Incoming Feed Items

Markets have had a rough ride lately. Just last Wednesday, we hit fresh all-time highs, only to see a sharp selloff in the days since. As of writing this, the S&P 500 has dropped around 4.5% in just five trading days. So, what’s going on? What’s driving this pullback?

If you follow financial media, you’ll hear a common explanation: the bond market. Specifically, falling bond yields have been blamed for the market's weakness. But does that explanation really hold up? Let’s break it down and take a closer look at the broader macroeconomic forces at play.

The Bond Market’s Message—Should We Be Concerned?

A traditional macroeconomic interpretation of falling bond yields suggests that investors are flocking to safety due to concerns about future economic growth. If the market truly feared a slowdown, we’d expect capital to shift into bonds, pushing prices up and yields down. This logic, at least in theory, makes sense.

A year has passed since Kartik Athreya became director of research at the New York Fed. To get some perspective on his experience thus far, we caught up with Kartik and asked about his views on economics, the role of Research at the Bank, and his take on a few of the hot topics of the day.

The Coalition’s recent statements committing to “prioritise supply to the domestic market” is welcome recognition that gas exports are hurting Australians.

“The government can achieve this tomorrow by capping exports. It is not complicated,” said Richard Denniss, Executive Director at The Australia Institute.

“We have provided certainty of supply and price to the Chinese market for decades, while ripping off customers at home.”

Australia is one of the largest exporters of gas in the world. There is no shortage of gas in Australia, as highlighted in the Coalition’s recent statements.

Multinational gas export corporations already export 80 per cent of Australia’s gas and control almost all of Australia’s gas reserves.

ACOSS’s Peter Davidson, Professor Helen Hodgson, Think Forward’s Thomas Walker, and Per Capita’s Emma Dawson discuss just how we can broaden the tax base, creating a more fair, equitable, and sustainable tax and transfer system for all Australians. Recorded on the 20th of February as part of Per Capita’s Community Tax Summit, at Solidarity Hall at Victorian Trades Hall, Melbourne.

The Community Tax Summit bought together Australian NFPs, Think Tanks, Advocacy Groups and more to kick off a “big conversation” about Australia’s tax and transfer system. There our panels of experts and those with lived experience demonstrated that there is an genuine appetite for tax and transfer reform, which is both needed and wanted in the next term of Parliament.

The post Broadening the Tax Base: What’s possible, sustainable and fair? appeared first on Per Capita.

Lived Experience Panel, moderated by Nicole Bieske from Brotherhood of St Laurence. Nathan Carolus shares his experience of Jobseeker and employment service provision. Juanita McLaren shares her experience as a researcher and a single mum on income support and child support. Peter Sutton shares his experience with JobSeeker, the Disability Support Pension and Rent Assistance.

This powerful panel will change your views on welfare, showing the real reasons people find themselves needing assistance and the inadequacy of the current system.

Recorded on the 20th of February as part of Per Capita’s Community Tax Summit, at Solidarity Hall at Victorian Trades Hall, Melbourne. The Community Tax Summit bought together Australian NFPs, Think Tanks, Advocacy Groups and more to kick off a “big conversation” about Australia’s tax and transfer system. There our panels of experts and those with lived experience demonstrated that there is an genuine appetite for tax and transfer reform, which is both needed and wanted in the next term of Parliament.

The post Lived Experience Panel One: Welfare services appeared first on Per Capita.

Travers McLeod (Brotherhood of St Laurence), Kasy Chambers (Anglicare Australia), Elly Desmarchelier (Disability Rights Advocate) and Jenny Davidson (Council of Single Mothers and their Children) discuss the ways Australia’s tax and transfer system is impacting those most vulnerable in our community.

Recorded on the 20th of February as part of Per Capita’s Community Tax Summit, at Solidarity Hall at Victorian Trades Hall, Melbourne. The Community Tax Summit bought together Australian NFPs, Think Tanks, Advocacy Groups and more to kick off a “big conversation” about Australia’s tax and transfer system. There our panels of experts and those with lived experience demonstrated that there is an genuine appetite for tax and transfer reform, which is both needed and wanted in the next term of Parliament.

