty but it is very sad. If you are not used to such ignorance and pig headedness you have never visited Catallaxy.

This is what happens when you make a stupid remark which you claim to have expertise on try to use jargon but get found out!

Wednesday 18 December 2013

Government appointments

The government has made a number of astonishing appointments in recent times.

Let us start with Ziggy Switkowksi a person who failed at not one telco but two!!
Naturally it makes eminent sense to appoint him chairman of the NBN board!

Then we have Sophie Mirrabella blessed with neither intelligence not good looks. She was so good at representing her electorate they got rid of her. It was a 'safe' seat!

Then we have Tim Wilson who is another IPA intellectual lightweight. He wanted the Human Rights Commision abolished. So he accepts an appointment as a Commissioner. We have not seen such rank and  unashamed hypocrisy since the Late Lord Paddy accepted his gong.
On this appointment see Steve from Brisbane's rant here and here. Mumble also comments in more measured terms here.
It seems George Brandis is not just a pompous prat but a person who lacks bad judgement.

I do not mind a government appointing people of their own philosophy to boards but at least pick some people who have a decent intellect. They are the people who can stir things up!

Tuesday 17 December 2013

MYEFO

well the MYEFO was released yesterday.
The 'blow-out' in the deficit was mainly due to Government decisions and less so to changes in economic parameters.

No government can put the budget into balance whilst Nominal GDP is growing at 3.5%.

If the terms of trade continue to decline this will put more pressure nominal GDP. Clearly this is not the time to have fiscal consolidation as Wayne Swan found out.

Now if lower interest rates start to impact and the currency falls to sensible levels things would be different.

update

Sinclair Davidson says something sensible about MYEFO. Wonders will never cease however he still has no idea about when to undertake fiscal consolidation.

Oh and Joe Hockey is obviously a liar.
UPDATE:
I forgot all about the structural deficit. Matt Cowgill hasn't. And it wasn't due to spending it was due to tax cuts! Mostly but not all due to these tax cuts.

and each time Hockey talks about this his nose gets longer!!

Monday 16 December 2013

Is Joe Hockey a liar or an incompetent fool?

We have said this before but let us say it again.

The only changes to PEFO and MYEFO are:
  • Changes in Government policy
  • Changes in economic parameters
See the  Kouk  as well.

Either Joe Hockey knows this and he is lying his head off at present or he doesn't and he is simply an incompetent fool.

A couple of things to realise before 12.30 today.

  • Actual nominal outlays contracted in 2012/13. They fell by 1%.

  • Underlying public demand subtracted 0.3 percentage points from growth in that year. ( This is the budget the Catallaxy clowns said was expansionary!!) It usually adds about 0.7 percentage points to GDP
( Research courtesy of CBA economics)

Friday 13 December 2013

Carly Simon -How to end Castle?

To me this is THE song that Carly Simon made her own.

This live version is magnificent. Her vocals, the backing band and the backing vocals ( the blonde singer is amazing) just go together so well. And Carly makes the singing almost  hypnotic.





The end of Castle
Imagine the Very end of Castle and everyone is dressed up to the nines at the Johanna Beckett memorial fundraiser.
Beckett gets up in a slinky black dress and sings this to Castle.  (The team as backup vocals?)
There wouldn’t be a dry eye in the place!
What a way to end this fantastic series.
Please Marlowe do this!!

Update:
go here for a more fuller explanation

Further Update:

I have had amazing feedback on this.
Carly I believe was 60 when singing this and yes she looks good. The blonde back-up singer sings with so much emotion. amazing. Actually the back up vocals are crucial to this song

And if they do something like this for the end of Castle I may just have tears in my eyes as well!

Thursday 12 December 2013

Around the Traps 13/12/13

It is time again for Around the Traps.
Most people should be able to read any article and understand them. I put 'hard' articles in the wonk section.
The Stats and Econometrics section is for people who have done some subjects on it not for majors in that area!
I do not agree with every article cited. I merely put on articles which are easy to read and say something!

updates on Sunday.

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy
Northern America
Europe
Asia
nuttin


Wonk
General
Climate
Andrew Gelman ( Statistics!)
Dave Giles ( Econometrics)
Dianne Coyle (Quirky + Book Reviews)

Voxwonk

Wednesday 11 December 2013

Hapless fiscal fools

read This.

Just note on what these fools believe.
The increase in the debt ceiling was due to 'irresponsible government, in other words over spending.
no word of nominal GDP growth being well under the trend . no explanation for this which was of course the terms of trade falling.
No mention that the budget concerned was quite contractionary.Indeed the most contractionary we have seen since 1971 but of course Sinclair Davidson wouldn't know this he thought it was expansionary!!

No explanation of how interest rates were falling not rising if spending was the problem.

Finally he doesn't even recognize he is advocating greater structural deficits under Costello thus the fiscal position would be much worse now!

Need I say one 'works' with Steve Kates and another heads up the IPA .

What is worse that they parade their own ignorance as a virtue or simply refuse to recognize reality?

