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The SDGs are not achievable

— Author: Fadhel Kaboub — Thursday 28th March 2024

Greetings from Addis Ababa!

I’m on my way back to Nairobi. I spent the last 3 days in Rome at a UN expert group meeting on SDG2 (Ending Hunger) at the FAO, in preparation for the 2024 High-Level Political Forum that will be held in July 2024. It was a bit ironic that the FAO building where we held the meeting used to be the Italian Ministry of the Colonies under the Mussolini regime, and my main message to the FAO was about decolonizing the global economic architecture is a prerequisite for achieving the SDGs, including SDG2 to end hunger. It is 2024, and the global food system reflects the legacy of colonial and post-colonial hierarchies. This blog is a brief summary of my main message to the FAO. I have also co-authored a recent piece about SDG5 (gender equality).

Climate Reparations, not "finance"

— Author: Fadhel Kaboub — Sunday 24th March 2024

Greetings from Bogota,

I spent the week in Bogota, Colombia for a series of presentations and meetings with Colombian government senior officials in the ministry of finance, the ministry of mines and energy, as well as senior diplomats. I also had a chance to meet with several academics, think tanks, and civil society organizations. It’s been a very productive and inspiring week. Today I wanted to comment briefly on the EU-Egypt “partnership” and on the Copenhagen Climate Ministerial meeting, which will set the stage for COP29, now dubbed the Climate Finance COP. Will it deliver? Or will it be the COP where climate finance goes to die?

Global South Repositioning

— Author: Fadhel Kaboub — Wednesday 13th March 2024

Greetings from Tunis!

It’s been a busy month. I have a few longer blogs that I post soon (preview below) but I wanted to share some quick updates and some resources that I think will be helpful. I spent the last few days in Tunis. I’ll post the updates in reverse chronological order. Yesterday, I did an. interview (in Arabic) with Radio SonFM on a show cleverly called Sans Emissions (Without Emissions, but also a play on words to say Sound Show). The full show is available here. We discussed green colonialism in the Global South, the Mattei Plan, the Non-Aligned Movement and G77+China South Summit in Kampala, fossil fuel economic entrapment, the so-called green industrialization of Namibia (new blog on this coming up soon), and most importantly, I discussed what I call the Bargain of the Century for the Global South, which I will write about soon.

The Mirage of Gender Equality in the MENA Region

— Author: Fadhel Kaboub — Friday 8th March 2024

Greetings from Beirut, Lebanon!

Kathmandu Statement to End Austerity

— Organisation: End Austerity Campaign — Thursday 15th February 2024

The World Social Forum in Nepal is an Open Space of social movements, NGOs, civil society organisations, trade unions, citizens who demand that “Another World is Possible”. We believe that ending austerity is central to the aims of this assembly gathered in Kathmandu 15-19 February, and this is why we call for immediate attention to the crisis of austerity that is only getting worse, and demand for immediate action on many alternatives that exist to austerity.

Today, more than 6 billion people are suffering from austerity, so-called “fiscal consolidation” according to a recent study by the EndAusterity Campaign. We demand that governments immediately stop harmful public budget cuts in essential areas like education, health and social protection, and halt damaging reforms such as the privatization of public services and social security rights, which are exacerbating gender inequality, as women are the shock absorbers due to the subsidy they provide to the global economy through their unpaid domestic and care work. Instead of austerity cuts/reforms, governments must seek new sources of fiscal space to meet their Human Rights obligations and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Specifically, we, the undersigned social movements, civil society organisations, trade unions and academics demand that governments, regional organisations and multilateral organisations urgently:

Decolonizing African Football (& Economies)

— Author: Fadhel Kaboub — Wednesday 14th February 2024

Salamno from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!

