Fishy Money Fingers

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Creative Commons License photo credit: malakins

Renegade Economists Podcast 98

As broadcast on the freedom of speech machine at 3CR – Wed July 15th
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Show Notes
Fishy Money Fingers: Ben Bowman from Food and Water Watch (USA) discusses the Lehman Bros influence in privatising West Coast fisheries – 2000% returns are on the cards for some. What does this mean for local fisheries?

Fishing catch shares suddenly become hot ‘commodities’
Corporate Trawlers Try to Enclose Pacific Fish
Federal policy on new West Coast groundfish fishery rules needs congressional review

Garrett signs off on destroying the artesian basic via 4th uranium mine – Peter dare you to take a drink of the ‘world’s best practice’ post in situ acid water!
SA Royalties

Goldman Sachs Profit Booms
Goldman Intrigue

US Unemployment figures
Palatial Profits

Music

Köhn – Trans-Neptunian Objects
Matmos – The Struggle Against Humanity

Goldman Sachs intrigue

Karl FitzgeraldCommentaryLeave a Comment

Author of Inside the Great Economic Bubble Machine, Matt Taibbi speaks on the Goldman issue.

Check the Hudson talk on Max Keiser (below) to hear about the million trades per second software stolen from Goldman Sachs and how a chance question reveals the ability of the big boys to manipulate markets.

Spice up your life by reading some of the more controversial takes on the Goldman team.

Re-Invasion Land Grabs

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Mal_Who

Renegade Economists Podcast 97

As broadcast on the almighty 3CR on 8 July, 2009
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Show Notes:
Re-Invasion Land Grabs: Elder Michael Anderson from Euahlayi Nation discusses the intervention into indigenous lands, discussing how this blatant land grab relates to genocidal actions. Some new developments on the intervention virus are spreading.

Related reading from the National Indigenous Times:
Leaked Advice on NT Intervention re Racial Discrimination Act
Helping them ‘live like other Australians’
Making out a special measure, Macklin-style

Michael Anderson, representing the Elders of the Euhalyi Nation, has sent an open letter to the White House and two major newspapers, The Washington Post and the New York Times, asking the US President to help.

Here is the letter:

Dear President Barack Obama,

Like so many in the world we congratulate you on your election to the US Presidency. We acknowledge the inspiration you have given people around the world in terms of being able to look forward to real, significant change.

Here in Australia we believed that the Labor government might have pursued radical changes for Aboriginal people after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made his apology over 12 months ago. Twelve months on we find ourselves in a worse situation than we were in the 1950s and 1960s. More Aboriginal children are currently being removed from their families than in the 30 years between 1937 and 1967. These children are generally being placed in overcrowded institutions or with non-Aboriginal foster parents.

In our view this is tantamount to a continuation of the former policies that were genocidal in their form and nature to forcefully remove of children of Aboriginal parentage into the dominant societal norms, where they have no access or influence of their own culture, language and traditions. We thought the apology of Kevin Rudd 12 months ago would be a warning for all concerned that this would never happen again.
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Are We Paying Too Much for the Great Australian Dream?

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Creative Commons License photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography

Adam Schwab from Crikey:

In one of the more remarkable occurrences, residential property, despite macroeconomic indicators to the contrary, has been an incredibly resilient asset class this year. In fact, the “affordable” sector of the property market is trading at record high levels, while auction clearance rates in major cities remain above 70 percent (in Melbourne, the clearance rate is above 80 percent). The use of inverted commas around the word “affordable” is intentional  — for many, the “affordable” sector of the housing is perhaps ironically, relatively unaffordable.

To purchase a property within 15 kilometres of a major city, first home owners are required to spend often upwards of six times average incomes, double the amount previous generations would spend on a home. That means one of two things is happening; people really like buying homes these days, or punters are vastly overpaying for residential property, or perhaps a little of both.

Property bulls will no doubt argue that the housing sector in Australia is not really over-priced, but due to the shortage of satisfactory property, the price is at an equilibrium level.

While supply issues no doubt have a short-term effect (Australia still has significant net population growth), in the longer term, the free market requires capacity to increase to match the higher demand. (Australia isn’t Monaco, urban centres take up a mere fraction of total land).

No, the major impetus for the prevailing boom is the continued, boosted first home owner’s grant and the ongoing lax lending standards exhibited by major banks. The FHOG is a dreadful piece of policy which has the unfortunate effect of inflating the cost of homes for young people. Various potential buyers, all with the grant in their back pocket, simply bid up the price of a property to what they could afford, plus the value of the grant, plus the leverage they are able to obtain. (Figures released last week indicated the “first home buyer” sector continues to dominate property prices with data indicating that 29.5 percent of owner-occupied mortgages were to first home buyers. Before the grant was boosted, the figure was around 12 percent).

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