It’s not cricket.

My @smh @theage cartoon.

On the radio this morning, I heard an economist say that the RBA might not increase #interestRates because employment numbers are "improving", by which they meant that #unemployment is increasing.

To reduce inflation, we need to reduce demand for goods and services. We *could* choose to reduce this demand at the top end of town, where it is most discretionary (international holidays, new cars, third houses, etc) -- however, we've chosen instead to reduce the demand of people who don't really have any discretionary spending to cut.

In a nutshell, this is why we have a housing and poverty crisis.

#economy #inflation #MMT

Long COVID: major findings, mechanisms and recommendations.

#COVID19 #LongCOVID
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-022-00846-2

I found this comparison interesting - over the last half of 2022, Australia clearly led this group of comparable countries for deaths per capita.

New Zealand made a strong start, but the death rate faded in the last few months. The UK is labeled with it's ISO3 code "GBR", and was travelling between the USA (brown) and Canada, but then it seems reporting stopped for the last month or two.

Dramatically different outcomes in Singapore, a death rate per-capita that was 5X lower than Australia's.

Most of the governments involved don't seem to have any plans to change the direction of these lines, so I expect them to continue as they are into 2023, and onwards until something gives.

World covid stats dataviz here:
https://github.com/Mike-Honey/covid-19-world-vaccinations#statistics-by-geography-page---pick-a-stat-and-countries-for-a-time-series

#COVID19 #Australia #NZ #USA #UK #Canada #Singapore @auscovid19

Memo to the media:

Stop letting politicians get away with calling asylum seekers "illegal immigrants" or saying they're not coming to this country "the right way." Seeking asylum is legal. Presenting themselves at the border & requesting asylum is "the right way" to seek asylum.

Three multibillionaires now own more wealth than the bottom half of America – 160 million Americans.

Don’t tell us we can’t afford a wealth tax on the super-rich.