photo credit: Maria Gertsovskaya From South Africa to Bolivia to here in Australia, the failure to approach land as a human right rather than a speculative kite is breeding dangerous undercurrents amongst those excluded from ‘the property game’. The young firebrand South African ANC youth leader Julius Malema again fired up the masses with these comments: “You need land to … Read More
Submission: Digital Dividend For the Commonwealth
photo credit: striatic Our submission to the Digital Dividend green paper for the sale of 4G Electro Magnetic Spectrum licenses. Karl Fitzgerald The electro magnetic spectrum is a scarce resource. Over time it will increase in value, especially with the advent of new technology. As such, the recent release of the iPhone 3GS has delivered windfall profits for the telco’s … Read More
Free TV Handout Outrage
photo credit: OiMax Not only has the public re-organised spectrum space for the broadcaster’s new channels, but we’ve also gifted a rebate on their licensing fees! Some sort of Digital Dividend, Mr Conroy! A dividend for whom? Where will the missing $200 – $500m p.a come from? The broadcasters should be paying more for the added access to the commons, … Read More
The Importance of the Land Ethic
Alanna Hartzok The global financial crisis has demonstrated a deep systemic failure of the prevailing economic paradigm. So far, efforts to remedy the situation have failed to address the root causes of the meltdown and are digging the American people deeper into the hole of public debt. In an op-ed titled “Obama’s Ersatz Capitalism” earlier this year, Joseph Stiglitz wrote … Read More
Hudson hints at why speculators are ignored in supply slide debate
photo credit: hans s Michael Hudson As published in today’s Business Age Opinion section HIGHER land and house prices typically lead to an increased supply of housing. Yet at the peak of Australia’s perennial housing affordability crisis, the Housing Industry Association declared that there would be a 13 per cent fall in housing starts this calendar year, compounding last year’s … Read More