Category Archives: Political commentary

Solutions Anyone?

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I just sent this to On Line Opinion.  It may take a week for it to be posted, if they like it.

Are On Line Opinion readers interested in innovative solutions to major problems?  Or do they (you) just want to defend old positions, or have an argument?  Or what?

I ask these questions because there have been several pieces recently that present quite innovative ideas or perspectives on solving the economic crisis and/or global warming.  Yet four such articles attracted a total of 15 comments.  (They are Remaking the economy, 4 comments; Energy Rewards to stimulate the economy, 2; The need for indirect action on climate change, 3; Sustainability will not be sidelined, 6)

 

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The Urgency and the Opportunity

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A submission to the Senate Select Committee on Climate Policy, April 2009

[This is punchier than the version I posted 23 March, which was for a different Senate enquiry.]

The Government fails completely to appreciate the urgency of the climate situation, which must be seen in terms of dominos and tipping points.  The first big domino seems to be tipping now, and there may soon be no way to prevent or reverse catastrophic warming.

The Government also fails completely to appreciate the opportunity to rapidly reduce emissions while creating an economy that can secure Australians’ wellbeing indefinitely.

This submission focusses on reframing the policy discussion.  It is intentionally brief.  Details are irrelevant unless the problem is properly framed.

 

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Neoliberal Pseudo-Science

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Also published at  Online Opinion.

The Global Financial Collapse, which is rapidly becoming the Global Economic Collapse, is provoking deserved criticism of the neoliberal ideology that has dominated the world for three decades. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, in his recent debunking of neoliberalism in The Monthly, says markets need to be managed, but clearly many free-marketeers will resist reforms. We therefore need to be very clear. This was not an imperfection. It was not an unfortunate episode in an otherwise glorious record. Neoliberalism is flawed at its core, its performance was mediocre at best, and its failure was inevitable.

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GDP Shrinks. Hooray!

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In a sane world, a shrinking GDP would be greeted with relief.  However the world is not sane, and people suffer when the GDP shrinks, mainly by losing their jobs.  Meanwhile, insanity has faltered slightly and disturbing thoughts are being put about.  However our leaders are working to ensure normal insanity is restored as quickly as possible.

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Nuclear power: UDDELI unjustified

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Professor Leslie Kemeny’s nuclear spruiking regularly appears in Australian newspapers. Readers might take note of the acronym UDDELI, which stands for Unnecessary, Dirty, Dangerous, Expensive, Late and Insufficient. This can provide some balance to the very narrow view offered by Professor Kemeny, whose undoubted expertise on the technicalities of nuclear power is offset by an apparent near-total ignorance of other options.

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