More evidence the Left will always lose, so long as  governments are forced to tax or borrow from the private sector (as per mainstream orthodoxy): greedy a**holes like Jeremy Clarkson always show their sorry arses:

(indy100)

Jeremy Clarkson is facing criticism again - this time over controversial Vladimir Putin comment

It was only last week that former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson apparently ‘spoke for millions’ by saying the UK’s departure from the European Union “hasn’t made our lives better in any way that I can see”, but now people are back disliking the Clarkson’s Farm star after he said he’d “welcome” Russian president Vladimir Putin as UK prime minister over Keir Starmer.

Following up on his previous Sunday Times column, Clarkson penned an article this week claiming “the world will end when weird Gen Z take charge”, citing polling commissioned by the Times which revealed only 41 per cent of Generation Z surveyed said they were happy to say they were British, and the same percentage wouldn’t fight for their country in a war.

Clarkson agreed with that percentage and said: “Right now, I’d do nothing to stop an invasion because, apart from that DRC child slavery enthusiast, Bosco Ntaganda, I’d take any world leader over the imbecile we have now.

“[US president Donald] Trump, [Italian prime minister Giorgia] Meloni, even Putin; I’d welcome any one of them with open arms.”

The comments have shocked and appalled people on social media, with one writing that the stance “tells you everything” about Clarkson:

(on X): "Jeremy Clarkson preferring life under Putin to Starmer tells you everything about the Man.

In Russia a small group of businessmen hold Land, while Famers are impoverished.

Clarkson doesn’t care about Farmers, he only cares about keeping his money in a tax haven".

Another claimed the stance was because “he doesn’t want to pay inheritance tax on the farm he brought [sic] to avoid paying taxes”, referencing previous articles from Clarkson in which he said he bought a farm because “the government doesn’t get any of my money when I die” and that avoiding inheritance tax was “the critical thing” in that decision:

(on X): "Jeremy Clarkson wants Putin in power instead of Starmer because he doesn't want to pay inheritance tax on the farm he brought to avoid paying taxes"

And a third made the pretty important point that life under a dictatorship isn’t exactly cosy:

(on X): "I see Jeremy Clarkson is having such a hard time being a millionaire under the evil incompetent Starmer he'd rather be murdered in an arctic penal colony under Putin than pay a discounted rate of IHT in England."

Clarkson has been a vocal critic of Starmer’s premiership since chancellor Rachel Reeves announced changes to inheritance tax on agricultural land last year, even attending protests which have since led to one Conservative politician saying the broadcaster would be “welcome in the Tory party”.

.......

Ah - the Tories, lovely socially-minded people they are....

No wonder Gen Z are totally disillusioned, after a decade of Tory rule. 

DOGE making progess.......yehaaaaah!

(Daily Mail)

DOGE finds $4.7 trillion in untraceable Treasury payments

Story by Melissa Koenig For Dailymail.Com

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency discovered $4.7 trillion in United States Treasury payments on an untraceable budget line. The agency announced Monday that the Treasury Access Symbol (TAS), which are used to describe the account the money is linked to, was missing on a number of payments the Treasury Department has made.

In the federal government, the TAS field was optional for about $4.7 trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost impossible,' DOGE posted on X. 'As of Saturday, this is now a required field, increasing insight into where money is actually going.' The account went on to thank the US Treasury for its help in identifying the optional field.

The Treasury Department, which fields trillions of dollars worth of government payments every year was one of the first departments DOGE staffers gained access to. They have been granted entry to the department's highly-sensitive payment systems, and Musk is now requesting access to a classified IRS system that contains the personal financial records of millions of Americans.

The request, which is reportedly under review, would grant DOGE sweeping access to IRS 'systems, property, and datasets' through a memorandum of understanding. Of particular concern is DOGE's potential access to the Integrated Data Retrieval System (IDRS) - a heavily protected database used by IRS employees to review taxpayer records, update information, and issue official notices. Given the system's ability to retrieve personal identification numbers, bank account details, and other sensitive financial data, IRS officials have reportedly expressed deep reservations. The report notes that taxpayers whose information is wrongfully reviewed or disclosed may be entitled to financial damages, underscoring the severity of the potential risk posed by DOGE's request.

My thoughts: given the fact the IRS is unlikely to be collecting TOO MUCH tax from  taxpayers (and Trump wants to REDUCE taxes), how is the IRS likely to be a possible source of increased revenue? Does DOGE want to defund the IRS? Let's read on.