The post Welfare and Social Assistance appeared first on Per Capita.

On Monday February 24, the newly elected City Council’s Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure heard a presentation on the state of the city’s transportation system (and its finances) and then a litany of public testimony on the problems on city streets.

What City Observatory Did This Week

Profligacy for freeways, penury for city streets:  Why Portland’s transportation system is broken.  

Bennelong MP Jerome Laxale has vowed to fight for renters at an Everybody’s Home town hall designed to spotlight Australia’s deepening housing crisis ahead of the federal election. 

On Tuesday, Everybody’s Home kicked off its series of online forums with incumbent MPs from key electorates, beginning with Mr Laxale.  

Mr Laxale said: “There has been a huge shift in housing perception … It’s because of groups like [Everybody’s Home], and advocates … who are fighting for renters, like I do.

“It’s not always politicians who need to change their minds, the community also needs to change their mind. Politicians have a role to play but as important a role is to get a community-led campaign to advocate for more change, that comes down to persistence and passion.”

Mr Laxale also warned against proposals for first homebuyers to pay for a deposit through their super.

“People under the age of 40 don’t have $50,000 in their super to raid. It will mean the country and the individual will be worse off by withdrawing from their super,” Mr Laxale said.

“Super is for retirement, it’s not a piggy-bank on the side…we know from world experience across the ditch that it doesn’t help with housing affordability and will leave individuals worse off in the long run.”

Mr Laxale said Labor’s main housing priority is to build more homes.

“It’s been a rocky road to get housing policies through parliament … but our focus is the delivery of homes and we will do what we can,” he said.

Ozge Akinci, Martin Almuzara, Silvia Miranda-Agrippino, Ramya Nallamotu, Argia Sbordone, Greg Simitian, and William Zeng

While the Trump Administration is considering taking Greenland and Canada under its wing, there’s another foreign country America should watch over, in the way that a parent cares for a child: California.

If the Golden State were a nation, it would have the fifth-highest GDP globally: $3.8 trillion (more than India, and more than New York and Florida combined). It’s the most populous state, officially home to 39 million residents—eight million more than Texas. It has the most members of the House (52) and the most Electoral College votes (54).

California’s farms supply more than half of America’s fruits and vegetables, half our dairy, and every almond. The Central Valley, which spans 450 miles from Redding in the north to Bakersfield in the south, has 1% of U.S. farmland but produces 25% of Americans’ food.

California’s market power means that its laws affect 49 other states. In 2016, California adopted a “History Social Science Framework” for K-12 education to “feature the contributions of diverse peoples of all sorts to the story of California and the United States.” Publishers like McGraw Hill updated their textbooks nationwide to avoid printing a separate California edition. “LGBT” appears 21 times in the framework.

[Note: As readership of Heidi Says has grown, it has been brought to my attention that some background on me might be useful. I’ve expanded the “About” page accordingly.]

The scale and pace of Republican Fascist activities escalates daily. Bizarre, sadistic, dangerous measures spew from Trump, his overlord Musk, and the puppets in his Cabinet. It makes it difficult to focus. Yet we cannot effectively oppose this utterly rogue federal executive branch if we succumb to disorientation. My advice, based on what works for me: don’t chase every new bit of breaking news. Find the issue or area that most concerns or interests you and follow that closely. Find a couple of commentators or publications you trust and read them regularly.

Do not forget that we are in a long, hard slog. It will take decades to reverse this country’s slide into corrupt fascism. It can only be done through the accretion of small efforts, none of which may seem efficacious in the moment. Do what you can when you can. Go to a meeting of a local progressive organization. Write a letter to the editor. Make phone calls to your members of Congress. Participate in economic boycotts of companies selling out to Trump. Speak truth in public. There are millions of Americans who want to change the country for the better. No one of us is going to make it happen and even all of us trying will not make it happen quickly.

Ozge Akinci, Martin Almuzara, Silvia Miranda-Agrippino, Ramya Nallamotu, Argia Sbordone, Greg Simitian, and William Zeng

My grandmother had a “joke” (really more of a parable) about a guy who sees a pie cooling in the window, and steals it. Unfortunately, he leaves a perfect handprint on the sill, so he sneaks into the house in order to wash off his handprint. But then it’s obvious that the sill has been washed, since it’s so much cleaner than the wall. So he washes that wall.

