The current economic crisis comes after 14 years of boom conditions, which delivered a profits bonanza to the bosses. Workers’ share of the national income has declined from 60% in 1978 to 51% today. At the same time, the cost of living has risen significantly.
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The article below is abridged from a March 4 statement released by Adalah-NY: The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East. For more information, contactinfo@adalahny.org.
On February 27, the federal government received a report on the review of the pensions system conducted by Jeff Harmer, the head of the families and community services department.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd likes to give the impression that he takes his mission very seriously.
Keynesianism and neoliberalism
Graham Matthews' interview with Professor Bill Mitchell (GLW #785) presents a standard Keynesian view of the economic crisis. Essentially, it claims that the crisis is due to the bad policies of neoliberalism:
“We have to cut down a lot of the clutter of anything, clutter of the work, focus product innovation, detail, all that is going on in the business but [we] just need to remove so much of the distraction to enable us to do that well”.
On February 18, 10 Australian economists criticised the Rudd governments proposed carbon emissions trading scheme, and called for a science-based policy to achieve 25%-40% cuts in emissions by 2020. The statement is reprinted below.
As an alternative newspaper, based in grassroots, progressive political movements, Green Left Weekly aims to be a thorn in the side of the corporate media here in Australia and globally.
Just blocks away from Washington DCs Capitol Hill, a new conversation swept the streets from February 28 to March 2. Within the crowded sidewalks and cafes along H and 7th Streets, certain words were likely to catch your ear: environmental sustainability, green economy, direct action, colonisation, coal-fired power plants and capitalism.
Two hundred workers and supporters protested outside the Pacific Brands factory in Wentworthville, Western Sydney on March 6 in response to the clothing company’s plans to slash 1850 jobs around the country.
Today, the world is littered with crises. From the economic meltdown to the threat to life posed by climate change, the world is in real trouble.
Deputy PM Julia Gillards outspoken support for Israels attack on Gaza earlier this year prompted angry criticism from many, including from inside her own party.
Actions by construction giant John Holland have led to 40 workers being sacked from the Melbourne Westgate Reconstruction project because they did not accept an agreement that would mean they earned less than the standard industry rate.
The free market has got us into this mess, and the free market will get us out of it.
Across university campuses, students are organising in support of Palestine. A big focus will be Palestine Solidarity Week, an international week of action beginning on March 30.
On February 26, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gave his first “report card” on the progress made on ending Aboriginal disadvantage, meeting a delayed election promise to do so every year at the opening of parliament. Rudd’s report, however, has been meet with criticism from Aboriginal activists and supporters.
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