Reptile notes keep popping up everywhere. This from Crikey ...
Liberal MP Paul Fletcher went to the Midwinter Ball as a guest of Foxtel, which you may remember benefited from $40 million in government funds, some of which was handed out when Fletcher was last communications minister. Ah, the Midwinter Ball — it’s not *just* journalists who use it to have a slightly icky chumminess with the people they’re supposed to hold to account.
Good old Foxy Fletch ... rarely remembered or celebrated, but he's more entertaining, a chance to dance cash in the paw night a way, than the stew served up in the lizard Oz this morning, with a good gassing at the top of the digital edition ...
Killer Creighton has been the most reliably Putinesque, lick spittle, pandering, servile, fellow travelling and appeasing reptile in the pack and he was at it again ...
In short, given all the demands at the time (including that Russian be an official language and unilateral disarmament) the negotiations never got close.
Ah, the 'leets score another mention.
That reminded the pond of Arwa Mahdawi's piece in the Graudian, which began this way ...Why do politicians hate ‘the elite’ – when they are the elite?
Donald Trump kicked off this trend. The former president owns a multimillion-dollar Manhattan penthouse dripping with gold, but, starting around 2015, he has carefully distanced himself from evil media and political elites. The idea that he’s not included in the “elite” is so laughable that sometimes he’s even confused himself. At one point in 2018 he told a crowd in Minnesota: “You ever notice they always call the other side ‘the elite’? The elite! Why are they elite? I have a much better apartment than they do … I’m richer than they are.”
Mahdawi went on to note that aging Joe had joined the orange Jesus in deploring 'leets, and so here's the cognitive decline cartoon for the day ...
Speaking of cognitive decline, the pond had wanted to slip in a mention of Josh ... per the troubled Beast ...
Perhaps the pond is being picky, but the pond can't remember a question mark in that national motto, In God We Trust?
Sheesh, that eye of Providence remains deeply weird, but it seems only fair to follow that story with a story in the lizard Oz showing where barking mad fundamentalist Xianity will get you ...
And with that distraction, the pond has put plenty of space between Killer Creighton and petulant Peta ...
Yes, the pond is again featuring the petulant one, and only professional herpetologists should proceed beyond this point ...
A bit like Killer fellow traveling with Vlad the sociopath, naturally petulant Peta wants to fellow travel with the Faragists ...
Ah yes, serious policy issues ...
And so to a bonus for those who made it to the end, with another note from Crikey, link as above ...
To be fair, the Department of Finance compiles that database, and you'd be better off doing a Quiggin than trust that mob ...
And that gives the already comatose pond a chance to close by noting that, as usual, things are happening outside the world of the reptiles, and the best way to find out is to read the 'toons ...
And here, to start the day, is some economic sense from someone who is economically sensible:
ReplyDeleteWhy neither growth nor degrowth make sense as long-term objectives for Australia’s economy
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/11/australia-economy-inflation-growth-gdp
"... and you'd be better off doing a Quiggin than trust that mob ..." with a Dash...
ReplyDelete"Sheesh, that eye of Providence remains deeply weird"
... because "the money faucet boundless for them," ... and
"Even in the most positive, charitable case, you may wonder, "If this person has a bilion dollars, why don't they just pay for [good things for people in need]?"
Providence in this context meaning;
"Systems: How the Ultra-Wealthy Think About Money
...
"For the ultra-wealthy, money is effectivey not finite. It's just a resource to be pointed at any burning thing. I know you're looking at your banking app saying $broke and wondering, "how can this be?" and yet: it is true. The most counterintutive thing is that, not only is the money faucet boundless for them, but in fact, most of the money coming out of the faucet is not their own. People who control large pools of money are very, very eager to let billionaires use their money.
