photo credit: Matti Mattila

Renegade Economists Podcast 106

As broadcast on the almighty 3cr.org.au on 16/09/09. Subscribe now

Show Notes
Indicators of Distrust: we show how Australia really has been in recession, why GDP is a poor measure and hear from the Save VCA program on the economic incentives that led to a couple of key buildings being demolished today.

Read the Data: it was a recession

THE fact that Australia has managed to avoid a “technical” recession by not having had two consecutive quarters of negative gross domestic product growth is very much an artefact of the data sets we use.

The GDP figure that is published is an average of the three measures used to calculate GDP. Looking at the three series individually tells a very different story.

Stiglitz Urges End to GDP ‘Fetish’ in Favor of Broader Measures
Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) — Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize- winning economist, urged world leaders to drop an obsession with examining gross domestic product and focus more on broader measures of prosperity.

“GDP has increasingly become used as a measure of societal well-being and changes in the structure of the economy and our society have made it increasingly poor one,” Stiglitz said in an interview today in Paris.
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photo credit: Daquella manera

Renegade Economists Podcast 105

As broadcast on www.3cr.org.au on 090909

Listen to the Gentrification special on cultural profiling.

A special focusing on gentrification and the undermining of community – useful for those interested in our $3000 first prize I Want to Live Here Film competition. Enter and you have a 1 in 13 chance of winning at the moment!

Watch out for clips from submedia.tv and no2010.com re the Olympic Resistance Movement.

Subscribe to the podcast
Show Notes

Gentrification
The Olympic Resistance Movement
Vancouver – world’s most liveable city – another tag adopted by the real estate industry. See also The World’s Happiest People. Also our local efforts in 2006 at the Stolenwealth Games

Gentrification on the lower east side

Mother fears Olympics win will be her loss by Diane Rusignolaand Kate Goshorn

While many Chicagoans are pushing for the city to win the 2016 Olympic bid, some residents of Washington Park – where the games would be held – fear for the future.

Residents of the South Side neighborhood worry they may get the short end of the Olympic stick if gentrification forces them out of their homes to make room for stadiums and athlete training facilities.

“Of course they’re going to have to move people,” said Denise Williams, a 49-year-old Washington Park resident who said she grew up in a South Side housing project.

“They’re rebuilding” this area, Williams said. “But when you see how much money they want? They’re only accepting so many people” for low-income housing units.

Music

Gil Scott Heron – Inner City Blues
The Gentrification of Roxbury Rap
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photo credit: Јerry

Renegade Economists Show 104

As broadcast on the almighty www.3cr.org.au – 02/09/09

Data Processing Vortex: How can we keep up to speed with the juggernaut of issues hurtling our way? Is it enough to keep making the same mistakes? Celebrating 2 years on air, Karl gives a wrap on the foundations to the Earth Rights Democracy amongst current news zaps.

Show Notes:

Smitten Sartor Went Too Far
THE former NSW planning minister Frank Sartor was ”enamoured” of a ”land bribe” exchange when he approved a huge housing development at Catherine Hill Bay, the Land and Environment Court ruled yesterday.
In a critical decision, Justice David Lloyd ruled that Mr Sartor ”committed himself” to approving the multi-million dollar project because he had previously negotiated and signed a contract with the developer, Rose Group, which would swap his approval for 300 hectares of conservation land.

Developer Eyes on Opposition Too
Data from the Australian Electoral Commission shows that the NSW ALP has received over $14 million in property donations in the past eight years.

During the same period the NSW Liberals have received over $8.6 million in property donations even through they have been out of government the entire time.

Many other notes came from Fast Froward News 4

California
Cali budget deficit -US$26 – 40bn
Chevron profits? $23.93m profit
0% resource rents for oil in cali

The Daily Reckoning
–Bloomberg reports that, “The benchmark index for U.S. stock options closed at the highest level since July 9. The VIX, as the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index is known, increased 12 percent to 29.15. The gauge, which measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500, reached a record of 80.86 in November. The index is still above the average over its 19-year history of 20.”

–The VIX is referred to as the fear index because when the cost of buying put options on S&P 500 stocks goes up, it means investors are actively hedging against a fall in stocks. You can see from the chart above that yesterday’s action took the VIX above its 50-day moving average. What’s more the entire index remains elevated. That shows you just how uncertain investors are about the stability of this rally.

–The Wall Street Journal reports that just five big financial stocks are behind the stock market’s rally. Fannie Mae, Citigroup, Freddie Mac, Bank of America and AIG account for nearly a third of market’s daily turnover. Seems everyone is speculating on the banks…and moving them higher.

–You might also recognise them because they all go taken to the woodshed in trading action yesterday. The Dow fell 2% yesterday and the S&P 500 2.2%. But that was nothing compared to AIG’s 21% decline, or Fannie’s 18% fall, or Freddie’s 17% fall, or Citi’s 9.2% fall. Ouch. The Journal suggests the financials may lead the market down just as they led it up.

Music

The Years – Toasting
Junk Culture – West Coast
Altair Nouveau – Sorcerer
Raztaman – Always Do Your Best

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