Recorded on the 20th of February as part of Per Capita’s Community Tax Summit, Dr Ken Henry AC gave the opening keynote address in the Solidarity Hall at Victorian Trades Hall, Melbourne.

Currently, Chair of the Nature Finance Council, the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation and Wildlife Recovery Australia, and a non-executive director of Accounting for Nature Ltd and the Digital Finance CRC, Dr Henry served as the Secretary to the Treasury from 2001 to 2011. He chaired the Howard Government’s tax review taskforce in 1997-98, the Rudd Government’s tax review published in 2010, and the Gillard Government’s White Paper on Australia in the Asian Century (2011 and 2012).

The Community Tax Summit bought together Australian NFPs, Think Tanks, Advocacy Groups and more to kick off a “big conversation” about Australia’s tax and transfer system.

There our panels of experts and those with lived experience demonstrated that there is an genuine appetite for tax and transfer reform, which is both needed and wanted in the next term of Parliament.

The post Ken Henry: Keynote Address appeared first on Per Capita.

Recorded on the 20th of February as part of Per Capita’s Community Tax Summit, Per Capita’s Emma Dawson, ACOSS CEO Cassandra Goldie, Professor Roger Wilkins and Professor Sharon Bessell lead a discussion on Inequality of Wealth Income and Opportunity in the Solidarity Hall at Victorian Trades Hall, Melbourne.

The Community Tax Summit bought together Australian NFPs, Think Tanks, Advocacy Groups and more to kick off a “big conversation” about Australia’s tax and transfer system.

There our panels of experts and those with lived experience demonstrated that there is an genuine appetite for tax and transfer reform, which is both needed and wanted in the next term of Parliament.

The post Inequality of Wealth, Income and Opportunity appeared first on Per Capita.

Recorded on the 20th of February as part of Per Capita’s Community Tax Summit, Dr Angela Jackson, CPSU National Secretary Melissa Donnelly, Professor Fran Baum AO speak on the importance of social infrastructure, care, and service industries and how they have been overlooked and neglected for too long. Recorded at Solidarity Hall at Victorian Trades Hall, Melbourne.

The Community Tax Summit bought together Australian NFPs, Think Tanks, Advocacy Groups and more to kick off a “big conversation” about Australia’s tax and transfer system.

There our panels of experts and those with lived experience demonstrated that there is an genuine appetite for tax and transfer reform, which is both needed and wanted in the next term of Parliament.

The post Social Infrastructure, Care and Services appeared first on Per Capita.

Recorded on the 20th of February as part of Per Capita’s Community Tax Summit, Economist’s Saul Eslake, Alan Kohler, Anglicare Australia’s Maiy Azize, and Prosper Australia’s Tim Helm discuss the current housing crisis in relation to the tax and transfer system. Recorded at Solidarity Hall at Victorian Trades Hall, Melbourne.

The Community Tax Summit bought together Australian NFPs, Think Tanks, Advocacy Groups and more to kick off a “big conversation” about Australia’s tax and transfer system.

There our panels of experts and those with lived experience demonstrated that there is an genuine appetite for tax and transfer reform, which is both needed and wanted in the next term of Parliament.

The post Housing – The Great Australian Divide appeared first on Per Capita.

Professor Miranda Stewart’s keynote address on Australia’s tax and transfer system and directions for reform. Recorded on the 20th of February as part of Per Capita’s Community Tax Summit, Solidarity Hall at Victorian Trades Hall, Melbourne.

Miranda Stewart is a Professor specialising in taxation law and policy at the Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne and an Honorary Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University. In 2024, Miranda was a visiting fellow at the Australian Treasury. Her most recent book is Tax and Government in the 21st Century (Cambridge University Press).

The Community Tax Summit bought together Australian NFPs, Think Tanks, Advocacy Groups and more to kick off a “big conversation” about Australia’s tax and transfer system. There our panels of experts and those with lived experience demonstrated that there is an genuine appetite for tax and transfer reform, which is both needed and wanted in the next term of Parliament.

