Category: A sustainable economy

Expenses ‘grey area’ need reform: Greens

admin /21 May, 2009

Expenses ‘grey areas’ need reform: Greens By Online parliamentary correspondent Emma Rodgers Posted 22 minutes ago MPs should be forced to hand back any of their electoral allowance they do not spend instead of absorbing it into their salary, Greens leader Bob Brown says. Despite a freeze on MPs’ salaries for at least 15 months, Continue Reading →

Changing Climate: Carbon tax Gaining Momentum over Cap-and-trade?

admin /20 May, 2009

May 19, 2009

Changing Climate: Carbon Tax Gaining Momentum over Cap-and-Trade?

by Ron Pernick

I recently gave a talk to a group of environmentalists, technologists, and business people at an innovation forum in Portland, Oregon. In my talk, I relayed the findings of our recent Carbon Free Prosperity report, where we provide a ten-point action plan for Oregon and Washington to move toward carbon-free prosperity. Our number one item: “Put a Price on Carbon.”

After my talk, everyone broke up into brainstorming teams to review the report’s findings and provide thoughts/insights/ideas. I sat down with one of the groups and listened in. Of the nine other people at the table, not a single one supported the implementation of a carbon cap-and-trade regime.

Hold on. How could this be? I’m at a conference dedicated to clean-energy innovation, attended by many environmentalists, technologists and business entrepreneurs, in one of our nation’s greenest cities — and no one in my group was voicing support for carbon cap-and-trade. As someone who favors a carbon tax approach over cap-and-trade, my interest was piqued. So I went around the table and asked everyone to explain why they didn’t favor cap-and-trade.

The number one response: Cap-and-trade could too easily be manipulated or gamed. In an age of global financial turmoil, much of it brought on by dubious financial creations such as credit default swaps and subprime mortgage derivatives, these folks didn’t trust the market makers (or regulators) to properly manage the process. They weren’t buying the argument that financial trading markets are always elegant and efficient. Instead, they see cap-and-trade as being rife with potential mismanagement and corruption. Equally important, they didn’t believe that a cap-and-trade system could be transparent or open enough to guarantee critical safeguards and to provide a fair and accurate pricing mechanism.

Consumer confidence hit by Kevin Rudd’s budget: survey

admin /20 May, 2009

Consumer confidence hit by Kevin Rudd’s budget: survey

 

James Glynn | May 20, 2009

Article from:  Dow Jones Newswires

THE Rudd Government’s budget has been roundly rejected by consumers, with sentiment plunging in the days since its May 12 release.

 boxed in: The slump in consumer confidence could further undermine the Australian Government’s ability to loosen fiscal settings if the global downturn worsens. Picture: Bloomberg

Coming on top of big falls in government electoral support in separate national opinion polls over the last week, the drop in consumer confidence has the potential to further contain the Government’s ability to loosen fiscal settings if the global economic downturn worsens.

Ratcheting up government debt further would risk an even bigger electoral backlash with contagion spreading quickly to financial markets.

Consumer sentiment fell 4.3 per cent in May from April, according to a survey released today by Westpac and the Melbourne Institute. It was the second biggest fall in the index following the release of a federal budget in the last 10 years, said Westpac chief economist Bill Evans.

“It suggests people have been unnerved by the build-up in (government) debt, which is going to constrain fiscal policy flexibility,” Mr Evans said.

Investors in retreat after schemes fail

admin /18 May, 2009

Investors in retreat after schemes fail

Katherine Jimenez | May 19, 2009

Article from:  The Australian

KEY stakeholders in the managed investment scheme industry have rushed to blame Great Southern’s business model for the collapse of the agribusiness investment group as fears of an investor backlash grew.

Timber

 

Great Southern, the nation’s biggest agribusiness managed investment scheme company, has followed rival Timbercorp into administration, raising serious questions about the future of the industry.

It went into voluntary administration at the weekend with debts of up to $700 million.

About 43,000 investors are nervously awaiting news about how much can be salvaged.

Economy and the environment:growing pains

admin /18 May, 2009

Economy and the environment: growing pains

The next few days will bring yet more grim economic news. Figures are likely to show that Japan is in even deeper recession; that the UK’s public finances continue to deteriorate; more companies will go bust and more workers will lose their jobs. Against that backdrop, the question that follows may seem so obtuse and ill-timed that to raise it at all may appear bone-headed. Still, here goes: should we – governments, economists, businesses and voters – stop worrying so much about economic growth?

An Early Double Dissolution?

admin /15 May, 2009

An Early Double Dissolution?

By announcing it will re-introduce its ‘Alcopops’ tax after June 18, the Rudd government has ramped up prospects of an early double dissolution election.

The government is re-introducing the bill not because it wants an early election, but because it wants the legislation passed. But re-introducing it in a manner that permits the legislation to become a double dissolution trigger ramps up the pressure on the Opposition and the Senate cross-benchers to pass the legislation or potentially face the electoral consequences.

If the Senate again blocks the ‘Alcopops’ legislation after June 18, the Government will have a trigger to call a double dissolution at any time between July this year and October 2010. That will provide a useful stick for the government to use against the Senate as the Government attempts to pass its Budget measures, as well as its legislation to introduce a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS).

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