Critics see the request as an alarming overreach by a department that has already faced scrutiny for its broad ambitions. Experts have warned that allowing political appointees access to IRS databases is 'highly unusual,' raising concerns about potential misuse of taxpayer data. Nina Olson, a former taxpayer advocate, did not mince words when addressing the potential consequences of DOGE's request. 'The information that the IRS has is incredibly personal,' she told The Post. 'Someone with access to it could use it and make it public in a way, or do something with it, or share it with someone else who shares it with someone else, and your rights get violated.'

A senior Trump administration official, though, defended the move, stating that DOGE's mission is to 'eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse, and improve government performance to better serve the people.' The official further insisted that the request is being conducted 'legally and with the appropriate security clearances.' Amid the debate over Musk's authority, DOGE has started to purge the Federal Aviation Administration, with emails sent to probationary workers late Friday night. Hundreds have also received notice that their employment was terminated. Newly confirmed Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner also announced last week that he would be working with DOGE to set up a task force within the agency.

My thoughts: so Trump wants to eliminate tax fraud?  (cough....), let's read on.

He posted a video on his X account on Thursday announcing the task force would be 'very detailed and deliberate about every dollar spent in serving tribal, rural and urban communities across America.' It would comprise HUD (Dept of Housing)  employees and is intended to 'examine how to best maximize the agency’s budget and ensure all programs, processes and personnel are working together to advance the purpose of the department,' according to a press release.

In Turner's video message on Thursday, he said that the task force recovered an additional $260 million in savings, after Musk said that $1.9 billion of misplaced funds had been recovered from the department. The DOGE head has also claimed that his department uncovered millions of dead Americans still eligible for social security payments. He posted a chart on X showing that there are more than 20 million Americans listed over the age of 100, including 3.9 million in the 130-139 range, more than 3.5 million aged 140-149 and more than 1.3 million in the range 150-159. There is even an 'alive' citizen aged over 360, according to the records.

The billionaire Tesla boss wrote: 'According to the Social Security database, these are the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to FALSE! Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security.' It is unclear how many of these payments were distributed due to fraud or mistakes made by the agency failing to confirm the age and eligibility of beneficiaries – including if they are alive or not. But DOGE vowed it is now 'looking into this.'

[/cont]

Message to all politicians:

As long as government is forced to depend on "taxpayer dollars"  rather than government dollars (see MMT),  then government will always be subject to austerity  because  taxes are politically toxic. 


There is an alternative  - see  MMT, rejected by mainstream economists because of misplaced concerns re inflation -  misplaced because, if  the resources required are available  for purchase (by government), it doesn't matter whether  government money or "taxpayer money" is used to purchase those resources. 


Btw,  central bank orthodoxy re inflation control is itself flawed , eg, increasing interest rates will increase rents which feeds into inflation,  because landlords will want to cover their higher mortgage repayments.  

In conclusion, dependence on 'taxpayer money' is the reason why politicians are increasingly despised by a disillusioned electorate. 

.........

"It's the economy, stupid".

And its the reason why mainstream politics is currently in chaos around the world, as workers - abandoned by the Left - look to the Right for their salvation while inequality soars. 

But Trump will quickly show that workers who voted for him  merely 'jumped from the frying pan into the fire', as poverty persists and inequality continues to soar. 

And, eg,  the fool Scholz, crippled by 'balanced budget' mainstream mythology, will be turfed out of office this weekend while claiming the AfD are the enemy, when reliance on cheap Russian energy and the manufactured goods export model is no longer working as in the past, complicated by uncontrolled immigration. 

And Albo doesn't have a clue why workers especially in small businesses which are "the backbone of the economy"**  are abandoning him in a cost of living crisis related to high power and rent prices, not to mention mortgage holders crushed by high interest rates set by mainstream economists employed in the  unelected "independent" Reverse Bank (sic) stealing from the poor and giving to the rich, to control inflation.

** unfortunately: most small businesses are mickey mouse affairs of no real value to society, who rely on low wages (if they actually employ workers other than the business operator).      

(cont)

“Fourth, reduce personal marginal income tax rates. Reduce the number of tax brackets. And this is the first time I’ve ever said this publicly, in fact I think at all. I think it is time to consider indexing tax thresholds for inflation. I think fiscal drag has become such a punishing thing that it’s time now to consider tax indexation.”

Fifth, Henry said Australia should levy a carbon tax on coal and gas exports before importing countries do it on the carbon embodied in these exports.

