In which a bout of Killernomics makes the mid-arvo cut ...

 

As well as being a killer klimate scientist, Killer Creighton is a killer at economics.

The pond's favourite example of his killer ways came recently, a slow burn, what with a $40 billion bail out offer to Argentina a suitable follow up to Killer's killer economic advice...

Even Jewish space laser Marge had some thoughts...

Why is a president who pledged to put “America first” handing a $40 billion bailout to Argentina while quadrupling Argentine beef imports to undercut the price of beef produced by U.S. ranchers at the same time his tariffs have destroyed U.S. soybean sales to China, thereby enabling Argentine soybean farmers to sell to China instead?
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has absolutely no clue.

Marge just needed to look to Killer for answers...Jim Chalmers should ignore the ‘gurus’ and look to Argentina for economic tips, The economists warned against President Javier Milei’s plans, but he proved them wrong

As Killer, a recent convert to socialist planning, can explain, it's all good:

...American ranchers have been helped by tariffs on Brazil, which have indeed driven beef prices up—much to the consternation, of course, of American consumers who buy beef. (Not that Trump himself was thinking about this when he put the tariffs on Brazil in the first place, which were explicitly intended to punish the country for having the gall to prosecute the crimes of another old Trump buddy, former President Jair Bolsonaro.)
The whole situation is remarkably ironic. Trump claims that the entire reason he is taking so many pains to bail out Argentina is because of his deep appreciation for Milei’s free-market overhaul of the country. Meanwhile, in the very same breath, Trump grumbles that ranchers aren’t properly appreciative of all the ways he wants to do distortionary micromanagement of the American economy. And Milei, the global avatar of economic libertarianism, is gladly extending his hand for the bailouts. If the enormous gulf between Milei’s stated free-market beliefs and his own love for central planning has ever even occurred to Trump, you wouldn’t know it from his posts. (Bulwark)

And where's the harm? It's not as if the disunited states can't afford it...

The U.S. national debt has surged past $38 trillion, according to the U.S. Treasury Department, just two months after surpassing previous forecasts to reach $37 trillion in August. This means the federal debt rose by $1 trillion in a little over two months, which the Peter G. Peterson Foundation calculates is the fastest rate of growth outside the pandemic.
Michael A. Peterson, CEO of the nonpartisan watchdog dedicated to fiscal sustainability, said this landmark is “the latest troubling sign that lawmakers are not meeting their basic fiscal duties.” In a statement provided to Fortune, Peterson said that “if it seems like we are adding debt faster than ever, that’s because we are. We passed $37 trillion just two months ago, and the pace we’re on is twice as fast as the rate of growth since 2000.” The foundation’s analysis attributes the acceleration to a combination of deficit spending, rising interest costs, and the economic drag of the ongoing government shutdown. (Fortune via Yahoo)

All good, so long. as Albo keeps sending billions to help with the bail out.

And so the pond deeply regrets that Killer's latest examples of his stunning economic insights had to wait until a mid-arvo slot to appear, but then the pond has many regrets.

The pond regrets that it failed to note King Chuck's attempt to pray away the Prince by praying with the anti-Christ, a deplorable follower of Satan consigned to hell long ago by Henry VIII ...

...and the pond also regrets not being able to spend time with the Sydney Daily Real Estate News, as noted by a correspondent, perhaps planning an acquisition of a harbour-side mansion for a cool $80 mill or so, and in the process catching some essential Murdochian arcana, ‘Feared, respected and disliked’: The private powerbroker who has Lachlan Murdoch’s ear...

Sadly the answer lies in the archive... 

...but of all the regrets, the pond most regrets its kavalier way with Killer,.

The pond doesn't resile, because the deciphering of Our Henry's laws, and the decoding of his gnomic references to philosophy and history, will always take precedence on a Friday.

But the pond does regret, and on the principle that better late is better than never, on with another dose of Killernomics ...

The header: Why US and Australia are rethinking free market economics amid China tensions, Donald Trump’s fetish for trade surpluses and his implicit elevation of production over consumption have been treated with contempt by policy elites.

The caption for that image of dung-dropping King Donald, perhaps pointing to his latest demolition job: US President Donald Trump makes an announcement in the Oval Office of the White House.

Killer spent some four minutes, so the reptiles timed it, updating his timeless Milei insights...