African football fans enjoyed some amazing football matches over the last few weeks. We celebrated our football superstars and our favorite teams during the 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON). However, a tournament that was moved to 2024 because of the climate-induced unfavorable and sometimes disastrous weather conditions that affect West Africa during the tropical rain season. And to add insult to injury, our AFCON has been hijacked by TotalEnergies as a platform to sportswash and greenwash its extraction, pollution, and abuse of the African continent. Decolonizing African football is just as important as decolonizing our economy, education, and just about every aspect of our lives. Ultimately, of course, we are talking about Decolonizing the Mind.

Why Africa must reject the Mattei Plan

— Author: Fadhel Kaboub — Thursday 1st February 2024

Greetings from Nairobi,

I am troubled by the number of African presidents, prime ministers, and senior officials who skipped the G77+China South Summit in Kampala last week, but flocked to Rome this week when they were summoned by the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni to attend the Italy-Africa Summit to be presented with the Mattei Plan for Africa. Since African leaders don’t have a plan for Africa, we will continue to be part of someone else’s plans, be it Europe, the US, China, or the G7 (which Italy is presiding this year). It is 2024, so colonial plans come dressed up in PR-proof rhetoric with partnership slogans like “not predatory, not paternalistic, but not charitable either.” That is how Meloni described Italy’s “vision of development in Africa.”

The G77+China Third South Summit

— Author: Fadhel Kaboub — Monday 22nd January 2024

Good morning from Kampala!

This week Uganda is not only the Pearl of Africa, but also the symbolic capital of the Global South. Uganda is hosting the 19th Non-Aligned Movement Summit (Jan 15-20) and the G77+China Third South Summit (Jan 21-23) at Speke Resort & Convention Center Munyonyo. I have written about Uganda’s leadership role in the Global South during after my last visit to Kampala back in November in preparation for the South Summit. Coincidentally (or not), while Global South countries gathered to discuss South-South cooperation and how to face the challenges of debt, development and climate change, others turned their attention to Davos, Switzerland where global business elites summoned government officials and leaders of global financial institutions to influence global economic thinking in a way that serves and protects their interest, while pretending to care about inequality, poverty, and climate change.

World Social Forum Session Calls for an End to Austerity and Promotes Fair Financing Alternatives

— Organisation: End Austerity Campaign — Wednesday 17th January 2024

At the 2024 World Social Forum in Kathmandu, the End Austerity Campaign hosted a powerful session addressing the harmful social consequences of austerity measures—particularly their disproportionate impact on women.

The session featured high-level speakers, including the Executive Directors of Oxfam, Financial Transparency International, and Global Social Justice, among others. Discussions focused on the urgent need to move away from austerity-driven policies and emphasized the wide range of financing alternatives available to governments that can lead to socially just and sustainable development outcomes.

The event culminated in the launch of the Kathmandu Statement to End Austerity, a bold declaration signed by participants, reinforcing the global call for economic policies rooted in equity and human rights.

The post World Social Forum Session Calls for an End to Austerity and Promotes Fair Financing Alternatives appeared first on End Austerity.

The Struggle for Climate Justice Continues

— Author: Fadhel Kaboub — Friday 15th December 2023

Good afternoon from Nairobi!

The fact that it took 28 COPs to finally name fossil fuels as the root cause of climate change is sobering. And the fact the we ended up with the weakest possible language of "transitioning away from fossil fuels" while most rich countries plan to spend billions of dollars building new fossil fuel infrastructure, and avoiding the responsibility to finance a just transition for developing countries is the ultimate demonstration of Global North hypocrisy. The major loophole one can sail an LNG carrier through is the language around "unabated" fossil fuels, which relies on unproven and expensive technologies of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) that are designed to extend the life of the fossil fuel industry.

Rich countries are in Debt Default

— Author: Fadhel Kaboub — Tuesday 12th December 2023

Good morning from Dubai at COP28!

