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Australia is set to become an energy superpower by mid 2017

And to think if Labor had stayed in Gov’t we’d still have a tax on the domestic use of carbon dioxide based energy.

Via the UK Telegraph

Australia is to become a global gas superpower by the middle of the decade and eliminate its current account deficit for the first time in almost 40 years, according to Morgan Stanley.

“Liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from Australia could be the next big thing,” said the bank in a new report.

It predicted a “huge ramp-up” in LNG output that could transform the country’s economy, claiming that Australia could overtake Qatar by to become the world’s biggest exporter of LNG as soon as 2017 rather that 2030 as widely assumed.

By then Australia would be a major force in global energy production, with LNG and coal exports together matching the country’s vast iron ore shipments.

Two-thirds of the world’s entire increase in traded LNG capacity is currently from Australia.

…If Morgan Stanley is right, the export share of Australia’s economy will rise from 20pc to 22pc of GDP by 2016. Energy would jump from 10pc to 18pc of total shipments. The return to surplus would be a remarkable shift for a country that has run a current account deficit averaging 4pc of GDP for the last three decades, and is currently near 5pc.

Australia is one of the world’s last surviving AAA states, yet its position is precarious. It has built up external liabilities of $855bn US dollars and has a net international investment position (NIIP) of minus 64pc of GDP, the world’s most-stretched after Europe’s Club Med bloc. The International Monetary Fund usually regards minus 30pc as a warning signal.

This welcome news, considering Treasurer Joe Hockey will today confirm that spending thanks to the previous Rudd/Gillard/Rugg gov’ts was completely out of control.

If we’re going to get a grip on the mounting gov’t debt and get our house back into order, we’ll need a few more success stories like the LNP export boom otherwise expect the base of the GST to be broadened to include all food and education (no point including health as over 70% of health is already spent by gov’t) to raise more revenue along with (much needed) deep cuts to state sponsored welfare.

 

 

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Scary bananas: How environmental exaggeration harms emerging economies

 

American Conversations Part I

Hopefully the punditry is wrong and descent into a Romanesque end isn't the final curtain call, writes Tim Humphries

It began with an interview I did with Libertarian radio host of the popular LRM.FM program Liberty Conspiracy with Gardner Goldsmith. The touchstones of North and South Korea plunged our cordial conversation into Trade, International Relations, Currency and the Economic drivers of same both at home and abroad.

The interlocking histories of Australian, American and Chinese involvement on the world stage also figured prominently. However what grabbed my attention was the idea that America was sliding from the world stage and that her pre-eminence was being usurped by China.

Thanks to Labor, the ASX200 Index Flounders while the Dow Jones Index Booms

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 12,980 points on 1^st March 2012.

The last time the Dow Jones was above 12,980 points was back on the 16^th May 2008 when it closed at 12,986 points.

The Australian benchmark index – the S&P/ASX 200 - closed at 4,255.5 points on 1^st March 2012.

On the 16^th May 2008, the S&P/ASX 200 - closed at 5,931 points.

So while the Dow Jones has recovered, the ASX200 is 1,675.5 points or 28.25% below its 16^th May 2008 closing price.

So why is the ASX200 index floundering while the Dow Jones index is Booming?

There are three key reasons.

1)      The RBA/US Fed interest rate differential.

2)      The AUDUSD strength

3)      The systematic political risk of the Gillard government

It is fairly obvious from the chart above that the once highly correlated Dow Jones and ASX200 indices started to break down around May 2010 when the then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd along with Treasury Wayne Swan surprised everyone with their planned introduction of the Resource Super Profit Tax (RSPT). As we all know it went down like a lead balloon especially with the mining companies who had probably single handedly saved Australia from the death throes of the GFC.

When Did Fiscal Conservatism Die?

Keith Topolski examines how the world's longest serving conservative government has sold out-or been bought out.

With a provincial election looming by 31 May, Albertans are faced with a unique question: Will the Alberta Government become the longest serving democratically elected government in history?

The ruling Progressive Conservative party has ruled Alberta since 1971, and its predecessor, the conservative Social Credit Party, reigned from 1935.

Not for 77 years has Alberta been faced with a government that is not of a conservative persuasion.

But is that last statement actually true?

What the Wall Street Occupiers Really Believe

Douglas Schoen’s polling firm interviewed nearly 200 protesters in New York’s Zuccotti Park.

Our research shows clearly that the movement doesn't represent unemployed America and is not ideologically diverse. Rather, it comprises an unrepresentative segment of the electorate that believes in radical redistribution of wealth, civil disobedience and, in some instances, violence. Half (52%) have participated in a political movement before, virtually all (98%) say they would support civil disobedience to achieve their goals, and nearly one-third (31%) would support violence to advance their agenda.

The vast majority of demonstrators are actually employed, and the proportion of protesters unemployed (15%) is within single digits of the national unemployment rate (9.1%).

What binds a large majority of the protesters together—regardless of age, socioeconomic status or education—is a deep commitment to left-wing policies: opposition to free-market capitalism and support for radical redistribution of wealth, intense regulation of the private sector, and protectionist policies to keep American jobs from going overseas.

Sixty-five percent say that government has a moral responsibility to guarantee all citizens access to affordable health care, a college education, and a secure retirement—no matter the cost. By a large margin (77%-22%), they support raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, but 58% oppose raising taxes for everybody, with only 36% in favor.

Thus Occupy Wall Street is a group of engaged progressives who are disillusioned with the capitalist system and have a distinct activist orientation. Among the general public, by contrast, 41% of Americans self-identify as conservative, 36% as moderate, and only 21% as liberal. That's why the Obama-Pelosi embrace of the movement could prove catastrophic for their party. 

Here’s FOX News Bill O’Reilly’s take about the occupiers.

 

Both Schoen and O’Reilly are spot on – these occupiers are just a rabble of radical leftists who want to burn the capitalist system down.

Capitalism isn’t perfect, but it’s the best system we have. Capitalism allows anyone the greatest opportunity to succeed on their own.

Update:

"Occupy Wall Street" Protests Cashing In on Capitalism?

 

 

 

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Occupy Chicago gives rousing Welcome to Communist Party USA

RebelPundit has been all over the Occupy protests in Chicago. Check out the crowd of several thousand giving a “warm welcome and overwhelming applause” to John Bachtell from the Communist Party USA.

 

  

There you go - people using their freedom of speech to protest about taking away your freedom.

 

Ah yes…”wonderful” communism is trying to make a comeback to save us from the “evils” of capitalism.

Never forget, that under Stalin, tens of millions of people were murdered, either shot or they starved to death.

Did you know a delegation of German Gestapo and SS came to the Soviet Union to learn how to build concentration camps? That Stalin authorized children to be shot from the age of twelve?

Communism is pure evil and yet we now witness people applauding 21^st century communists!

WTF!

 

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US CEOs Earned More Than Companies’ Tax Bills

Not the best look for capitalism…

Twenty-five of the best-paid chief executive officers in the U.S. earned more in salary and other compensation in 2010 than their companies’ federal income tax expenses as disclosed in public filings, according to a report by the Institute for Policy Studies.

The Washington-based nonprofit group’s report, released today, examined 100 publicly traded U.S. corporations with the highest-paid CEOs. It found that companies whose CEOs’compensation exceeded reported tax expense in 2010 had average global profits of $1.9 billion.

Companies in this group, according to the report, included EBay Inc., General Electric Co., Verizon Communications Inc., Boeing Co. and Dow Chemical Co.

Continue reading US CEOs Earned More Than Companies’ Tax Bills

Andy Semple

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