Easter Links Vids and Pods: March 29 – April 1, 2024

Arthur Streeton ‘Beach Scene’ 1890, Art Gallery of NSW

Global Macro

• Fed’s balancing act could see June rate cut in play even with sticky inflation – Reuters
• Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years for multi-billion dollar FTX fraud – Reuters
• US economic growth for last quarter is revised up slightly to a healthy 3.4% annual rate – AP
• New Zealand slips into its second recession in 18 months as economy contracts – AP
• Top Chinese banks warn of spillover risks from property crisis – Nikkei Asia
• Have we passed ‘Peak China’? – Pearls and Irritations, Easlake
• The Immigration Tinderbox – Project-Syndicate….because neo-liberalism uses immigration to sustain profit maximising outcomes for the 1%…
• P. Morgan U.S. equity head eyes AI and health ‘game changers’ – Nikkei Asia….she is talking Dave’s peak fat and peak people…

Terra Specufestor and the Kiwis

• Winemakers prepare to ‘instantly’ resume exports to China after heavy tariffs abolished – ABC
• This isn’t the 30s I was promised – ABC… Australia has reamed generations and a large section of society to give to the aged wealthy….
• Anthony Albanese announces Solar SunShot manufacturing program to boost Australian production – ABC
• Australia doubles down on rare earths despite Chinese dominance – Nikkei Asia
• Australia’s Woodside to boost North America LNG purchases 5-fold – Nikkei Asia
• The real reason Labor is rushing through immigration powers – Pearls and Irritations, Rizvi
• Government funding increases continue to favour private schools – Pearls and Irritations…Australian school funding is a disgrace…
• Australia doubles down on rare earths despite Chinese dominance – Nikkei Asia
• Silent Bill Killer: who pillages Australians hardest? It ain’t groceries or power bills, and profits are up 534% – Michael West
• Government pays lawyers 5x fee estimates to hide advice on how to reduce gas prices. What’s the scam? – Michael West
• The Big Two: winemakers squeezed from both sides by Coles and Woolworths – Michael West
• Housing Hunger Games: negative gearing catching fire – Michael West
• Could spending a billion dollars actually bring solar manufacturing back to Australia? It’s worth a shot – The Conversation
• Albanese government to Fair Work Commission: Don’t let real wages go backwards for the low paid – The Conversation
• Companies vying for government contracts could soon have to meet gender targets. Will we finally see real progress? – The Conversation…and will public sectors (which employ 2 women for every male) have gender targets too?…

The rest of the world

• US may soon unveil list of Chinese chip factories barred from receiving tech – Reuters
• Cheap Chinese goods have become a double-edged sword for South Korea’s economy – SCMP
• India’s army of gold refiners face new competition – BBC
• France set to commission new nuclear plant – DW
• Thailand steps up border control of livestock after anthrax outbreak is reported in neighboring Laos – AP
• BRICS announce a blockchain-based payment system to create a common currency – BNE Intellinews
• Labour costs in Western Europe still four times higher than in Romania and Bulgaria – BNE Intellinews
• Sanctions on Russian diamonds see traders flee Antwerp for Dubai – BNE Intellinews
• Asian central banks likely to start cutting rates soon – BNE Intellinews….better financing for corruption beneficiaries buying Australian real estate?…
• From India to Australia, Myanmar is flooding Asia with cheap meth – Nikkei Asia
• Arc of history favours Wang Yi – Pearls and Irritations…one hopes Daryl had a good whinny after writing this…
• There’s a shadow fleet sneaking Russian oil around the world. It’s an ecological disaster waiting to happen. – Vox…this is a thing…
• Are Swedish house prices too high? – VoxEU

..and furthermore….

• Tax havens and worker exploitation: Baltimore bridge disaster gives glimpse into ‘murky world’ of shipping – ABC
• US farms are making an urgent push into AI. It could help feed the world – BBC
• Patchwork international regulations govern cargo ships like the one that toppled Baltimore bridge – AP
• The Struggle for Currency Supremacy – Project-Syndicate
• Rain, rain go away – BNE Intellinews
• Chinese cities revise housing policy as families turn to larger homes – Nikkei Asia
• Judas and the economics of betrayal – The Conversation…psychopaths betray because they think it in their interest, Australian politicians and public service executives have betrayed those under 50 and the poor because they think it in their personal interests
• China: why the country’s economy has hit a wall – and what it plans to do about it – The Conversation
• Hayek’s Road to Serfdom at 80: what critics get wrong about the Austrian economist – The Conversation
• Why buying a house feels impossible right now – Vox
• Why fossil fuel producers are oddly optimistic in the climate change era – Vox
• AI already uses as much energy as a small country. It’s only the beginning. – Vox
• A circular relationship between productivity and hours worked – VoxEU
• Lost in transmission – VoxEU…and pay close attention to politicians corporate leaders, senior public servants and other psychopaths…
• Measuring uncertainty in ESG ratings – VoxEU
• The global sanitary revolution in historical perspective – VoxEU

Pods

• Who screwed millennials? Yanis Varoufakis on the death of capitalism – Full Story podcast – Guardian
• Cannabis Cowboys: DW investigative true crime podcast drops – DW
• The Deficit Myth with Stephanie Kelton—what to ask when governments can’t afford to fix things – ABC

Vids

This is a good presentation…..