“You don’t have to put a very high carbon tax on that to raise tens of billions of dollars every year to fund the Australian budget.”

He also stepped up calls for a distance-based road user charge on vehicles instead of fuel excise and other charges.

The founder of the budget charter, Costello, told a conservative event in London that governments must rein in spending or risk deepening the financial black hole for generations to come.

“I always argued when I was paying off federal debt in Australia, that debt is not just an economic problem, it’s a moral problem,” Costello said. “That by running up debt, society is consuming its resources on itself and sending the bill to the next generation.”

Costello said there was also a crucial need for governments to focus on core responsibilities.

“It’s a truism that the more government does, the worse it does,” he said. “If it was doing its core business well – we wouldn’t mind it expanding. But if it does its core business badly, why is there any reason to think it will do its new business well?”

...........

Trust the AFR, reporting on Ken Henry's proposed policies to "stop stealing from the next generation" -  to sneakily end the article with its OWN views re economic management which have nothing to do with Henry's views.

Namely, by contradicting Henry's correct analysis that the system is (immorally) stacked against the younger generation of taxpayers,  by referencing  Costello's market-ideology-based assertion  "debt is not just an economic problem, it’s a moral problem". 

Supposedly reinforced  by his obscure argument  that   “by running up debt, society is consuming its resources on itself and sending the bill to the next generation.”

Meaningless waffle supposedly capturing the moral high- ground; in fact, the responsibility of currency-issuing  government is to manage inflation, not debt, while managing sustainable resource alllocation for the  benefit of all, not just the few.

But neither Henry, nor Costello - nor Chalmers - understand the dysfunction of tax orthodoxy, hence the enforced 'austerity' of the latter 2 while in government (eg, resulting in under-resourcing of health, education and housing) compared with Henry's excruciatingly complicated taxation policies to try to balance a 'moral' budget.

Hence 'the blind leading the blind', even if Henry's policies would  create a fairer society, to which  Chalmers "didn't respond" (as reported in the above AFR article) BECAUSE taxes and tax changes are politically toxic....   

More on the new German government:

(Sydney Morning Herald, via Reuters)

Conservatives claim victory in German election as far-right AfD finishes second

Centre-right opposition leader Friedrich Merz of Germany’s opposition conservatives claimed victory in the national elections on Sunday, while exit polls suggested that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) came in second.

Following a campaign roiled by a series of violent attacks, and interventions by US President Donald Trump’s administration, the conservative CDU/CSU bloc won 28.5 per cent of the vote, followed by the AfD with 20 per cent, an exit poll published by ZDF public broadcaster showed.

Merz, 69, has no previous government experience but has promised to provide greater leadership than Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who conceded defeat, and to liaise more with key allies, restoring Germany to the heart of Europe.

My comment: Merz, like Musk, is a billionaire who wants to 'balance the budget' by cutting government spending.

In his victory speech, Merz said the result showed Germany was “present in Europe again” and would be reliably governed.

My comment: waffle.....what does that mean, given Germany's contracting economy is due to global factors, which Merz thinks he can fix by 'balancing the budget'?

Short of a majority in an increasingly fragmented political landscape, however, his conservatives will have to sound out partners to form a coalition.

Those negotiations are certain to be tricky after a campaign that exposed sharp divisions over migration and how to deal with the AfD in a country where far-right politics carry a particularly strong stigma due to the country’s Nazi past.

My comment: so wanting to ban uncontrolled  immigration as the AfD want to do,  makes you a 'Nazi'
(though there are likely some white supremacists/nationalists in the AfD...)

That could leave Scholz in a caretaker role for months, delaying urgently needed policies to revive Europe’s largest economy after two consecutive years of contraction and as companies struggle against global rivals.

It would also create a leadership vacuum in the heart of Europe even as it deals with a host of challenges including Trump threatening a trade war and attempting to fast-track a ceasefire deal for Ukraine without European involvement.

Germany, which has an export-oriented economy and long relied on the United States for its security, is particularly vulnerable.

Germans are more pessimistic about their living standards now than at any time since the financial crisis in 2008.

My comment: and little do they know, the deficit myth - and the resultant 'debt brake' - of economic orthodoxy is the cause of that.

Attitudes towards migration have also hardened, a profound shift in German public sentiment since its “Refugees Welcome” culture during Europe’s migrant crisis in 2015, that the AfD has both driven and harnessed.

Musk weighs in

Sunday’s election came after the collapse last November of Scholz’s coalition of his Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and pro-market Free Democrats (FDP) in a row over budget spending.