“Potato chips, computer chips – what’s the difference?” Stanford economist Michael Boskin quipped in the early 1990s when serving as chair of George Bush senior’s Council of Economic Advisers.
It was a neat apercu for the rosy economic orthodoxy that prevailed in the final years of the 20th century as the world celebrated the End of History. Now the free market, and what economists call “comparative advantage”, would decide which nations produced what as trade barriers fell. It shouldn’t matter where chips of either variety were made as long as GDP was increasing.
Thirty years later, Boskin’s comment looks rather silly. It turns out there was a massive difference: sophisticated manufactured goods that require a highly skilled workforce – especially those with potential military applications – confer economic and military might on the host nation.
That’s why the US government is frantically, if so far unsuccessfully, trying to stimulate more advanced semiconductor production on home soil.
The new rare earths deal inked by Australia and the US in Washington this week, which commits the two governments to invest billions in projects to mine and process these minerals that are critical to a wide range of industrial and defence applications, is yet another example.
It comes amid the escalating US-China trade war, which is supercharging an economic philosophy rethink in the US.

There can never be enough King Donald in a Killer piece,  US President Donald Trump greets Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House in Washington.

Naturally Killer took a benign view of King Donald's policies, especially as they outraged the 'leets ...

“Adam Smith may have won the battle of ideas, but his record is rather more mixed in the war for the minds of policymakers,” Harvard economist Dani Rodrik points out in his new research paper, What the Mercantilists Got Right.
Donald Trump’s fetish for trade surpluses and his implicit elevation of production over consumption have been treated with contempt by policy elites, as his administration pursues an aggressive mercantilist program.
But they far better reflect how successful nations have behaved, at least in the cases of Japan, China, Korea and Singapore. These countries have enjoyed the most rapid economic growth in human history largely through avoiding free trade.
“In view of China’s phenomenal rise in recent decades, some might even claim we are now living in a world that is increasingly the product of mercantilism, yet again,” writes Rodrik.
Asian nations have been more pragmatic in their economic policies, seeing the genius of Smith’s invisible hand as a tool rather than a religious edict – and one that works best domestically rather than internationally, where nations still compete. As China’s most reforming leader, Deng Xiaoping, once put it: “It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, if it catches mice it’s a good cat.”
Rare earths are not remotely rare, but China wisely invested in their production and processing, ultimately giving it a whip hand in global trade negotiations. In fact, most countries have them, but they are expensive to extract. Knee-jerk free-trade dogmatism might have blinded us to the value of earlier economic insights.

How weird can Killer get? Why he even shed a tear for the pastie Hastie ...

Everyone came down on Liberal MP Andrew Hastie like a ton of bricks recently for lamenting Australia’s loss of a car manufacturing sector. However unlikely its return, it is nonetheless worrying that Australia’s manufacturing sector is now proportionately the smallest in the OECD as a share of GDP, at just 5 per cent.

The reptiles introduced an AV distraction, The federal government celebrated a trade policy win, claiming vindication after tariffs were expected to rise to 20 per cent but have instead remained at the 10 per cent baseline. University of Melbourne Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Michael Wesley told Sky News Australia, “Trump is prepared to use tariffs as a coercive instrument … I don’t think any country on that list should relax". “It shows you what a new world we are going into, where the two largest economic powers in the world by a long margin are each prepared to use economic coercion against other countries. “It’s a major shift for Australia that has been invested in free trade for a couple of generations.”

Naturally expert klimate science Killer also popped up ...

Ridiculously high energy costs, courtesy of the government’s obsession with replacing reliable energy with intermittent power, are mostly responsible.

The pond wondered whether the obligatory Killer mention of Kovid could be far behind ...

But could Australia ever have become part of the world’s semiconductor supply chains had Canberra realised the emerging importance of the sector in the 1970s? Tiny Taiwan did it through massive STEM investment, and it has paid off.
It is no longer fashionable to argue manufacturing is special, but even Adam Smith once argued manufacturing, along with mining and agriculture, were the ultimate sources of wealth, because they are physical products of enduring value.
“(By contrast) the labour of … the sovereign … the whole army and navy, churchmen, lawyers, physicians, men of letters of every kind; players, buffoons, musicians, opera singers, opera dancers, etc, are all unproductive labourers,” he wrote.
In other words, Smith would have been aghast at the modern-day fawning over our booming publicly funded “care economy”, which some politicians appear to ludicrously believe is equivalent to our mining and energy export sectors. At least the NDIS employs people in Australia. Federal and state governments are now subsidising electric vehicles made in China at rates per car much greater than they ever provided to Holden, Ford and Toyota.
It’s a tribute to Australian farmers that they have thrived with relatively little support, but all of the world’s major nations still shovel hundreds of billions of dollars a year in subsidies to their farmers.
It’s almost as if the quaint ideas of Smith’s French contemporaries, the Physiocrats – who saw agriculture as the sole source of wealth – still resonate with the instinct to protect farming, even if they, like Smith, would never have endorsed subsidies.

