Friedman V Phillips

 A fascinating but short article on this old argument. Central Banks have abandoned both policies.

Around the Traps 26/2/21

 It is time for Around the Traps.

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy

• Greg Jericho on australias-recovery-appears-to-be-going-well-but-its-still-very-weird-out-there, the-jobseeker-increase-is-pathetic-and-so-is-the-spin-to-justify-the-paltry-amount
• David Walker on cracking-the-code-how-to-tell-what-news-corp-really-thinks-about-the-price-of-links
• core economics on australia-surrenders-to-monopolists-and-codifies-corporate-oligarchy
• Joshua Gans on facebook-versus-australia-the-government-hands-facebook-a-free-pass
• Ross Garnaut on the-reset-to-lift-us-out-of-the-covid-recession-has-to-be-bold-returning-to-where-we-were-is-nowhere-near-good-enough
• Dennis Muller on is-sky-news-shifting-australian-politics-to-the-right-not-yet-but-there-is-cause-for-alarm
• Ross Gittins on heres-unspeakable-truth-about-fall-in-rates, ross-garnauts-new-plan-to-lift-us-out-of-mediocrity
• renew economy on australias-battery-and-hydrogen-storage-pipeline-jumped-by-massive-20gw-in-2020
• Croaking Cassandra on monetary-policy, not-that-good-really
• Ketan Joshi on australia-was-the-first-casualty-of-the-big-blackout-lie-blaming-wind-power-the-us-could-be-next
• Simon Wilke on the-news-media-bargaining-code-could-backfire-if-small-media-outlets-arent-protected-an-economist-explains
• Hassan Vally on catching-covid-from-surfaces-is-very-unlikely-so-perhaps-we-can-ease-up-on-the-disinfecting
• renew economy on coal-generators-fined-after-failing-to-match-big-batteries-and-putting-grid-at-risk, tidal-wave-of-new-wind-and-solar-will-force-early-coal-plant-closures, neoen-lands-160-million-in-cefc-finance-for-australias-biggest-battery
• Adam Morton on renewable-energy-could-render-five-of-australias-remaining-coal-plants-unviable-by-2025
• Barbara Morton et al on fires-bring-home-climate-driven-urgency-of-rethinking-where-we-live-and-how
• Charles Livingstone on melbourne-finally-has-a-crown-royal-commission-is-this-going-to-stop-crime-and-gambling-harm
• Peter Whiteford and Bruce Bradbury on the-50-boost-to-jobseeker-will-take-australias-payment-from-the-lowest-in-the-oecd-to-the-second-lowest-after-greece
• John Quiggin on facebook-versus-news-advertising-is-the-real-problem
• Tim Nelson and Joel Gilmore on the-texas-deep-freeze-left-the-state-in-crisis-here-are-3-lessons-for-australia
• Michael McGreevey and Fran Baum on against-the-odds-south-australia-is-a-renewable-energy-powerhouse-how-on-earth-did-they-do-it
• Bruce Mountain on texas-was-a-warning-australia-needs-to-rethink-the-design-of-its-electricity-market

Northern America

• Cameron Peters on texas-high-electric-bills-winter-storm-griddy
• Mark Joseph Stern on clarence-thomas-voter-fraud-trump-pennsylvania
• Steve from Brisbane on waving-bloody-shirt
• Geoffrey Skulley on why-was-the-national-polling-environment-so-off-in-2020
• Calculated Risk on a-few-comments-on-january-new-home-sales
• Lucas Schaeffer on texas-gerrymandering-freeze-power-outages-chip-roy
• Robert Gordon on robert-j-gordon-thoughts-on-long-run-us-productivity-growth
• Tyler Cowen on texas-utilities-should-have-had-more-dynamic-pricing
• Menzie Chinn on globalization-and-inflation-risks
• Laurence Tribe on justice-thomas-is-out-of-order-on-2020-election

Europe

• stumbling and mumbling on why-labour-should-talk-about-productivity

Asia

• Andrew Selth on myanmar-coup-will-test-loyalty-security-forces
• Barkley Rosser on is-china-committing-genocide-in-xinjiang
• Natasha Kassam and Darren Lim on how-china-is-remaking-the-world-in-its-vision
• Syed Fazl E Haider on leave-or-not-leave-question
• Oriana Mastro on what-are-china-s-leaders-saying-about-south-china-sea

Wonk

• Tim Harford on were-living-in-a-golden-age-of-ignorance
• the conversable economist on the-minimum-wage-controversy
• Macromania on a-journey-in-macroeconomic-thinking
• Menzie Chinn on guest-contribution-central-bank-digital-currency-some-macro-financial-implications
• Dominic Dwyer on i-was-the-australian-doctor-on-the-whos-covid-19-mission-to-china-heres-what-we-found-about-the-origins-of-the-coronavirus
• Sam Roggeveen on democracy-vs-autocracy-biden-inflection-point
• Mainly Macro on two-paths-to-controlling-covid-with-vaccinations
• Alex Tabbarok on the-astrazeneca-vaccine-works-well

General

• Mark Pellegrini on can-i-choose-what-vaccine-i-get-what-if-i-have-allergies-or-side-effects-key-covid-vaccine-rollout-questions-answered

