Blogotariat

This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a flooding: With apologies to T. S. Eliot

Every year the UN runs a Climate Change Conference – the next is scheduled for November in Brazil. High on the agenda will be the plight of Pacific Islanders seeing their homes drown. There’s an equally pressing need close by, but the solutions seem doomed.

The bill for Marinus Link, including the onshore transmission works in Tasmania, will come to just over $5 billion dollars, a major new assessment has found.

THE DEVIL OF MONEY

We see people of adventure 

who hunt this curse

To lock it in their purse 

each judges one’s misfortune

that to make awful times better 

one would have to stop the blither.

All of you who criticise the spirit of this image, 

have you never paid money any homage? 

These warriors, these scholars, these learned doctors,

These bourgeois, these merchants, this singer,

An ambitious plan for a giant 2.4 GW solar farm and a major green hydrogen production plant for the Tiwi Islands has been scrapped.

Without resistance, a combination of new laws and new technologies of control will rush us towards dystopia.

By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian  4th July 2025

No one can be trusted with power. Any government will oppress its people if not constantly and inventively challenged. And the task becomes ever-more urgent as new technologies of surveillance and control are developed.

The demand response mechanism is cutting electricity costs on the rare occasions it is deployed, but it is still being allowed to offer only a fraction of its potential.

Instead of making consumers shop around for a better electricity deal, economist David Byrne says make retailers compete to offer us the lowest price. 

A team in the UK has successfully tested an all-electric, hydrofoil crew transfer boat, finding it is faster, cleaner and twice as efficient as the diesel alternatives.

Since the international borders reopened following the pandemic, a sizable proportion of Australia’s growth has stemmed from two sources: exports and government spending. Given the impact of the war in Ukraine on commodity prices, it’s self-evident that exports would play a major role in the growth of the economy. But there is a surprising factor

The post International students make fake growth appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Recently the topic of the total proportion of the population made up by migrants has been making headlines in the United States, Britain and parts of Europe. This prompted quite the level of conversation on social media, so I thought it would be interesting to see where Australia stands both relative to itself historically and

The post Australia’s massive migration driven demographic shift appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Goldman with the note. Price data through May provide preliminary evidence on how tariff costs are being divided among foreign exporters, US businesses, and US consumers. Foreign exporters might absorb some of the costs by lowering their export prices to the US, which would show up as lower US import prices. Although aggregate US import

The post How much inflation follows tariffs? appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Snowy pauses testing of new Kurri Kurri peaking plant after local community and MP kick up a stink over diesel fumes and odour that spread over Hunter Valley.

The Market Ear with more. Negative asymmetry for equities near-term Goldman’s macro strategists are not buying the summer melt-up thesis and are sounding more cautious than in a while. “We are tactically neutral in our asset allocation (OW cash, N equities/credit/bonds, UW commodities). We still expect a worsening growth/inflation mix in 2H and elevated risk

The post Bad news is good news again. Or is it? appeared first on MacroBusiness.