Climate finance requires a minimum of $2.4 trillion of transformative grant-based investment and transfer of technology for climate adaptation and mitigation by 2030. We are nowhere near that target at the end of COP28. Climate finance is a climate debt owed by the historic polluters of the Global North to Global South countries that are on the front lines of climate change. The Global North is in default and is refusing to pay its debt.

Colombia Makes History at COP28

— Author: Fadhel Kaboub — Sunday 3rd December 2023

Good morning from Nairobi!

I’m getting ready to go to COP28 in Dubai, UAE in a few hours. And, of course, I have two things on my mind: phasing out fossil fuels and transformative climate finance. Let’s start with fossil fuels. I was thrilled to see that yesterday (December 2), President Gustavo Petro announced that Colombia would formally join the bloc of nation-states seeking to negotiate a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Colombia is now the 10th country to call for an international treaty to phase out fossil fuels with a comprehensive just transition framework. This is historic because Colombia is the first major fossil fuel exporter to endorse the Treaty initiative.

Decolonizing the International Tax System

— Author: Fadhel Kaboub — Saturday 25th November 2023

Greetings from Accra, Ghana!

It’s been a hot, humid, and wonderful week in Accra. I gave a keynote speech at the 11th Pan-African Conference on Illicit Financial Flows and Taxation (Nov. 22-24). The title of my speech was “A Pan-African Vision for Structural Transformation: We can’t decarbonize a system that hasn’t been decolonized yet.” You can watch the video here, including the very insightful panel discussion with my dear colleagues Mukupa Nsenduluka (Tax Justice Network Africa), Titus Gwemende (Open Society Foundations), Jason Braganza (AFRODAD), Natalie Mwila (Center for Trade Policy and Development). and concluding remarks by Dr. Patrick Olomo Ndazana (African Union Commission). This was for a session titled “The International Financial Architecture and Africa’s Extractive Industry: Answering the Climate Change Question.”

The most dangerous climate finance "solution"

— Author: Fadhel Kaboub — Saturday 18th November 2023

Greetings from Tunis!

It’s almost the end of November but it feels like summer. I was tempted to go to the beach, but I was too busy, unfortunately. The drought is still in full effect. No rain yet. Water levels in the major dams are below 30% of capacity. Water cuts are not uncommon in the evening in major coastal cities, and unfortunately, the interior towns often experience water shortages for weeks at a time, not to mention farmers who struggle to get any access to irrigation in recent years. And yet, Tunisia has major plans to produce water-intensive green hydrogen to export to Europe!

I’ve been getting a lot of requests lately to comment on climate finance and what to expect from the upcoming COP28 meeting in Dubai. I will share some thoughts here and link to some sources and recent interviews/comments I have made.

Debt cancellation alone is not enough

— Author: Fadhel Kaboub — Monday 13th November 2023

Greetings from Quito, Ecuador, the Center of the World!

I am here with a small group of colleagues from across the Global South for a workshop on debt and development. It was the beginning of an amazing collaborative effort that will unfold over the next few months (more on this in due course). And it was a wonderful opportunity to visit the Mitad del Mundo (the Middle of the World) at the 0 latitude point on the equator (which pre-Incas native people have identified with GPS-like accuracy and marked it on Mount Katequilla, which means he who follows the moon), where we took turn finding our perfect balance (balancing that egg!) and enjoying samples of the best Ecuadorian chocolate and coffee.

Uganda's leadership role in the Global South

— Author: Fadhel Kaboub — Saturday 4th November 2023

Greetings from the Pearl of Africa!

Today, I had a very productive visit to Kampala, Uganda, the Pearl of Africa, with my dear friend Julius Mucunguzi (we were colleagues in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia). I had two long deep-dive conversations with senior government officials, Minister of State for Industry, the Hon David Bahati, and Uganda's Permanent Representative at the United Nations, Ambassador Aadonia Ayebare.

