The pond once harboured fantasies that it might help, in however small and humble way, kill the tree killer business of Chairman Rupert and his minions ... but the pond reckoned without the seemingly infinite capacity of the reptiles to do self-harm, balanced by the ABC's relentless insistence that News Corp publications remain the source of all the news that matters ...
Meanwhile, speaking of self-harm, the pond is suffering. What on earth to do with this lot?
The pond realises that a few cultists will clap hands with glee at the sight of Dame Groan improving her productivity, as an example to us all, but where's petulant Peta, if only so the pond could ignore her? Is a serve of dismal Dimitri, and Monkish disapproval, and a loose serve of despair from gloomy Loosley the best the reptiles have got?
The tree killer edition looked no more promising ...
Fears over Orwellian truth bill 'are valid'? Nah, not really. Not even that putting of quote marks around the 'are valid' bit could tempt the pond.
The pond has spent way too much time brooding about the way that stubborn socialist remains top of the reptile word pantheon. Not even Uncle Elon's use of "cuck", which sent the pond in search of an ancient New Statesman story about the word, The evolution of “cuck“ shows that different far-right groups are learning the same language, could dislodge 'Orwellian' from the reptile brain.
Spend time in revolting Tasmania? Only in a dire emergency ...
And that's how the pond sought refuge with the lizard Oz editorialist, at last speaking out on matters related to climate science, bearing in mind that Lloydie of the Amazon has done a Colonel Fawcett and has remained out of sight since way back on the 19th April 2023 ...
It turned a tad personal for Gelles ... here if the paywall's not an issue ...
The United States is an interesting example of chooks coming home to roost, with or without eggs. The pond plucked this one from The Graudian's ongoing coverage here ...
So what does the lizard Oz editorialist offer as a final short gobbet?
The cunning fiends. What a clever ploy because the pond made the mistake of clicking on the link, a mistake it rarely makes with spammers, and suddenly there was an ancient petulant Peta offering ...
Somehow, by hook and reptile crook, she'd made it into the pond, and a little down the track after that opening splash, she offered up this standard reptile, Captain Potato line about the best way to nuke the country ...
If it really is necessary to get to net zero any time soon, nuclear power is the only feasible means, yet the Albanese government is almost hysterically opposed to it – despite the illogicality of opposing on land the nuclear power source that the government is committed to having on our submarine fleet tied up dockside.
The only upside was that the pond could repeat a link provided by an esteemed correspondent to John Quiggin in The Conversation musing yesterday about 'this nuke the country' dreaming ... assuming it is really necessary to spend an idle moment contemplating the destruction of the planet ...
If all are built, that’s still less than the capacity of a single large Gen III plant. More strikingly, it’s about the same as the new solar capacity installed every single day (~710 MW) this year around the world.
Even with US government subsidies, NuScale estimates its power would cost A$132 per MWh. In Australia, average wholesale prices in the first quarter of 2023 ranged from $64 per MWh in Victoria to 114 per MWh in Queensland.
So why, then, is Australia’s opposition still talking about new nuclear? Dutton claims Australia’s future nuclear submarines to be built under the AUKUS deal are “essentially floating SMRs”. This is a red herring – while submarine reactors are small, they are not modular.
The simplest answer is political gain. Announcements like this yield political benefits at low cost.
The US, UK and France have decades of experience in nuclear power, even if failures outnumber successes. So yes, there is a slim chance the latest “nuclear renaissance” will succeed in these countries.
But in Australia, promises to create a nuclear power industry from scratch based on as yet unproven technologies and in competition with cheap renewables is simply delusional.
That's worth a cartoon celebrating local efforts, amid ongoing coal mining approvals ...
And now to appease the Dame Groan cultists, a moving paean ...
Dame Groan seemed off her game, agitated at the thought of impending doom ... but only capable of tiny little spurts ...
Indeed, indeed, and the immortal Rowe cast the outgoing Guv in a scientology movie, because is there anything a scientologist can't achieve as they routinely soar into volcanoes or on to fast moving trains?
But even Dame Groan's most fervent cultists might be offended by this measly effort serving up this last measly gobbet ...
None of this is earth-shattering stuff, and even worse, there's not a single mention of how we'll all be rooned by Xmas ...
In despair, the pond turned to the bromancer, but he too was muted ...
Surely the bromancer could have joined the infallible Pope in celebrating our entry into an exciting club, dressed up like a latter-day Travolta, as all the best scientologists are wont to do?
Meanwhile, what of the controversy over cluster bombs?
