During the Christmas and New Years break, MacroBusiness will be opening the vault to discover the best dressed, most popular and interesting posts of 2011.
According to our regular and irregular commenting crowd, here are the 10 most popular articles posted on MacroBusiness this year. The main themes that dominated were mining, then the carbon tax and then housing.
Here’s the list, starting at No.10:
The debt ceiling debate is a sideshow
An economic school debate followed, as commenters decried Austrian, MMT and Keynesian thought whilst taking into account the real world of US politics.
Who’s responsible?
At No.9 is Delusional Economics take on who was responsible for the post-GFC boom in borrowing, by enticing unsuspecting First Home Buyers into taking on their purchase much earlier and at very low interest rates.
DE’s guess was the blame should be shared as follows: 50% government, 25% banks, 20% RBA, 5% borrowers. Our commenters broadly agreed.
Urban sprawl greenhouse myths
New contributor Rumplestatskin set off a firestorm of comments with this post, coming in at No.8, disproving the notion that MacroBusiness had a monolothic view on all the issues.
There is more to the supply side of the housing market than meets the eye, and our most vocal commenters and bloggers also proved that point with a very hearty debate that rose well above the usual “God ain’t making any more land” cliches.
The problem with democracy
Our share and bond analyst Q Continuum used the “Weekend Musing” column to opine about the state of western democracy getting somewhat philosophical but focusing on the ever expanding public debt dilemmas in No. 7 on the countdown with almost 150 comments.
The post proved quite passionate for our regular commenters, as well as some of our regular bloggers, as we delved further into the world of politics and philosophy.
Mining’s new cold war
The commentariat responded with a full broadside, including the bloggers, with regular commenters The Lorax and 3d1K duking it out.
Why Gillard has a mandate
Although categorised as “carbon economy” this post by Carbon E. Coyote stirred the political loins at MacroBusiness, taking out the No.5 spot.
Although Carbon Coyote eloquently pointed out that the Carbon Tax was not a Carbon Tax (but an ETS), regular readers swooped in proving the country remains divided as ever, particularly when it comes to politicians who show some leadership.
Carbon Price Announcement
The comments quickly breached 150 and rained on for the rest of the week, with vitriol and passionate debate again focusing on the politics and less the economics (perceived or real).
Can manufacturing seize its opening?
The discussion, the 3rd longest at MacroBusiness, reflected the ongoing divide between the rest of the economy and the mining sector, with proponents for both putting in their two bob (and more).
Categate
At No.2, the Boganomics team topped themselves with their delightful display on how debate in this country is whittled down to its core elements: how to placate the bogans in two syllables or less.
The initial commentary that followed had nothing to do with bogans or Cate Blanchett or the function of satire, focusing on global warming as conspiracies abounded, but eventually the thread found its way back to how the media is used to steer “debate” and public discourse.
The people want a mining tax
The most popular post, with over 200 comments, was Houses and Holes‘ exposition on why the majority of the Australian public wanted a mining tax, which eventuated as the MRRT.
This position had strengthened over time as the symptoms of Dutch Disease spread across the country (mainly the East Coast). A fiery debate ensued!