Advancing Social Security Amid Debt and Austerity: Toward a New Eco-Social Contract

— Organisation: End Austerity Campaign — Friday 13th October 2023

October 13, 2023 | Side Event at the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings, Marrakech

At a high-level side event during the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in Marrakech, the End Austerity Campaign, together with the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors and the Campaign for the Right to Social Security, convened a timely discussion on the urgent need to rethink social protection in the context of debt and austerity.

Drawing on recent research, the session revealed that IMF-mandated social spending floors often fail to counteract the broader harm caused by austerity-driven policy conditionalities. Rather than mitigating inequality, these measures tend to entrench it further.

Panelists called for a transformative shift in how the IMF and World Bank approach social policy—moving beyond narrow safety nets to frameworks that embed human rights and social justice at their core. The discussion championed the creation of a new eco-social contract, one that links economic policies with environmental sustainability and universal social protection.

The post Advancing Social Security Amid Debt and Austerity: Toward a New Eco-Social Contract appeared first on End Austerity.

End Austerity! Reclaim the Right to Education, Health, and Social Security

— Organisation: End Austerity Campaign — Sunday 8th October 2023

At the Reclaim Our Future Conference in Marrakech, the End Austerity Campaign hosted a compelling session exposing the global rise of a new wave of austerity policies—currently impacting more than 6 billion people worldwide.

The session addressed urgent questions:

What are these new austerity measures?
Where are they being implemented?
What is the human cost of these policies?
And what feasible alternatives can governments adopt instead?

Drawing on powerful evidence and key findings from recent reports by campaign members—including ActionAid International, the Financial Transparency Coalition, Human Rights Watch, OXFAM, Global Social Justice, and numerous other civil society organizations—the session highlighted how austerity undermines fundamental rights such as education, healthcare, and social protection.

Speakers called for immediate action to reverse harmful economic policies and to adopt rights-based, equitable alternatives that put people and planet first.

Hundreds of organizations and academics call to end austerity, ahead of IMF- World Bank Annual Meetings in Marrakesh

— Organisation: End Austerity Campaign — Thursday 5th October 2023

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release

Marrakech, October 5, 2023

330 major civil society organizations and senior academics from around the world have signed a declaration calling on the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and governments to end austerity measures, ahead of the IMF-WB Annual Meetings in Marrakech, Morocco, on 9-15 October.

Today, 6 billion people are living under austerity around the world, resulting in harmful cuts in public services and social protection amid a cost-of-living crisis. These IMF and World Bank-promoted austerity policies are being implemented in the name of ‘fiscal consolidation’ as countries struggle to pay their debts.

Marrakesh Declaration to End Austerity

— Organisation: End Austerity Campaign — Monday 2nd October 2023

We, civil society representatives and academics from all over the world, call upon governments, Ministries of Finance and International Financial Institutions to end austerity.

Today, more than 6 billion people are suffering from austerity, so-called “fiscal consolidation”, amid a cost-of-living crisis. We demand that governments immediately stop harmful public budget cuts in essential areas like education, health and social protection, and halt damaging reforms such as the privatization of public services and social security rights, which are exacerbating gender inequality, as women are the shock absorbers due to the subsidy they provide to the global economy through their unpaid domestic and care work. Instead of austerity cuts/reforms, governments must seek new sources of fiscal space to meet their Human Rights obligations and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Specifically, we, the undersigned civil society organizations, trade unions and academics demand that governments, Ministries of Finance, the IMF, World Bank and other International Financial Institutions urgently:

End Austerity Campaign Statement on Morocco earthquake

— Organisation: End Austerity Campaign — Thursday 28th September 2023

بيان بشأن زلزال المغرب

تعبر حملة إنهاء التقشف عن خالص تعازيها وتضامنها مع الشعب المغربي على إثر الخسائر البشرية الكبيرة والدمار الذي خلفه الزلزال الذي ضرب مراكش وجبال الأطلس الكبير في 8 شتنبر.