Why had the so-called resolute allies denied all prospect of air support in favour of them?
There's a host of stories out there ... why the reptiles even re-printed the WSJ editorial board on the matter as a way of getting into the mix ...
It's a thorny dilemma, but the bromancer seemed entirely oblivious and just used his last gobbet to take a smack at Australia's hill of beans ...
It seemed everybody bar the bromancer was agonising over the problem ... why, even a callous dictator had a thought or two, as seen in The Phnom Penh Post, Hun Sen amplifies warnings on dangers of cluster bombs.
If only somebody had noticed that sociopath Vlad the Impaler's minions had already been using cluster bombs for some considerable time ...
As usual, there's a wiki on the matter, Use of cluster munitions in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, inter alia ...
During the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army used at least 6 types of cluster munitions: missiles for multiple rocket launchers "Hurricane", "Smerch", "Tornado-S", missile systems "Tochka" and "Iskander-M", as well as RBC bombs -500 with PTAB-1M submunitions. Smerch missiles were used for 72 submunitions, as well as other charges for 50 submunitions. According to the Russian manufacturer, missiles used in residential areas can contain up to 1.45 kg of explosive and scatter into about 316 fragments.
And so on and on as sociopaths are wont to do, and the pond had expected some guidance from the bromancer or another reptile on the matter, but instead there was just a dismal silence, and one way or another Wilcox's dreaming has already come to pass ...
Two fine deks to start the day:
ReplyDeleteGroany: "Earlier mistakes notwithstanding, Philip Lowe has managed the task of bringing down inflation with patience and determination." Ok, I'm bunny: apart from doing absolutely nothing except raise interest rates many times past their use-by dates, what exactly has Phil the Lowe actually done ? I can't wait to read Groany's full post to find out.
Burstein: "Australia's inflation problem is a team effort of the RBA and the federal, state and territory governments. And it will take a team mighty effort to slay it." Wait, what? Not just the extraordinary patience and determination of Phil and the RBA ? Will Groany explicate this ?
Today's Mr Ed: "The transition to net zero requires a proper cost-benefit appraisal." Sure it does, Mr Ed, because as we all know, the benefits of net-zero are just about net zero. No costs will ever accrue from continuing to heat the planet - oceans first, it seems - for evermore.
ReplyDeleteWhat was that 'Caves of Steel' idea again ?
A very Groanish suggestion from Ed, GB - everything in the Universe can be reduced to a cost-benefit analysis, and should be decided on that basis. I can’t help but wonder whether the Dame may have further boosted her productivity - possibly trousering a few extra quid in the process - by contributing a few words? It certainly has the dry, cardboard flavour of a Dame Groan contribution.
DeleteSo here goes Groany: "But the bank's objective is to bring inflation back within the 2 to 3 per cent range as soon as possible..." And I ask again, who determined this "2 to 3 per cent" state for ongoing inflation ? How did they/he/she arrive at it ? What economics knowledge and models was it based on ? What exactly is it supposed to achieve ? Can Phil Lowe answer any of these questions ? Why not ?
ReplyDeleteShe says: "...any radical change from the current inflation targeting as outlined therein would be retrograde and potentially very damaging to the economy." But how will it be damaging ? And how much will it be damaging ? And was the extended period of virtually free money (ie very low interest rates) one of Phil's sad "mistakes" or just the way things had to be done to maintain the economy ?
Will anybody ever explain any of this to we poor taxpayers ?
And for anybody interested, here's some commentary on the progress of inflation in the USA.
DeleteWhy is inflation down?
https://jabberwocking.com/why-is-inflation-down/
You may notice that the USA 'target' for inflation is 2 per cent; not 2 to 3 per cent, but just a bare 2 per cent. So if inflation comes down to 2.5 per cent in Australia, that would be a level that the USA Fed considers damaging to the economy and would have to be met by a series of interest rate hikes.
So it goes.
This cultist fears our Dame has sunk back into reptile reaction for this day, in the form ‘If this government is for it, we are agin it; ‘cos.’ And that is without confirmation that this government will actually not renew the contract of Governor Lowe. What was that at other times about how much better contracts of employment are than any of those silly ‘award’ complications with the rights of people to negotiate a value and time for their services?
DeleteShe then ambles into proclamation - about the Treasurer ruling out any notion that inflation and full employment be given equal weighting.
It is one of those questions that should be reserved for Trivia Nights attended by geeks about governance - how often is ‘inflation’ mentioned in the legislation for the Reserve Bank? A bit like asking how often is ‘Cabinet’ mentioned in the Australian Constitution? - same answer - it does not appear.