The election campaign has been dominated by fierce exchanges over the perception that irregular immigration is out of control, fuelled by a series of attacks in which the suspected perpetrators were of migrant origin.

It has also been overshadowed by the unusually forceful show of solidarity by members of the Trump administration - including Vice President JD Vance and tech billionaire Elon Musk - for the anti-migrant AfD, and broadsides against European leaders.

The 12-year old AfD party took second place for the first time in a national election, according to the exit polls.

The AfD is unlikely to govern for now as all mainstream parties have ruled out working with it, though some analysts believe its strength could pave the way for an AfD win in 2029.

Support for the AfD, along with a small but significant vote share for the far left and the decline of Germany’s big-tent parties, is increasingly complicating the formation of coalitions and governance.

My comment: note the similar decline in Oz, as the Lib-Lab duopoly fails to deal with falling living standards of below-average-wage workers (more than half the population).   

EU allies are cautiously hopeful the elections might deliver a more coherent government able to help drive forward policy at home and in the bloc.

Some also hope Merz will reform the “debt brake”, a constitutional mechanism to limit government borrowing that critics say has strangled new investment.

Surely a forlorn hope, because Merz, like Musk, is a defict hawk/balanced budget ideologue.

The most expected outcome of this election is a tie-up of Merz’s conservative bloc of Christian Democrats (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) with the SPD in an uneasy “grand coalition.”

Another three-way coalition may be necessary if several small parties end up crossing the 5 per cent threshold to enter parliament, complicating talks.

Indeed, and Germany will continue to decline.

While Musk is claiming the US government  "must cut its deficit or go broke" (which is impossible, because the US government can issue it's own currency, (and can also pay off the bonds held by foreigners silly enough to "invest" in US bonds), the MAGA movement is showing  signs of division at home:

(Indy 500)

Trump supporter who voted three times begs for her job back after being fired by Musk's DOGE

A woman affected by the mass layoffs triggered by Elon Musk's DOGE initiative has taken to Facebook, publicly appealing to Donald Trump to help her secure her job once again.

In a post reshared to Reddit, a woman by the name of Jennifer claimed to have worked for the federal government for 16 years.

She begged the US president to give her the USDA job back, after pledging her loyalty as a Trump supporter who voted "three times".

"And I still support you," she wrote, adding that she is also in favour of the Department of Government Efficiency to "get rid of wasteful government spending".

Jennifer went on to say she was let go for "performance reasons," as per her termination letter. However, she doesn't believe that to be true.

In the post that tagged Trump's Facebook page, she added that her 16 years of employment should "surely that must count for something in your eyes".

....

Ah - so she still agrees with sacking government workers - just not herself - to "get rid of wasteful government spending".

Go figure...

thegreatdivide wrote on Feb 26^th, 2025 at 1:26pm:



WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump extended an olive branch to the United Kingdom on Thursday, telling Prime Minister Keir Starmer that England was still his favorite out of all the Muslim countries.

According to sources, Starmer had been apprehensive ahead of his meeting with Trump due to their agendas appearing to be at odds with each other, but that all changed when Trump told him that, of all the Muslim countries in the world, England was the best."I love all people, even Muslims. Especially the British Muslims," Trump told Starmer. "Of all the Muslims in the world, no one is more civilized than the English. I mean, you're still melting faces off of women and stabbing each other, but you've got Big Ben. Who doesn't love Big Ben? I wish we could have Big Ben here, to tell you the truth. It's an amazing clock. Maybe the best clock. We should build a giant clock here in America. A 'Bigger Ben,' maybe."

Insiders present at the meeting said Starmer had been overcome with Trump's kind words and remained quiet until the joint press conference later in the day.  As part of the meeting, the two world leaders answered questions about Ukraine, trade relations, censorship, and more, but every time the question turned to the Middle East, Trump graciously deferred to Starmer, who he called his "favorite Muslim" and the "leader of the Muslim world."  At publishing time, Trump had reportedly given Starmer a red MAGA-themed Muslim prayer rug.

Problems with Adam Smith's (obsolete) 'efficient market' hypothesis:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marketfailure.asp


Key Takeaways

Market failure refers to the inefficient allocation of resources that occurs when individuals acting in rational self-interest produce a sub-optimal outcome (including increasing inequality).

Market failure can occur in explicit markets where goods and services are bought and sold outright, or in implicit markets such as elections or the legislative process.
It may be possible to correct market failures using private market solutions, government-imposed solutions, or voluntary collective actions.