End Austerity Activism Festival

— Organisation: End Austerity Campaign — Friday 1st September 2023

Date: Saturday, 7 October, 9am-6:30pm (Marrakesh time), 8am-5:30pm UTC
Venue: Cadi Ayyad University Club Marrakesh & online
Register to attend: https://forms.gle/zADLVqmp2RfXX7gX8

Join us for a full day hybrid event on October 7th 2023 in Marrakesh!

To kick off the World Bank & IMF Annual Meetings, we will come together to celebrate resistance against their failed economic model that puts profit before people and planet, and join forces in calling for a feminist, green and care-led agenda for the future!

The EndAusterity Campaign invites campaign members and allies, existing and new ones, to join the Festival to share their advocacy know-how and research, speak to their experience and lived realities in their communities, and inspire advocacy, action and art.

The American Mind Podcast: The Roundtable Episode #267

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Thursday 15th May 2025

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.

Congress Take the Wheel | The Roundtable Ep. 267

State sponsored greenwashing misleading consumers and failing businesses

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Thursday 15th May 2025

Despite the need to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions in line with climate science, the government continues to promote carbon offsetting and certify claims of “carbon neutrality” by the fossil fuel industry and other big emitters through its Climate Active scheme.

The Climate Active scheme actively encourages consumers to “make a positive impact right now, by supporting these organisations” without offering any proof that the businesses it certifies are taking climate action or verifying that emissions are being “offset”.

The Australia Institute has previously filed a complaint with the ACCC on the basis that Climate Active may be misleading and deceptive under consumer law.

The Australia Institute’s 2024 Climate of the Nation showed that there is widespread confusion around carbon offsets and carbon neutrality, and that the government should be responsible for verifying claims by industry:

The latest legal developments in Trump's effort to use the Alien Enemies Act to disappear Venezuelans

— Author: Heidi Li Feldman — Wednesday 14th May 2025

In the past week or so, more precise contours have emerged in the legal contests over the lawfulness of the Trump regime's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and the mechanics of the regime's deportation Venezuelans to CECOT, a prison camp in El Salvador. One way or another these fights will culminate in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Three issues have gained prominence:

whether detained Venezuelans may have their habeas petitions handled via class action
whether the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) permits Trump to declare Tren de Aragua (TdA) a foreign invasionary force
what steps constitute due process for removal of alleged TdA members under the AEA

Courts have already taken positions on each of these, clearly splitting over the first two and just beginning to address the third. While I have firm views as to the proper legal answers to questions (1) and (2), the fact and ways that federal district courts are disagreeing over them highlights that the Supreme Court might side with the arguments I reject. My purpose in this post is to give a deeper sense of the issues and to sketch the positions courts have taken thus far.

Things Past

— Author: Julia Doubleday — Wednesday 14th May 2025

I wrote about Proust once before. It was over a year ago, in February 2024, and I must have been midway through book 2 of Proust’s 7-volume epic In Search of Lost Time, also translated as Remembrance of Things Past. Now, I’m nearing the end of Volume 7, the last in the series. The final volumes have been a particular struggle to get through, as my health declined precipitously since the summer, leaving me homebound and mostly bedbound. I lost days and weeks to severe migraines, trying to relax beneath a silk eye mask beneath an icy cold cap direct from the freezer.

Eventually, I swallowed my pride and began listening to books on tape, something I discussed in this essay about learning to accept my need for mobility and accessibility aids. But by this time, my relationship with my gorgeous Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition novels was personal and emotional; I was fixated on finishing them the old-fashioned way. Slowly and steadily, I crawled through books five and six. I knew that, like me, Proust had been chronically ill, and I knew that, like me, he had been getting sicker as time went on.

I joked that reading the books while getting sicker, knowing that Proust was writing the semi-autobiographical books while getting sicker, made me feel like I was living in some warped Charlie Kaufman screenplay.