Amazing


Tuesday 10 December 2013

I can't work out Joe Hockey part 2

Yesterday in question time Joe hockey was asked an ( unusually ) good question by Adam Bandt of the Greens.
Paraphrasing the question it was whether this was the right time to cut spending and/or raising taxes  in an attempt to get the budget back into the black.

Unfortunately Joe Hockey did nit even attempt to answer the question.  He sought to try and show the ALP has deliberately left the cupboard bare.
Now if he actually believes that then he is an idiot. As we saw previously that would mean he doesn't understand the difference between figures in PEFO and then later in MYEFO.

Moreover it would be nice to hear from Joe if he thinks it is the right time to be into fiscal consolidation. The last National Accounts had nominal GDP growth at a mere 3.6%. The AVERAGE up to 2011 was 7%!

If Joe introduced austerity measures now he would find out what happened in Europe. You would have the negative of contracting the economy BUT also the negative of the deficit ballooning!!

The question no-one knows as yet is does he believe in austerity measures now or not.
We will find out when MYEFO is released!


Monday 9 December 2013

Poll blues continue for the government

The Newspoll is out and it confirms the trend of previous polls  for the new Government. ( Update. The linked article shows the new Essential poll which is slowly following the other polls.)

I wish I had said this before. Gosh I did
Reasons? Try these.

People such as the innumerates at Catallaxy who said the Neilsen poll was an outlier simply do not understand basic statistics. We saw in the US Presidential election!
However it is very early days.Do not put to greater store on these figures as Mumbles explains 

 I should add all pollsters now have 2013 preferences. add this as well three_month_slump

Thursday 5 December 2013

Around The Traps 6/12/13


It is time for Around the Traps again.

Nick Rowe is in roaring form and there is a bit of a debate on QE and deflation.

Voxwonk is always interesting.

Updating on Sunday.



Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy
Northern America
Asia


Europe
Wonk
General
Climate
Andrew Gelman ( The King of p Values)
Dave Giles (The genial bespectacled Econometric Genius)
Dianne Coyle ( Quirky)
Voxwonk

Wednesday 4 December 2013

I can't work out joe hockey

I cannot work out Joe Hockey.

Does he know his stuff but simply a very bad politician i.e. he couldn't sell a beer in a pub! A bit like Wayne Swan.
Most evidence would suggest this. He has the best department to advise him. He has chosen his personal staff quite well.
However his attempts to sell a larger gross debt figure, his decision on Graincorp and his attempts to talk about both the recent CPI and national accounts were nothing short of appalling.

It was like listening to Steve Kates ( example) and Sinclair Davidson ( example) talk about them. Yes it was that bad.

The problem is does he really believe the claptrap he is espousing on these subjects. If he does Australia has a real problem.
If he doesn't and he is merely a Liberal example of Wayne Swan then we can ignore his public utterances and simply concentrate on what he does.

I will wait for MYEFO to make a full decision. It will be interesting. After-all the only changes to PEFO and MYEFO are:

  • Changes in Government policy
  • Changes in economic parameters.
He has responsibility for the first one and the second one is influenced by nominal GDP ( which in itself is influenced by the terms of trade). He can hardly take the previous government to task when he has been advocating more austerity!

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Why the New government did not have a Honeymoon

The present government really has not had a honeymoon.

There are a number of reasons for this

  • the-indonesian-fiasco is the main short term problem. It was the INEPT reaction of Tony Abbott that made it a problem
  • The Graincorp decision. David outlines the lack of any effort by Hockey to tell us of the reasons for this
  • The Gonski debacle
BUT I think deep down the main problem has been the contradiction between how the Government is reacting  ( so slow it is boring) and what they were saying before the election.
We only needed a change of government and it would all change and everything would go back to normal.

This implies a short but very hectic period where the new Government gets everything right and then it is all plain sailing.
(The budget being the main game here. It is quite clear now the problem was NEVER a problem of spending. If it were interest rates would be high and rising not low and possibly falling or at least not rising. This has lead to a lot of confusion in voter land)

Not only did the new government do bugger all , all the problems remained.

No wonder the punters are puzzled by the New Government's behaviour and showing they are not all impressed.

This is also showing up in Parliament.A new Government lords it all over the Opposition but they haven't at all. This merely tells me the confidence of the new Government is not high.

However it is early days.  

Sunday 1 December 2013

Austerity doesn't work example Number....

Simon Wren-Lewis writes about the Netherlands and their appalling fiscal policy.

This country did not need to impose austerity and had easy to capital markets.

This is what happened.

1) Government embarks on austerity, to try and maintain the confidence of the bond markets. We must preserve the AAA rating for our government’s debt, says the finance minister.

2) Austerity reduces demand, helping create flat or negative growth.

3) As a result, deficit targets keep being missed. Additional austerity is imposed, and growth declines again.

3) Country loses its AAA rating, and the credit rating agency gives concerns about poor growth as an important factor for the downgrade.

4) This confirms our fears, says the finance minister. We must redouble our efforts to reduce our debt.

 All of this was entirely predictable. The evidence has been in for a long time now

Only liars and imbeciles argue that austerity works other than when Keynes said it would.

How many countries were able to avoid the GFC through austerity? None!