On cue came an image of the hastie Pastie ...Andrew Hastie MP during Question Time. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Lordy, long absent lordy, he does look pasty ...

Meanwhile, Killer was in to gold in a big way ...

Gold offers another stark lesson. As it rockets past $US4000 ($6150) an ounce, recall that Australia and Britain smugly sold off their official gold reserves for a few hundred dollars a generation ago, betting on the triumph of fiat currencies. That’s looking a less certain bet today, as China and Russia amass gold at record rates.
Like semiconductors or rare earths, gold was dismissed as just another commodity, with many ignoring its strategic role as a hedge against currency crises or a tool in global power plays.

Indeed, indeed, and the pond looks forward to emerging from its bug out with a plentiful supply of gold, which the pond will exchange for gold, what with actual food likely to be in somewhat short supply... (strange that Killer didn't mention crypto as another guaranteed way to keep that food flowing into the bug out bunker)

And so to Killer wrapping up his economics guidance...

None of this is to deny the remarkable power of the free market to supercharge living standards over time, not to mention the political freedoms they tend to promote. But a more pragmatic approach to trade might have put the US and its allies in a better position as they face off against China.
As Rodrik concluded: “Market competition and the division of labour are powerful engines of prosperity. But unleashing them often requires unorthodox policies and the guidance of the state.”
As in most areas of life, it’s better to behave in response to the world as it is, rather than as it should be. Even Smith noted exceptions to what became free trade – “defence is of much more importance than opulence”.
Adam Creighton is chief economist at the Institute of Public Affairs.

The pond isn't so sure about that. 

Isn't the ostentatious display of opulence the way forward in the disunited states?

After all, what's the point of life if there's not a place for the pigs and the farmers to get together, have a good chow dow,n and mebbe a dance or three on the graves of the poor and poor old knackered Boxer?

And so to a killer klimate bonus, courtesy of grumpy Garth ...

The header: Why it is time for the Coalition to work with unions on key policy battles, What Labor fears the most is that the rumblings in its unions against net zero and mass migration spill out into open rebellion.

The caption, celebrating the way that "s" gives strength to Sussssan and guarantees Casssh on the knocker, Shadow Foreign Minister Michaelia Cash and Australian Liberal Party Opposition Leader Sussan Ley arrive for a press conference in Perth.

Some correspondents might wonder why the pond bothers with poor old Garth, sent out to stitch a pearl out of a sow's ear, but the pond never tires of reminding punters that it has a big plunge and a lot of skin in the game in its bet on the lettuce ...

Besides, Garth could only lather up a 3 minute read, so the reptiles said, and he did much to help the lettuce towards the finishing post ...

For the first time in modern Australian history, unions are not the natural enemy of the centre right of politics. This peace may not last and the Coalition certainly doesn’t need to be friends with the unions, but it’s time to admit that on the issues of net zero and mass migration we are quite aligned.
Yes, we have overbearing IR legislation in Australia that is strangling our productivity. Yes, we’ve seen state Labor governments in both Queensland and Victoria dragged into the gutter by unions that went too far.
However, the destructive impact of both net zero and mass migration on our economy far outweighs the negatives of union overreach.

The pond has heard of stretches, and this stretch was quite a sight, but Garth at least achieved the most important thing, a snap of himself in the lizard Oz ... Garth Hamilton arrives at Parliament House. Picture: NewsWire / David Beach

Garth seized the moment for a little personal bio, which is just as well, because the pond confesses that Garth hadn't really featured on the pond's radar ...

I grew up on construction sites and made a career in the mining industry. My criticisms of poor union behaviour are not drawn from text books. I never worked as a staffer so my views on how the world works were formed outside the world of institutional politics. I know how bad union behaviour can get but I have also seen the benefits.
If you are genuinely protecting vulnerable workers from unsafe conditions or exploitation, that’s God’s work and I have no problem with it. I have seen unions stand up as mines forced ridiculous rosters and conditions on good, hardworking Australians. I have seen the big corporates shift their riskiest work to contractors who exist outside their safety statistics and union representation. I have seen it all and played my part in it.
But in that grey area, where employer and employee meet, there has always been the goal of good jobs with good pay. We all wanted to see work done.
What brings together bosses and unions is much more than the nature of their work. What brings us together is the desire for a better life. We deploy our capital and our labour because we seek a better life for ourselves and our children. We are each willing to make compromises because we can each trust that what underwrites our commitments are our shared hopes for a better tomorrow.

The pond understands why Garth is grinding on. It's been a tough week ...