A gentle reminder -
The RESERVE BANK ACT 1959 has been little changed since being passed 64 years back (and two years before Governor Lowe was born - nother bit of trivia there).
The functions spell out the duty (that is the word in the Act) of the Reserve Bank Board (always the Board) to best contribute to
the stability of the currency of Australia;
the maintenance of full employment in Australia; and
the economic prosperity and welfare of the people of Australia.
And if the Board finds that a Government has an opinion different to the Board about whether a policy of the Board is directed to the ‘greatest advantage of the people of Australia’ - then right after S. 10, S. 11 gives a procedure to resolve this.
First up it suggests the Treasurer and the Board endeavour to reach agreement (that the policy is directed to the greatest advantage of the people). If they are unable to do so, the Board is to furnish the Treasure with a statement ‘in relation to the matter in respect of which a difference of opinion has arisen.’
The Treasurer may then submit a recommendation to the Govenor-General, and the Governor-General, with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, may, by order, determine the policy to be adopted by the Bank.
Oh - and in informing the Board of the policy so determined, Treasurer is to tell the Board that the Government accepts responsibility for the adoption by the Bank of that policy.
The Treasurer then has 15 sitting days to lay all the details before both houses of the Parliament.
Now, it is but sophistry to claim that ‘stability of the currency’ is just ‘inflation’ under a fancy phrase. Much of the other business of the Reserve Bank, which receives minimal publicity, is ultimately about stability of the currency - like keeping banknotes ahead of counterfeiting technology, and keeping track of what is the 6th traded world currency.
So - dear Dame (but not identified with a title - not even ‘contributor’ - this day) - couldn’t you try for something a little above reptile redux? There is unease within the cult.
But BG butt, to try for something above reptile redux, you have to know that something above reptile redux exists and is attainable and I seriously doubt that this accomplishment is anywhere within Groany's repertoire, now or ever.
DeleteThe more I read her, though, and along with that consider her various work placements, the more I wonder why 'government' isn't even worse than we think it is ... and may actually be. No wonder we're in such a mess.
For once I've got to at least allow the Bromancer his point: we are doing a very miserly job of supporting Ukraine and we're doing it very badly. Or is this just another bothsides-ism: we actually send stuff to Ukraine to pacify those who think we should, but we send begrudgingly little and have to be begged for it to pacify those who think we shouldn't.
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly do "we" stand for ?
Dorothy - thank you for pointing readers to John Quiggin's article on nuclear. It is wonderfully simple and concise, and leaves little more that ever need be said about this. I did not pick it up in 'Conversation', but noted it had come to me on John's e-mail distribution a little after midnight. He will have been immersed in the annual conference of Economic Society of Australia in Brisbane, but maintained his several 'social media' platforms, even at unlikely hours, for which we are grateful.
ReplyDeleteChad, great article by Quiggin.
DeleteBeen a few years since we ran a model on the reactor to be built at Jervis bay, so I am a little out of touch with the technology. Cooling was one reason it was to be built there. Even a small reactor needs to be cooled, somewhat limits their siting. Also there is a real NIMBY issue, who wants one in their street?
"One SMR design from the Portland, Oregon-based company NuScale would produce 60 megawatts, enough energy to power 45,000 homes. But several SMR units could be combined into a network and built to scale based on the needs of the communities they serve."
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-the-next-generation-of-nuclear-reactors-could-be-smaller-greener-and-safer
So Melbourne with a possible 2m homes by 2050 would need 2m/45,000 40+ SMRs around the suburbs. Or maybe the folk at Traralgon would be happy with the employment possibilities Not sure if the cooling there is up to the job. Maybe we just spread them along the coast..
Good idea, Anony: we can interleave SMRs and wind turbines all along the Gippsland coast and just connect them up to the existing grid that was built to service the Yallourn coal generators.
DeleteDid I ever mention that for the East Gippsland coast the only time it doesn't have a BOM 'high winds' warning is when it has a gale warning. The wind always blows on the East Gippsland coast.
In an interview today, Albo has criticised “armchair warriors” who pontificate on the sort of military aid Australia should supply to Ukraine.
ReplyDeleteBrigadier-General (Ret.) Bromancer wouldn’t be counted among their ranks, surely?
Come to think of it, the Lizard Oz could supply an entire Dad’s Army of keyboard commandos….
Yeah, but what Albo didn't say is that he is one of those 'armchair warriors' (of indeterminate rank and company).
Delete