The post Miranda Stewart: Keynote Address appeared first on Per Capita.

This interview is also available on podcast platforms and Rumble.

The Holocaust is the quintessential example of human evil for people in the West. In the rest of the world, especially in the Global South, the atrocity of the Holocaust — genocide — has had a closer proximity both in time and place. Colonialism in Africa, destructive wars in Asia and most recently, genocide in the Middle East, have shaped the lives of billions of people.

On this episode of The Chris Hedges Report, essayist and novelist Pankaj Mishra joins host Chris Hedges to discuss his latest book, “The World After Gaza.” Mishra argues that the shifting power dynamics in the world means the Global South’s narrative on atrocity can no longer be ignored and the genocide in Gaza is the current crux of the issue.

The American Mind’s ‘Editorial Roundtable’ podcast is a weekly conversation with Ryan Williams, Spencer Klavan, and Mike Sabo devoted to uncovering the ideas and principles that drive American political life. Stream here or download from your favorite podcast host.

Press Pass Fail | The Roundtable Ep. 256

On this episode of Follow the Money, Dr Emma Shortis and Ebony Bennett discuss Trump’s efforts to “rinse” Ukraine for its resources, the administration’s moves to dismantle significant portions of the Federal Government, and how the Australian Government can use its significant bargaining power to push back against the American President.

This discussion was recorded on Tuesday 25 February 2025 and things may have changed since recording.

Subscribe to After America now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your favourite podcasts.

Order What’s the Big Idea? 32 Big Ideas for a Better Australia now, via the Australia Institute website.

Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis

Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director the Australia Institute // @ebonybennett

Show notes:

On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Hayden discuss the latest monthly inflation data, the proposed improvements to Medicare, and Australia’s misguided obsession with federal budget surpluses.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 27 February 2025 and things may have changed since recording.

Subscribe to Between the Lines, The Australia Institute’s fortnightly newsletter.

Order What’s the Big Idea? 32 Big Ideas for a Better Australia now, via the Australia Institute website.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute and Centre for Future Work // @grogsgamut

Host: Hayden Starr, Digital Media Manager, the Australia Institute // @haydenstarr

Show notes:

Hunter L. Clark

With new tariffs on China back in the headlines, this post seeks to offer some perspective on how much China’s exports have really been affected by multiple rounds of U.S. tariffs and export restrictions over the past seven years. The key takeaway is that U.S. imports from China have decreased by much less than has been reported in official U.S. statistics. As a result, the recent tariff increase on China could have a larger impact on the U.S. economy than is suggested by official U.S. data on the China import share, especially if favorable tariff treatment for direct-to-consumer imports is ended.

But new research by The Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work has found that sacking public servants actually costs the country money and makes providing services less efficient.

The new briefing paper – Restoring Public Sector Capability Through Investment In Public Service Employees – debunks several of the myths promoted in the political debate around the size of Australia’s public service. One such myth is that Australia’s public service is “bloated” or “inefficient”.

The research found that, despite claims to the contrary, most of the public service jobs created since 2022 were not based in Canberra.

It also found:

Thank you, subscribers, for all your thoughtful questions! I answered most of them and tried to address the main points of the questions I didn’t list. I apologize that I ran out of space before I could get to them all!

If you’d like to submit a question, become a paying subscriber. You can do that here:

A Scam Built Atop an Accounting Gimmick Wrapped in Bullshit: Why Visiting Fort Knox Is Not About Selling Gold but is About Buying Bitcoin

 — Author: Nathan Tankus — Publication: Notes on the Crisis — Wednesday 26th February 2025

Notes on the Crises pivoted on February 1st into around the clock coverage of the Trump-Musk Treasury Payments Crisis of 2025. Today is Day Twenty Seven

More…

How a Popular Development Practice Backfires on Homeowners

 — Organisation: Strong Towns — Wednesday 26th February 2025

More…

Housing in Plain Sight: City Helps Homeowners Turn Empty Spaces Into Homes

 — Organisation: Strong Towns — Tuesday 25th February 2025

More…

Bottom-Up Shorts: How to Build Momentum as a Local Advocate

 — Organisation: Strong Towns — Tuesday 25th February 2025

More…