Some seem to be making money from this war ..

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

www.reuters.com/business/ene...

www.wsj.com/finance/stoc...

You have to be kidding me ...

From the friendlyjordies community on Reddit: Last November the Coalition voted against government legislation to "provide additional tools to manage critical fuel shortages and ensure that Australia ... Explore this post and more from the friendlyjordies community

You have to appreciate the irony

www.reddit.com/r/friendlyjo...

THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS A Thought Exercise in Financial History, from the Future

@tmfscottp.bsky.social this is worthwhile reading. Just one scenario but one that is awakens the senses to the economic potential of AI to alter how we think about value

www.citriniresearch.com/p/2028gic

An apt analogy, and one that applies to other areas of technology, too.

E.g. what contribution did AI make to the creation of the knowledge it now makes available via a monthly subscription?

Worse, when AI fluffs it, tech wants us to coach AI to improve it ... by paying them a monthly subscription

Opinion | Where Is A.I. Taking Us? Eight Leading Thinkers Share Their Visions. (Gift Article) Experts share their thoughts on the future of A.I. and how it will reshape society in the coming years.

Interested in the possibilities of our future with AI? The NYT have put a series of questions to AI experts, there responses make for interesting reading

This gift article can be read for free without a subscription

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

A discreet intellectual network has been reshaping the world for 70 years. Here's how A constant battle of ideas reshapes the world we live in, and few groups have been more successful in winning the war than the little-known Atlas Network.

I didn't know this Senate Solevt Committee had been initiated let alone the track of inquiry

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...

Criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu may be an offence under Australia’s new hate speech laws, Greens claim Anthony Albanese and Tony Burke say the laws are needed to protect Australians – particularly the Jewish community

The essence of a democracy is that voters have a say in the creation of laws that affect them

Have you have had an adequate say in the creation of Australia's 'hate speech' laws? Their impact on freedom of speech (2nd link)?

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

www.alrc.gov.au/wp-content/u...

The 2026 Trust Barometer provides interesting statistics based on respondents from Australia. Polarisation, for example, is are worrisome

www.edelman.com/sites/g/file...

"And its fragility comes from the same source: when even one person stops performing ... the illusion begins to crack"

There is wide applicability in these words, especially in how we participate in our democracy

Everyone has a 'voice' and an obligation to know how and when to use it

Read and watch Carney’s full speech from Davos Prime Minister stands behind Greenland, offers veiled criticism of Trump in blunt Davos speech

"The system's power comes not from its truth but from everyone's willingness to perform as if it were true"

Carney's Davos speech remindes us that compliance needs the compliant, dominance the dominated, oppression the oppressed - and that we have a choice

www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

I found a link www.apsc.gov.au/sites/defaul...

"Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing"
John Stuart Mill

Privacy concerns over US proposing travellers reveal social media history Australians travelling to the United States could soon face an unprecedented invasion of privacy, an international law expert has warned.

US internal politics is a matter for Americans. I'll keep my nose out of their business

World politics is a matter for all and I'll not be told to get in line

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12...

It’s still not OK boomer: younger Americans are flailing – and mad as hell | J Oliver Conroy For young Americans, not being able to buy a house is more than a sob story. It’s the symbol of a broken social contract and a generational betrayal

It's happening all around the world. The younger generation are priced out of owning a home because residential housing has been transformed into yet another investment commodity for rich punters

Its time to return housing back to homes for young families again

www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

If you're interested in the housing market AHURI have undertaken the first critical analysis of one (and there are many) indicators commonly used in policy design and management

A critical approach is mandatory to transition the market from opaque to transparent

www.ahuri.edu.au/research/fin...

Setting Alan Kohler straight on housing policy - Grattan Institute The political mood is changing, but the veteran journalist missed the moment.

In "Setting Alan Kohler straight on housing policy" Coats and Moloney were wrong and Kohler right

Grattan discounted the structural constrains of increasing supply and missed the almost immediate return of unoccupied housing through disincentivising RRE investment

grattan.edu.au/news/setting...

How I accidentally stumbled upon one of the Catholic Church's darkest secrets The collapse of a Spanish bank in 2017 opened a window into a hidden world

This is one of those "believe it or not" stories that, surprisingly, is not "fake news"

garethgore.substack.com/p/how-i-acci...

Where can I access the report?

What does "supportive policy" mean in this quote?

Our latest Housing Pulse shows the market powered through spring with strong momentum, buoyed by tight on-market supply, resilient demand, and supportive policy.

Whether rational or irrational, it is investor ... or in this case punter driven

That's where the demand is coming from, the expection of short-term profit

And that's why the young generation cannot afford to buy. Because it's politically difficult to rein in the punters

This increase in house prices is not a result of increased birth rate or immigration

Its market exuberance

It is rational? Is it irrational? www.investopedia.com/terms/i/irra...

Short-term property investing is driving housing unaffordability

As can be seen in the graph from AMP, property and affordability diverged around 2000 when capital gains tax was discounted by 50%

That's when the punters began to have a significantly distorting effect on the market

Opinion | Goodbye, Price Tags. Hello, Dynamic Pricing.

You knew something wasn't right and, guess what, you were right

This short video takes a look at the tricks used to charge higher prices without consumers being aware

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/o...

APRA is signalling that borrowing for investment in the housing market may be over extended

To me, this is like the casino manager saying that a gambler has no more credit

Is Australia's housing market akin to a casino? Is that what housing is for?

Ted O'Brian argues for continued tax relief for property investors

Let's be very clear

The reason that morgage holders are struggling with payments is not a 0.25 or even o.5% uptick in interest ...

... it's the massive size of the principle they need to borrow in order to secure a home at today's prices

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

'Extraordinary' housing values crush home ownership dreams Home prices have risen by almost 50 per cent in the past five years, with more than a decade now needed to save for a standard 20 per cent deposit for a house in most capital cities, according to a ne...

Why are eyes only opening up to the parless state of housing now?

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

Forget Wall Street, bitcoin and AI. Here's a real Aussie bubble Amid global warnings of impending financial doom, APRA and the Reserve Bank are far more concerned about a home-grown bubble, one that's been taking in oxygen for almost three decades.

You'd have to be blind Freddie not to be able to see the boosting of RE prices as a 'house of cards'

The news cycle tho, is just catching on to th inevitable as cheap money becomes more expensive

RE is hard to offload quickly, more so in a panic

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

An appropriate way to talk about supply and demand in residential property is

"too much money chasing too few homes"

This perspective exposes both the impact of investor (punter) demand and the benefits for developers to constrain supply

Short-term investment outcomes are what is driving unaffordability in RRE, pricing a significant population out of the home ownership market

While WA focused, a similar story can be told of all Australian jurisdictions

www.instagram.com/reel/DRRUZAM...