21 Years of Growth, 21 Years of Risk: What Sacramento’s Budget Really Says

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Wednesday 14th May 2025

EVENT: Post-election debrief – members & supporters event

— Organisation: Prosper Australia — Wednesday 14th May 2025

A Strong Towns View of the New SpaceX Company Town

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Wednesday 14th May 2025

Righting Wrongs (w/ Kenneth Roth) | The Chris Hedges Report

— Author: Chris Hedges — Wednesday 14th May 2025

This interview is also available on podcast platforms and Rumble.

On this episode of The Chris Hedges Report, host Chris Hedges speaks with Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the author of Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Frontlines Battling Abusive Governments. Hedges and Roth discuss HRW’s work and how it has changed over time, from its Cold War origins to the social media age.

Roth explains his approach to human rights work:

Low-Trust Military

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Wednesday 14th May 2025

Sir Winston Churchill is known to have remarked that “In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” That timeless mindset of deception has proven effective at enabling militaries to surprise adversaries on the battlefield throughout the history of human warfare. But when such tactics carry over into how the military communicates with citizens, ethical lines have clearly been crossed. This undermines the military officer’s oath of office and sows distrust among the public that the military is supposed to serve. Such a case is presently before us.

A recent report in the New York Times revealed that the pilot of the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter that knocked American Airlines flight 5342 from the sky in January made several errors. The pilot ignored a warning to change direction and collided with the plane, killing everyone on both aircraft. This information was not released by the U.S. Army nor the Department of Defense, even though the official policy of both is maximum disclosure, minimum delay. But in this and countless other cases, the military’s actions are hostile to official DoD policies.

“Don’t waste it”: Labor’s historic policy opportunity

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Wednesday 14th May 2025

On this episode of Follow the Money, Stephen Long, Walkley Award-winning journalist and Australia Institute Contributing Editor, joins Ebony Bennett to discuss the Murdoch press bogeyman, supporting the public broadcasters and the prospects for major, progressive reforms in the second Albanese term.

This discussion was recorded on Tuesday 13 May 2025 and things may have changed.

Order ‘After America: Australia and the new world order’ or become a foundation subscriber to our Vantage Point series and save 25% on the Australia Institute website.

Guest: Stephen Long, Senior Fellow and Contributing Editor, the Australia Institute // @stephenlongaus

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

Show notes:

Worth a Punt – 2% Levy on Gambling Revenue Could Replace Free-To-Air Advertising Spend by Stephen Long and David Richardson, the Australia Institute (August 2024)

Cortright Testimony to Oregon Transportation Commission, May 8, 2025

— Publication: City Observatory — Wednesday 14th May 2025

Joe Cortright, City Observatory

Testimony to the Oregon Transportation Commission

May 8, 2025

Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I’m Joe Cortright with City Observatory.

As you remember I testified six weeks ago, when I pointed out that faced with cost overruns, what this commission has done is frown, shrug, and then give the same people more money to do more of the same. And I noted that you get the behavior that you reward, and what you’ve been rewarding is low-balling cost estimates, overestimating revenue and minimizing or ignoring risks, and we’re seeing that happening in real time today.

On your agenda, I’ll just draw your attention to Item K, which deals with the Interstate Bridge Project. If you’ll notice, you don’t have an estimate of how much this project will cost, and you’re being told that you’re just approving a $2 billion STIP allocation, but what you’re really doing is signing a blank check for whatever this project ends up costing.

Did You Save Anyone Today?

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Wednesday 14th May 2025

This Strong Towns member-submitted article was originally published in the Institute of Transportation Engineers’ Florida-Puerto Rico Division newsletter. It is shared here with permission. In-line photos were provided by the writer.