Climate

• No Hesitations on amazing-warming-paper
• Peter Sinclair on mike-mann-on-climate-change-and-cold-air-outbreaks
• Desmog on why-united-states-rejoining-paris-climate-accord-matters
• Skeptical Science on climate lessons from the texas frozen power outages
• Dana Bergstrom et al on existential-threat-to-our-survival-see-the-19-australian-ecosystems-already-collapsing

Andrew Gelman (mainly stats)

• fake-data-simulation-why-does-it-work-so-well
  
• is-sqrt2-a-normal-number
  
• statisticians-dont-use-statistical-evidence-to-decide-what-statistical-methods-to-use-also-the-way-of-the-physicist
  
• ethics-washing-ethics-bashing
  
• rapid-prepublication-peer-review
  
• what-is-the-relevance-of-bad-science-to-our-understanding-of-good-science
  
• should-we-judge-pundits-based-on-their-demonstrated-willingness-to-learn-from-their-mistakes
  
• men-appear-twice-as-often-as-women-in-news-photos-on-facebook
  
• science-reform-can-get-so-personal
  
• stanford-prison-experiment
  
• multivariate-missing-data-software-update
  
• statschat on bitcoin-and-eftpos

Econometrics

• Freakometrics on principal component analysis
• No Hesitations on bridging-sparse-models-and-factor-models

Dianne Coyle (quirky + book reviews)

• big-conversations
  
• railways-and-culture
  
• Andrew Gelman on luc-sante-on-nick-hornby-and-geoffrey-obrien-on-pop-music

vox wonk

• pandemics-swing-elections-not-much-you-think
  
• geography-innovation-between-1866-and-today
  
• refugees-and-responsibility-sharing
  
• institutions-and-power-structure
  
• subnational-governments-and-making-development-africa
  
• institutions-and-power-structure
  
• why-us-currently-has-best-research-universities-incentives-resources-and-virtuous-circles
  
• jim-crow-saddle
  
• three-changes-regulatory-framework-renewable-energy-help-save-humanity-s-future
  
• pandemic-and-greece-s-debt-day-after
  
• shaping-africa-s-post-covid-recovery-new-ebook
  
• how-much-capital-should-banks-hold
  
• ecb-monetary-policy-communications-and-financial-market-responses
  
• firm-exit-patterns-and-post-covid-cleansing-mechanism
  

coal fired power stations earlier than thought closures?

 renew economy has an article on the possible early closure of coal fired power plants.

Just imagine they are too costly, less flexible and are the reason AEMO dreads black outs. Related to this is how we attempt to get our grid to be flexible enough to cope with climate change as see in THIS article.

I should mention windmills can work quite well in the cold. Steve from Brisbane has photographs to show that. They simply have to be 'winterised'

Added bonus against-the-odds-south-australia-is-a-renewable-energy-powerhouse-how-on-earth-did-they-do-it

The fight with Google and Facebook

 David Walker does us all a favour and explains this in intricate detail.

Feeling Old: Children growing up

 both my boys are now working fulltime.

My oldest chose a long route. My wife encouraged him to get into nursing. He is very good with people however this did not work out. This was his turning point. He started on nightfill. He got good at and was even offered the managers job. Absurd at his age. However the best part of the job was finding out there are bad bosses. He started studying community services at TAFE. He enjoyed the course and was offered a job following his placement. He is now very much enjoying himself and studying the degree in community services.

My youngest son got a scholarship to study accounting at UTS. In this he had two six months periods of internship where you work but do not get paid and he did do work. In one instance he flew top Rockhampton! He also did well academically. In half his subjects he gained distinctions and the other half high distinctions. He best me in all my studies!! He is now working at Korda Mentha which is where he wanted to work and I also. He has a good strategic mind and it will eventually used in this field.

Alas both will at some time move from home which I will find very hard.

The times they are a changing

I am feeling a tad guilty

 Okay I had a mild heart attack. however I was walking easily before and after the attack.

I was conscious when a stent was put in to ensure the blood goes through my heart easily. I only saw a nurse at home for a short while until it was agreed I did not need the visits. 
I was in good health. I cannot mow the grass or take out the garbage because it will put too much pressure on me so I am here at home resting and recuperating.

Thank the Lord we have Kayo and Netflix. I would go bonkers if not.

I picked up all the polls I need and it cost close to $100. Not to worry i can easily afford that.

I feel guilty because I feel too well. I will be umpiring whilst essentially on holidays although not driving for two weeks is a bummer. I can afford the pills most but but all I will be taking for the rest of my life.

What if both were not the case? 

No Around the Traps

 I do apologise but there is no around the traps this week.

for the first half of the week I was in hospital unable to access the internet. since I have been home There has been too much time involved in following up for why I was in hospital despite me thinking I am in great health!!

I fell I should comment on what occurred to Brittany Higgins.  

What happened was disgraceful.  It appears what happened after she reported this involved how to protect the Liberal party rather than helping  Miss Higgins.  This is still happening. 

Does anyone believe Morrison was not informed of this just before he announced an election. Just remember backgrounding is not spontaneous. It is clearly thought out before it is done.

This again is evidence that Morrison's knowledge of Christianity is very poor.

Parliament needs to introduce codes of safety for employees that work there very quickly. I would also support a credible person to investigate the whole matter. Prue Goward comes to mind.