Blogotariat

I wrote this for the Cleaner Air Collective, who used it as an input to their submission to the Productivity Roundtable

Cleaner Air Submission here

Given the purpose of the exercise, the discussion is framed in terms of productivity though many of the issues are broader

Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the military occupation of Gaza City, located in the north of the Palestinian enclave.

“The [Israeli military] will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement early on Friday announcing the takeover plan.

International Reading: Trump 2.0 is “Hoover 3.0.” GDP growth under Trump 1 was the worst since Hoover. But with tariffs, he’s now beating his own record. – Independent Social Security Predicted to Run Out of Money Sooner Due to Trump Bill – Newsweek Almost 90% Of Americans Are Worried About The Cost Of Groceries –

The post Weekend reading and MB media appearances appeared first on MacroBusiness.

A ballot floats through the air like a mechanical butterfly, delicate in descent, but once it touches ground, everything freezes. The jungle goes mute. The city forgets its language.

Asian share markets are having a poor final session for the week although Japanese shares are seeing a big bid in response to tariff reversals while the latest BOJ meeting summary was met with appreciation. Yen was relatively steady against USD but other currency pairs continue to push the once mighty King dollar down again

The post Macro Afternoon appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Discussions are hotting up over Australia’s 2035 emission reduction target, which the federal government is due to reveal by September this year. It will be a crucial announcement, for several reasons.

One of the negative side effects of the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA), which took effect in 2005, was that it increased patent and copyright terms, raising the price of drugs and copyrighted products. Thomas Faunce of ANU assessed that AUSFTA “undermined Australia’s PBS” by “allowing the US to alter the basic processes of

The post Hands off the PBS, President Trump appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Goldman shows why Australia’s rental shock isn’t over. Weekly data from SQM suggest growth has picked up somewhat over recent months (Exhibit 6). The SQM data tends to lead CPI rent inflation, given SQM measures average rents across the flow of newly advertised properties, whereas the ABS measures rents across the entire stock of rental

The post Aussie rent shock returns appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Ferrous market prices are holding as steel output plunges. CISA has been catching down to cratered offical data in recent months. Chinese export data for July showed steel exports still going strong, but iron ore imports are down 2.3% year to date despite being up 4.7% in the month. After a tough start to the

The post Iron ore defies steel collapse appeared first on MacroBusiness.

In a recent tweet, Yellow Brick Road (Home Loans) Executive Chairman Mark Bouris made the case that Australia needs to act with confidence and for our leaders to put our nation first. In this Bouris is very much correct; Australia needs leadership that looks at the true state of the economy and our society in

The post Australia’s fragile economy needs a reboot appeared first on MacroBusiness.

The 2025 UBS Global Wealth Report was released this week, which once again showed that the median Australian is among the wealthiest in the world. UBS ranked Australians second in the world for median wealth, with the typical Australian worth US$268,424. Australia also had 1,904 US dollar millionaires, according to UBS. Not surprisingly, Australia is

The post Australians aren’t as rich as they think appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Australian inflation is rapidly becoming a one-trick pony as energy price hikes devour everything in their path. Various government energy rebates are still having a big effect as they roll off.. After increasing by 16.3% in March, electricity increased by 8.1% in the June quarter. However, because of the second wave of the Commonwealth Energy

The post Bonkers gas cartel price hikes the only inflation left appeared first on MacroBusiness.