"Once we understand this fundamental difference, everything becomes clear. Having access to a nearly limitless flow of funds lets you exert power over things that can be controlled by money. And that's a lot of things. In economics, there's even terminology for the different ways of looking at resources: stock and flow. For you, money is a stock, a bucket of dollars you can carry, and that you try to make sure isn't empty. For the ultra-wealthy, money is a flow, it's just a hose of dollars that you can point at anything that isn't suiting your preferences.
"With that context in mind, revisit your assumptions about how the ultra-wealthy influence things like policymaking and social norms. Even in the most positive, charitable case, you may wonder, "If this person has a bilion dollars, why don't they just pay for [good things for people in need]?" But in many cases, even if they were inclined to help with that particular cause or need, dropping a large sum of money at a particular moment would require them to treat their money on hand as a stock instead of a flow, and that reduces their economic power over time. In a nice framing, this is about ensuring they're leveraging other people's money over time to sustain their ability to give to that cause. Put more cynically, you can't exert control over something if you've already stopped paying for it.
"The next time you're trying to understand the decisions that the ultra-wealthy make when they are attempting to shape our world, challenge yourself to rethink the assumptions you may have about the way that they use money. It is a fundamentally different tool for them than it is for anyone who only has a limited bucket of bucks."
...
https://www.anildash.com/2024/07/02/money-flows/
It all comes from the mistaken belief that money is something real. Yes, notes and coins in wallets and purses are 'real' but otherwise, as our beloved Hery Ergas once informed us: "money is a social construct underpinned by a complex of social and institutional conventions."
DeleteAnd so our 'billionaires' don't have a lot of notes and coins, indeed they do simply have control over some "flows". But even very wealthy billionaires such as Musk only have any control over a few rivers which is trivial in comparison with the great tidal flows that now exist.
It's OK "Liberal MP Paul Fletcher went to the Midwinter Ball as a guest of Foxtel" ... because his spouse took the gift so Paul didn't know he was a guest of Foxytel
ReplyDeleteFear not loonpindians, Paul is as clean as the driven snow, as he has a chinese wall installed -
"Spouse/partner
[Paul Fletcher declared as at 11/04/22 that he does not know and did not inquire as to whether his spouse is a director of any other company. He amended his statement 5/9/22 that his spouse has advised him she is not a director of any other companies.]
"Paul Fletcher MP - 46th Parliament
Member for Bradfield, NSW
Liberal Party of Australia
Total Interests: 111
Latest alteration: Gifts - 26/01/22
Source: Statement of Registrable Interests - this contains interests declared as at 11/04/19 and alterations since then
...
"7. Bonds
"Bonds, debentures and like investments
. .
11/04/2019 Spouse/partner
[Paul Fletcher declared he does not know and did not inquire as to whether his spouse holds bonds, debentures and like investments]"
https://openpolitics.au/46/paul-fletcher
Too late. Someone else got the rights for the Chinese Wall (Mad Men);
"... the Accounts and Creative teams anticipate the worst. In the midst of the turmoil, Roger turns to Joan for comfort (which she provides, at arm's length, admonishing Roger that they cannot resume their affair), Megan seduces Don, Pete Campbell's baby girl is born, and Ted Chaough tries to recruit Pete, with Tom Vogel's encouragement.'
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Wall_(Mad_Men)
Research on 26,000 people found those who stay up late scored better on intelligence, reasoning and memory tests [than those who go to bed early and wake up early]
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/jul/11/night-owls-cognitive-function-superior-to-early-risers-study-suggests
But what about those of us who are both ? I usually wake up at about 2:30(am) and continue on until at least 9:00(am) therefore getting both very late time and very early time.
I've never noticed any discernable difference in my cognitive functioning no matter what I do.
Peter Welch is first Democratic senator to publicly ask Joe Biden to withdraw
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/10/peter-welch-senator-joe-biden-withdraw
Don't you just love it ? Actually, so far he's the only Senator to "publicly ask Joe Biden to withdraw".
And as to Clooney, well, who gives a rat's fart what he thinks Biden should do. I'd pay much more attention to Amal than I would to him.