Countering China’s Eurasian Bloc Is Our Real Challenge

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Tuesday 13th May 2025

Kenin Spivak’s response to my piece, “Striking Iran Would Be a Mistake,” reflects a familiar but strategically short-sighted instinct within American foreign policy: the belief that forceful action against a dangerous regime, if justified morally or militarily, must also be wise geopolitically. But as I argued, and will expand upon here, the deeper question confronting the United States is not merely whether Iran goes nuclear, but whether the geopolitical structure of Eurasia becomes locked into a sinocentric configuration—one that fuses Iranian energy, Russian military-industrial depth, and Chinese strategic coordination into a single bloc capable of overturning the Western-led order.

The real catastrophe is not Iran’s enrichment centrifuges—it is China’s encirclement of the West.

Student Loan Delinquencies Are Back, and Credit Scores Take a Tumble

— Organisation: Federal Reserve Bank of New York — Publication: Liberty Street Economics — Tuesday 13th May 2025

Andrew F. Haughwout, Donghoon Lee, Daniel Mangrum, Joelle Scally, and Wilbert van der Klaauw

Small Changes With Big Impacts in Dallas

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Tuesday 13th May 2025

Preserving America’s Cyber Sovereignty

— Organisation: The Claremont Institute — Tuesday 13th May 2025

In the rapidly digitizing landscape of modern America, our homes, businesses, and national infrastructure are increasingly reliant on interconnected devices—collectively known as the Internet of Things (IoT). These devices promise convenience and efficiency, but they also pose an unprecedented cybersecurity challenge. From smart thermostats to baby monitors, each device can become a potential gateway for cyberattacks. The Biden Administration’s development of the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark (CTM) attempted to meet this challenge. While we take issue with many elements of that administration’s broader regulatory agenda, the CTM represents a rare case of smart, market-aligned governance.

The CTM is a voluntary labeling program for consumer IoT products that allows manufacturers to demonstrate they meet certain cybersecurity standards. But its true innovation lies not in the sticker slapped on a product box—but in the market incentives it unleashes. Unlike heavy-handed federal mandates, the CTM respects consumer choice, empowers corporate accountability, and opens the door to a new kind of risk-based procurement that strengthens our national cybersecurity from the ground up.

Bottom-Up Shorts: How To Make a More Walkable City

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Tuesday 13th May 2025

“Out of control” Vice-Chancellor pay must be reined in – submission.

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Tuesday 13th May 2025

Australia’s Vice Chancellors are among the highest paid in the world, at a time when the institutions they oversee are plummeting down international rankings.

The new analysis, which is now before a Senate Inquiry, recommends sweeping changes to the governance of Australian universities, to deliver better results for students, greater scrutiny of universities’ accounts and a significant increase in transparency within the higher education sector.

The first recommendation is a cap on Vice Chancellor salaries at $430,000 per year, which would more than halve the pay of those currently earning the most.

The submission is now before the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee’s Inquiry on Tertiary Education Legislation Amendment (There For Education, Not Profit) Bill 2025.

We Can’t Solve the Housing Crisis While Making Infill This Hard

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Tuesday 13th May 2025

Can China “Buy” America? Fifty Years Ago Last Week the Ford Administration Created the Government Body That Stops That From Happening.

— Author: Nathan Tankus — Publication: Notes on the Crisis — Tuesday 13th May 2025

Can China “Buy” America? Fifty Years Ago Last Week the Ford Administration Created the Government Body That Stops That From Happening.

I have ended up taking a lot longer to write up my biggest picture thoughts on the dollar than I initially expected. Partially this is because things seem to have stabilized- for now- and thus I didn’t feel the pressure to rush a piece out. Just yesterday China and the United States announced a tariff agreement- at least for the next ninety days. But the other reason I haven’t put out a big picture piece on the dollar is I have struggled to put all my thoughts on this topic into one piece. Before the coronavirus pandemic- when I was in a very different place in my life- my goal was to go off to undertake a PhD in law in Europe where I would write a three chapter dissertation on the international law of money. My June 2018 talk which I published in the newsletter last month provides the rough skeleton of my thinking. How do you get all of that into one piece?

The opportunity of a lifetime. The first big test for the newly elected government.

