Sunday, 6 September 2026

A pot pouri of things

 Tobaccy

One nation has proposed a cut in tobacco excise of 75% and the LNP wants 80%. This will reduce the market share of illegal tobacco. Sorry I do not get it. Illegal tobacco will still be lower than legal tobacco. Why would any consumer then buy more expensive tobacco when they are not doing it now. how do consumers go from being unpatriotic to patriotic? It doesn't make sense to me. Even if you do not tax tobacco at all illegal tobacco is still much cheaper!! One should also realise illegal tobacco can still reduce their prices and make money.

'woke 'education.

According to the National party leader teaching boys to respect girls' is woke education. Apart from being unable to define 'woke' when it is bad to teach boys to respect girls. Parents should be doing this so this is reinforcement.

burning the flag

The LNP want to make this a crime. Surely this is interfering with a persons freedom of speech. Flags are not monuments. If I want to burn the flag for any reason then I should be able to. I find it ironic that the very people who want to make this a crime are saying regulating social media is against free speech!

Germany

The far right almost won a state election.It is interesting that the racist attack on immigrants is a world wide phenoma.however these burkes want to support russia against ukraine amongst other wacky policies.That well-known fascist elon musk supports them. ( he is the right kind of immigrant, white)

Thursday, 3 September 2026

Around the Traps 4/9/26

 It is time again for Around the Traps .

Ausssie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy

OZ Climate

Northern America

Europe

Asia

Wonk

General

Climate

Andrew Gelman (mainly stats)

Dianne Coyle ( quirky + book reviews)

Vox Wonk

Wednesday, 2 September 2026

A very short explainer on why inflation is bad.

 HERE is an article outlining 10 reasons why but it misses the main point!

The main reason why inflation is bad is because it confuses consumers.

The capitalist system is based on relative prices. If the  price of Lindemans wines go up then I buy Henscke for example.

If inflation rises substantially then absolute prices will confuse consumers and suddenly relative prices are hard to detect. Yeah I know it is a simplified example but that's economics.

In the end the RBA wants the capitalist system to work effectively and it can't if inflation rises to high levels.

Monday, 31 August 2026

more on the battery

 Our battery ( 17kw)  gets full every month bar June and July. There are some days in both autumn and spring ( and a month before and after) when the battery is nil in the morning. This is mostly due to both showers and cooking.

Appliances such as ovens,stoves, heaters, microwaves,irons and air conditioning do use a wee bit of power and our hot water system needs a fair bit of power to recharge twice a day. others such as fridges,dishwashers, washing machines ddo not.

The savings will be less as charges to use the grid or just being part of it have increased a lot.

update:  the battery is 90% at 9.30!

A short not on EVs. We do not have one but I see a lot of ignorance on the subject. you would only have to recharge the vehicle once a week not daily if you basically use it for the city. If you buy the right car it can become a battery as well boosting your battery at home.

Sunday, 30 August 2026

Australian stuff

 Interest rates

I'm afraid I agree with John Hawkins. Interest rates have to rise. alas prices rose across the board last week in the CPI release.No central bank can afford to gamble by saying we wil wait until next month to see what occurs. they have to be conservative thus have to raise rates.Just remember the trimmed mean is well above the target level.

One Nation.

They won a state by-election in WA.This was highly unusual. It was a safe seat. The WA government is popular yet they lost the seat. A by-election always promotes a protest vote but this was enormous. This was after Hanson had no idea of the difference between net and permanent migration. In fact they probably have no idea that the NOM includes Australians coming back home!

Sex

I am getting old but a 16 year old girl dying because she was being strangled while having sex leaves  me gobsmacked. When I was 'growing up' it was 'erotic asphyxiation' and yes people died from it. I am at a loss why anyone would attempt to do anything that could kill them simply to gain an orgasm. Grow up people.

Whoopsy

GST

The productivity commission released a report on GST 'carveups'

WA is clearly the wealthiest state yet it gets a share of GSt that is way over the top.

See Shane Wright and Robert Breunig.  Grrrr

Thursday, 27 August 2026

Around the Traps 28/8/26

 It is time for Around the Traps again.

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy

OZ Climate


Northern America

Europe

Asia

Wonk

General

Climate

Andrew Gelman ( mainly stats)

Dianne Coyle (quirky + book reviews)

Vox Wonk