If these kinds of things existed in my country, I wouldn’t need to be running for President to fix everything up.
Elizabeth Warren
The only thing that didn’t leave a nasty taste in my mouth last year was the food.
Barry the hypothetical troll from last year (He’s been debunked, defrocked, unfriended and univited this year)
Cross posted from the Mandarin
There is a huge catch 22 driving impact measurement in human services. A lot of the evaluation is done because governments seek it, but then it goes nowhere – and for good reason. NGOs and others hoping to ‘scale-up’ innovation can’t escape this without something like an Evaluator-General, writes Nicholas Gruen.
Here’s Phil Lowe reporting on the RBA’s failure to meet its performance targets and refusal to do anything about it:
This decision [to cut rates by 0.25%] was not in response to a deterioration in the economic outlook since the previous update was published in early May. Rather, it reflected a judgement that we could do better than the path we looked to be on.
Yesterday I was chatting online about Wednesday evening’s dreadful shooting massacre in Darwin (like many shocked people here). I posted a comment listing the various murder scenes, saying: “A fourth was murdered at 18 Gardens Hill Crescent (or Gardens Rd, not sure which).”
There is a widespread consensus in Australian policy circles that Australia should follow the US in almost any foreign adventure, though preferably on the cheap. The shining example of this was John Howard’s decision to publicly support the US in its war in Iraq in 2003, and yet send only a 1,000 marines or so. Maximum alliance points, minimal actual risks and costs. Well done, John Howard.
Values are observed in actions and choices, and rather less so in words. Competition policy has been applied with great relish to the labour market – at least at the bottom end. (Subject to our relatively generous basic and award wage arrangements).
