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Wednesday, February 06, 2008

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Bonhoeffer Sacked?

The decision to call a national ideas summit suggests that Kevin Rudd is now spurning the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer whom he once claimed as the man he most admired. After all, it was Bonhoeffer who declared: “It is the characteristic excellence of the strong man that he can bring momentous issues to the fore and make a decision about them. The weak are always forced to decide between alternatives they have not chosen themselves.”

One Down, Three to Go

One down and three to go; Mitsubishi has succumbed to the combination of a rising dollar with cheaper imports and dearer exports, lower tariffs, changes in the taste of motorists and a design that failed to capture the public imagination. We can now expect the remaining GMH, Ford and Toyota to put out their begging bowls to keep motor manufacturing in Australia . For Prime Minister Kevin Rudd this will be a severe test as he is the man who told the last Labor national conference "I don't want to be a prime minister of a country that doesn't make things anymore.” It sounded great back then to claim "we can build productivity growth through an education revolution, the application of new technologies, by freeing up our businesses from unnecessary regulation and by encouraging a new age of innovation - including our critical manufacturing industries."

The speculation this morning that planned further tariff reductions will be postponed suggests the Rudd way with words is about to find a fork in the road inside his babushka doll that describes rent seeking as a meaningful industry policy.

Rewards for Pharmacists

Hop down to the local pharmacy, buy a bottle of cough medicine and pick up a bit of paper to give the boss to justify your Mondayitis. Welcome to the new world of medical certificates. The Federal Finance Department likes it because the $15 or so you pay for the certificate does not cost Medicare a cent, unlike the old system of fronting up at the doctor's surgery. Convenient for the worker too - no waiting around for hours at the 24 hour medical centre. Tough luck for medicos but a nice little earner is being handed to pharmacists. A recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report found about one in 60 patients visit their doctor primarily to get a certificate – 800,000 a year in total and about double what it was nine years ago. That provides pharmacists, who donated $266,385 to the major political parties in 2007-07, with the chance of sharing in what is potentially a $12 million a year market.

No Money, No Start

One last comment on that ideas conference. Poor people clearly have no ideas about the future of Australia that are worth considering. The public relations brilliance of avoiding the criticism that the summit in Canberra would be costly means the 1000 delegates will all pay their own costs. So, no money no start. Yes, the socialist ideals of Labor and truly dead.

The Pick of This Morning's Political Coverage

Rudd weighs tariff freeze for remaining makers - Katharine Murphy, Andrew Heasley, Ian Porter and Barry Park, The Age

Swan wrong to blame inflation on Howard – Malcolm Turnbull, The Australian

Cut-price loan perks for Reserve Bank staff – Kelvin Bissett, the Sydney Daily Telegraph

Charge of the bright brigade – Andrew Bolt, Melbourne Herald Sun

Al Gore wins NEWS.com.au presidential election – Lincoln Archer, News.com.au

MP backs removal of some indigenous kids – AAP no byline

The Daily Reality Check

I think we can take it as true that working families struggling with a mortgage and under represented among readers of news on the internet. Of the 50 stories in our top five most read stories survey on 10 Australian sites this morning, yesterday's Reserve Bank decision appeared but three times – or four if you count the Daily Tele's analysis of the Reserve's staff getting the benefit of half price interest rates. Clearly panic about inflation and the draconian way it is curbed has not yet reached the more affluent masses. Posh, Britney, Scud, Matt, Heath and Elle are what news on the internet is all about.