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Tuesday 13th May 2025

The 55 groups congratulate the Prime Minister on his resounding election victory, which they say has delivered a mandate for “optimistic and ambitious” action on climate change.

The letter – published in several newspapers today – points out that, as well as being an existential threat, climate change has intensified the cost-of-living crisis, pushing up energy, grocery and insurance prices.

The signatories call upon the re-elected Albanese government to commit to a fast and fair phase-out of fossil fuels, in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime for the Prime Minister,” said Mark Ogge, Principal Advisor at The Australia Institute.

“Anthony Albanese can be a leader who finally brings an end to Australia’s destructive fossil fuel addiction, while – at the same time – helping Australians through a cost-of-living crisis.

“The first and most important thing he can do right now is to stop the biggest, most destructive, most unnecessary fossil fuel project in the country: the expansion of the North West Shelf gas export terminal.

“This project would release more than four billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

“It would also allow the ongoing destruction of one of Australia’s and the world’s greatest cultural treasures – the 40,000-year-old Murujuga rock engravings. These are eight times older than the pyramids and are being ruined by acid gas emissions from the adjacent gas plant.

Fast Posterior Sampling in Tightly Identified SVARs Using 'Soft' Sign Restrictions

— Organisation: Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) — Tuesday 13th May 2025

We propose algorithms for conducting Bayesian inference in structural vector autoregressions identified using sign restrictions. The key feature of our approach is a sampling step based on 'soft' sign restrictions. This step draws from a target density that smoothly penalises parameter values violating the restrictions, facilitating the use of computationally efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling algorithms. An importance-sampling step yields draws from the desired distribution conditional on the 'hard' sign restrictions. Relative to standard accept-reject sampling, the method substantially improves computational efficiency when identification is 'tight'. It can also greatly reduce the computational burden of implementing prior-robust Bayesian methods. We illustrate the broad applicability of the approach in a model of the global oil market identified using a rich set of sign, elasticity and narrative restrictions.

Your Questions Answered: White House vs Road House

— Author: Sarah Kendzior — Monday 12th May 2025

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

I do these Q & As once a month. If you’d like to submit a question, become a paying subscriber. You can do that here:

Paying subscriptions are particularly appreciated right now. This newsletter is my main source of income for a family of four. Thank you for considering it!

And away we go…

How Strong Towns Metro Milwaukee Is Building a Regional Movement for Change

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Monday 12th May 2025

Who Finances Real Sector Lenders?

— Organisation: Federal Reserve Bank of New York — Publication: Liberty Street Economics — Monday 12th May 2025

Nina Boyarchenko, Hyuntae Choi, and Leonardo Elias

Decorative Image: Internet Banking Technology concept

The modern financial system is complex, with funding flowing not just from the financial sector to the real sector but within the financial sector through an intricate network of financial claims. While much of our work focuses on understanding the end result of these flows—credit provided to the real sector—we explore in this post how accounting for interlinkages across the financial sector changes our perception of who finances credit to the real sector.

ZacTax: How To Build Financially Healthy Cities

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Monday 12th May 2025

Oligarchy or democracy?

— Organisation: The Australia Institute — Monday 12th May 2025

On this episode of After America, Elizabeth Pancotti, economic policy specialist and former advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders, joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss what the second Trump administration is doing to the American economy.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 8 May 2025 and things may have changed since recording.

Order ‘After America: Australia and the new world order’ or become a foundation subscriber to Vantage Point at australiainstitute.org.au/store.

Guest: Elizabeth Pancotti, Managing Director of Policy and Advocacy, Groundwork Collaborative // @ENPancotti

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

Show notes:

Trump’s tariffs won’t wreck Australia’s economy. But America’s could be cooked. Dollars & Sense (April 2025)

A Note to City Staff Worried About Admitting Traffic Safety Mistakes

— Organisation: Strong Towns — Monday 12th May 2025