The report of the parliamentary committee inquiry into the Foreign Investment Review Board is out. The inquiry has been conducted with great fanfare to edify the Liberals’ rising star and MHR for Higgins Kelly O’Dwyer. And what are its findings,…
Australia has two infections that compromise our economic health. Their remarkably similar symptoms – fever, delirium, impaired judgement – muddy diagnosis and hamper effective treatment. Most are familiar with ‘Dutch disease’, where a resource bounty – in Holland’s case off-shore…
Taxi users should be angry at being the victim of a scam obliging them to travel in discomfort so some 'entrepreneur' can enjoy a concessional license fee. And regular license holders ought to share that anger – their rent-seeking activity is being topped and captured by a sub-group, all in the name of mobility for the disabled.
Who pays for a $43 million windfall gain in three years? That’s a 352% return for the “entrepreneurial” Richard Gu. His skill? To have the capital to buy the land, then to apply for a 1500 apartment re-zoning of the…
If the Grattan thimkers wanted to reignite prosperity and national competitiveness, they would look at the cost of land – for Rural, Manufacturing and Services, for business and for workers alike. Inexpensive land de-risks all economic activity. We have been bloody fools to abandon this vital natural advantage to the ticket –clippers.
The latest report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on the world leading System of Environmental Economic Accounting was released yesterday. The ABS have taken a lead role in developing the system at the United Nations level over the last…
How one person can own another by our continual ignorance of the Law of Rent. A vital 5 minutes.
As published today on Truthout The wealth gap is dividing society at an astonishing rate as the lessons from the Great Recession are helicoptered away. QE3 has worked for Wall St but little else. Over 30 nations are facing the…
The Total Resource Rents of Australia report finds the complete removal of income, company and sales tax is possible by replacement with a tax on monopolies such as water trading, cyber squatting, taxi licenses and land. “Economists have for hundreds…
Major Findings The Total Resource Rents of Australia report finds: The influence of monopoly is 10 times greater than mainstream economists acknowledge. Economic rents are a significant component of the Australian economy, comprising 23.6% of GDP. Almost half of all…