Weekend Reading and MB media appearances

International Reads:

• Abortions now cost over $450, more than double the price before Roe was overturned, per a reproductive care nonprofit director – Business Insider
• US spends billions on roads rather than public transport in ‘climate time bomb’ – The Guardian
• The Starbucks Workers’ Union Has Finally Broken Through – Jacobin
• Panera Bread exempt from California wage law after Newsom donation – NY Post
• Surge in Wendy’s complaints exposes limits to consumer tolerance of unstable prices – AP News
• How Rich People Create Poverty – AIER
• Netflix May Be About To Raise Prices Yet Again Simply Because It Can – Forbes
• India GDP: Country’s economy ended 2023 ‘with a bang’ as growth surged to 8.4% – CNN Business
• A huge wealth transfer means millennials are poised to become ‘the richest generation in history’ – CNBC
• The uninsurable world: what climate change is costing homeowners – FT
• Electricity Demand Is Surging for the First Time Since the 1990s – Heat Map
• Your Bike Just Got Stolen. These Vigilantes Will Get It Back. Bike theft is booming, but so is the army of citizen sleuths fighting it.– WSJ

Australian Reads:

• Man who raped daughter ‘every second day’ for 11 years sentenced in Toowoomba court – ABC
• Secretive firm behind voice no campaign billed taxpayers almost $135,000 via Coalition MPs, documents show – The Guardian
• Why traitorous Australians can ‘walk off into the sunset’ under our current espionage laws – SBS
• Malcolm Turnbull’s son Alex Turnbull says he was contacted by Chinese agents – News.com.au
• Australia taxes its massive gas exports so weakly that we pay more on Hecs than companies do on PRRT – The Guardian
• Young women are drinking and using drugs more than ever before, but we’re not sure why – ABC
• Unnamed ‘traitor’ politician cultivated by spies puts loyalty of every politician in question, says former treasurer – ABC
• Older Australians ‘left behind’ by increasingly cashless society as banks fast track end of cheques – ABC
• ‘Very broken housing system’: More high-income earners stuck in rent trap – The SMH
• Australian politician ‘sold out’ to foreign regime after being recruited by spies, Asio boss says – The Guardian
• Queensland police to be granted power to instantly issue year-long domestic violence protection orders – The Guardian
• Airbnb says only 1% to 2% of homes in Australia are short-term rentals. What does that really mean for renters? – The Guardian
• CoreLogic says the housing market’s soft start to the year extended into February – Interest.co.nz
• MORTGAGE STRESS: Non-performing housing loans rise by over 10% in just one month – Interest.co.nz
• How the Aussie government could offer bank loans – Interest.co.nz
• RBNZ performs ‘dovish pivot’ with more confidence inflation will fall – Interest.co.nz
• ANZ Business Outlook survey ‘doesn’t suggest the economy is rolling over or that inflation has been beaten’ – Interest.co.nz

MB Media Appearances:

“Appalling” Treasury “wrong” to blame wage growth for inflation:

Good news on inflation. More on Treasury’s wage-inflation lies:

DL-S wrote about the unfolding productivity megaboom from IA, Peak Fat and other technologies at News.com.au.