Web News Roundup
Happy Birthday Jessica! Quite an achievement, so naturally, some whiners get the daggers out. Harry Clarke has a better take.
Famous Australian chef, Neil Perry, found himself in hot water for sacking a pregnant employee for allegedly being rude to a customer (amongst “other issues”.) The labour tribunal declared it “bizarre and unacceptable,” with Fair Work Australia Deputy Justice Peter Sams deciding it was, “nothing short of appalling and manifestly unfair.” What’s manifestly unfair, is that bureaucrats are entitled to tell people how to run their business – even forcing them to give 12 weeks pay ($9230.76) to a sacked employee deemed unacceptable by the owner.
Facebook has been in the news lately, for all the wrong reasons. They often don’t behave in a friendly manner, but surely people know the company wasn’t just providing a community service? Maybe not – over at Larvatus Prodeo, Mark B thinks it’s a “social utility” and concludes that “it should either be heavily regulated, or a public entity should occupy its position.”
Meanwhile, our police our trying to protect us from this insidious threat (Facebook, that is, not Larvatus Prodeo) by first advising young people to remove photos and profile information from Facebook, and more recently by teaching “young league players about the importance of online security.” They did the latter by pretending to be hot chics and befriending the young men… nothing creepy about that – your tax dollars at work!
In world affairs, outgoing UK treasury chief leaves a note for the new guy: ‘Dear Chief Secretary, I’m afraid to tell you there’s no money left.’ He says it was intended as a private joke – but it might have been funnier if it wasn’t true.
John Stossel smacks down Paul Krugman for his weak dismissal of rising US debt. Speaking of Stossel, his new blog is often worth reading (and adding to your feed.) His new weekly show on Fox Business is also worth a look (many available on youtube)
“I do not think that word means what you think it means”: Pelosi thinks Obamacare is an entrepreneurial bill, because it lets people quit their jobs and retain health care.
In other news, the US apologises to China over its human rights record. Wait… what?! *facepalm*
And finally, Tim Blair alerts us to the most American ad ever made:
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Catallaxy Files- Open Forum: February 11, 2012 February 10, 2012 Sinclair Davidson
- Not all recessions are caused by the Fed February 10, 2012More middle of the night blogging. My economics is classical. The almost perfect overlay of my own book can be found in a series of notes taken by Nicholas Kaldor at the LSE in 1927-29 from lectures delivered by the great American economist, Allyn Young. These notes were only published around a decade ago but [...]Steve Kates
- Where’s Romney? February 10, 2012It is quite extraordinary to watch the American political process up close. Now, I admit I have been busy and I don’t watch much of the television and do not read a lot of the press. But before I arrived the thing I did want to do was see more of Mitt Romney since from [...]Steve Kates
- inCISe
- More on PHI rebate means test February 10, 2012When I wrote in Incise yesterday, ‘Rebate should not be means tested,’ I did not expect events to move quite as quickly as they have. The government seems confident it has the numbers to get the means test through. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rob Oakshott and Andrew Wilkie have indeed swallowed the government’s nonsensical arguments, but it will be interestin […]Robert Carling
- Quiggin versus Carling and Kirchner February 9, 2012John Quiggin accuses Robert Carling and I of ‘an appalling breach of elementary standards of research’ for not acknowledging that Alberto Alesina’s work on the effectiveness of fiscal stimulus and consolidations is ‘highly controversial.’ In fact, we referenced Alesina’s work precisely because it has featured so prominently in public debate, including in the […]Stephen Kirchner
- Police going too far February 9, 2012According to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, police are lecturing parents for letting their children walk to the shops or catch a bus on their own, with senior police saying such incidents will be reported to the Department of Community Services (DOCs) if a child is considered at risk. But when is a child ‘at risk’? One mother was told it was inappr […]Sara Hudson
- More on PHI rebate means test February 10, 2012
- IPA news
- Let European dogs lie February 9, 2012Australians will be surprised to learn that, apparently, the federal government now has responsibility to help the city of...
- It's time to bring back the thrift February 9, 2012Ted Baillieu plans to shave 3600 jobs from Victoria's bloated public service. The state of Wisconsin in the US, with a...
- We'll huff, we'll puff, we'll blow the budget into surplus February 8, 2012Bill Clinton famously said, "It's the economy, stupid". So it is. Unsuccessful politicians might be inclined to argue,...
- Let European dogs lie February 9, 2012
And in other news phoney Tony tells us the truth.
Yeah – I figured that one was reported enough already
Seriously, he needs to learn to answer properly. People are sick of Rudd’s spin, so they need someone to give clear answers – not mumbling self doubts, no evasiveness, and certainly no dumbass comments about only believing his scripted comments.
Where do I register so I can vote for Dale Peters?
Some interesting links their Fleeced.
Keep up the good work.
Yes even phoney Tony can make dumbass comments. It was an honest comment but still dumbass.
nice round-up fleeced.
im assuming Mark B’s comments are not serious.
Good work, Fleeced. Champion effort.
Even though I cordially dislike Abbott, I don’t mind his recent remarks. As Terje says it’s only what any person with two brain cells to rub together already knew was true.
I managed to keep from laughing in that Alabama ad right up until he randomly pulled a firearm out.
It would be nice to think so pommy, but it appears that he is serious.
Have to agree with Bolt on this one – who does Henry think he is to make such pronouncements?
The Libs need to make his dismissal their first order of business if they get elected.
That Dale Peterson guy seems pretty determined.
“The Libs need to make his dismissal their first order of business if they get elected.”
I reckon they should campaign on it.
Did you hear Costello’s interview? It was really very good. They asked him about Henry and he said he thought Ken was an excellent tax specialist! He didn’t think was that good at straight economics and tended to avoid him for that sort of thing.
What a slap in the face.
Yeah, I saw that interview – was pretty good. It was funny seeing Costello get animated when he started talking about what lunatics certain people were. For those that haven’t seen it, here it is:
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/KGBTV?ReadForm&vid=1713682&vidkey=bd9e20903b9a5130ea00&
Fleeced – thanks for the link. Costello communicates the issues very nicely in that interview. However it was a pretty friendly interview so it was going to be somewhat easier to look good than the interviews he would have faced as a political contender.