...Which brings us back to Sussan Ley and her initial response to the Washington meeting. Expectations for the meeting were about as low as it was possible for them to be. So after its widely hailed success, what did she say? That Rudd’s position was untenable and that he had to be recalled. It was a call so distant from the reality of what had happened that it was hard not to wonder if the opposition leader had been watching another press conference in a parallel universe.
Proving the point, former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott and current Liberal backbenchers Jane Hume and Andrew Hastie – both of whom are no friends of Ley, admittedly – contradicted the current opposition leader and praised the outcomes (and the Labor government) within 24 hours.

Poor Garth, and then the reptiles lumped him in with a serve of Rita, unlovely meter maid, reminding the world yet again of the work of the pasty Hastie as wrecker in chief, Sky News host Rita Panahi has urged the Liberals to “seize” on the immigration debate because much of their platform is “centred around” it. “We’ve got some principles being shown in federal politics,” Ms Panahi said. “Andrew Hastie has stepped down from his role – he doesn’t feel like the portfolio is what it should be because the immigration debate is one where the Liberals should be seizing upon it because it goes to so much of their platform. “Everything from cost of living to the issues of the so-called culture wars is centred around that. “For them not to seize this opportunity and to have a clear differentiation, a clear policy that they can stand behind, I can understand why Andrew Hastie had stepped down.”

The pond gets it, gets why Garth was triggered ...

Garth did his best to appease the hasty Pastie by bashing furriners, always a safe haven for splitters seeking common ground ...

Both net zero and mass migration present a direct threat to those hopes.
With every smelter and refinery that shuts down, more capital and labour shift away from Australia. With every day of mass migration, house prices push further and further up, making a good wage less able to support homeownership.

Indeed, indeed, and the pond knows just what should be done ...

Now wipe that spittle from the cakehole, and carry on ...

As BHP withdraws investment from Central Queensland, it is simultaneously doing deals with the Trump administration to start a new mine in Utah. Promises of a lower regulatory burden have been cited as a driver as Donald Trump’s dumping of net zero reaps early rewards.
In Brisbane the income required to buy at median house prices is now above $170,000. How can this have any outcome but to drive the unions hands’ at the negotiating table?
Worse, we have built an economy that needs mass migration to stave off recession, and in doing so have killed off jobs in the very sectors that once gave Australia and the unions their strength. When the Liberal Party abandons net zero – and I promise you it will – we open ourselves up to the centre right and centre left of this great country who are suffering the worst of net zero’s harm.
The nation is very open to this conversation, with recent polling showing an even split between those who want to keep net zero and those who want to dump it. More importantly, a quarter of the nation, even after years of propaganda from the far left, are unsure.
Those Australians, the centre of the bell curve, want leadership. We will, in time, give it to them.

The pond did enjoy that "in time", but is that "in time" required for a new coming, some rough beast slouching towards the leadership? Andrew Hastie MP during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

A final regret ...

As the climate has been mentioned, the pond deeply regrets not making a BOM joke ...

The pond shared those preferences ...

And so to Garth's final passionate outburst, with astonishing news that caught the pond by surprise. 

Apparently Bob Hawke is dead. 

Who knew, and truth to tell, the pond wouldn't have had a clue if it hadn't been for grumpy Garth's truly great outing...

Ending mass migration has much greater support among almost every demographic measurable. Its impact on housing is both understood and accepted.
What Labor fears the most is that the rumblings in its unions against net zero and mass migration spill out into open rebellion. The unions know that Chris Bowen’s policies will hurt their members and many Labor members have raised those concerns privately.
In 2017 the CFMEU campaigned against the Labor candidate in the seat of Toowoomba North because she was against the expansion of our local mine. It was a rare outbreak of the tensions that live within Australia’s labour movement.
In 2018 Andrew Hastie stood beside striking workers from resources giant Alcoa and told them that in the Coalition government’s rush to renewables, their jobs had been sacrificed. Conviction becomes him.
Old Labor – Bob Hawke Labor – is dead. The Labor Party that put jobs first is gone and the next Liberal prime minister will have taken up that space. We will distinguish between unionists and union members, seeing the latter as simply Australians with jobs and treat them as a part of our natural constituency.
Garth Hamilton is an LNP member of the House of Representatives.

Not that the pond has any money riding on it - the pond's money is all in on the lettuce - but reading Garth, the odds of a second Labor term just shrank dramatically, and now might be the chance to lay a little money, because if Garth gets more chances to write for the hive mind, you'll have to put down a hundred to win a single dollar.

And now how to end, and what to do with an infallible Pope not exactly germane to the matters under review?

Heck, run it anyway, with the proviso that if some relevant matter turns up in the hive mind, the pond might well run it again ...

Oh wait, it was relevant ... the pond at the start had expressed regret at not drinking at that pub ...

... though the entertainment sounded great ...

Ah never mind, there's always that other epic distraction, praying away the Prince ...