I am constantly overwhelmed by the depth of knowledge displayed by scholars and individuals in the sciences and humanities. From where came their essential inspiration, incessant determination and constant application to succeed so obviously in their field?

Whilst myriad discoveries from these people tend to progress modern society, the countervailing forces have become all too obvious.

I’ve read many erudite papers in economics and constantly felt let down. I do admit to becoming bewildered and lost in some of the mathematics, but then I’m able to get a pretty good sense of what a paper is trying to get across to me, and come away feeling underwhelmed, even cheated, from virtually everything I read in economics.

It is not an exaggeration to say much economics is bunkum, and even the maths is unable to serve and save it. (It often seems to compound the problem!)

Economics is the most overarching study of all.  People and the world constitute economics, but the study of economics has led us into a dead end.

Neoclassical economics currently acts as a deadweight that holds society and human aspirations back as it hijacks the rewards from work, knowledge and innovation, donating these to speculative rent-seeking parasites.

My 2007 report Unlocking the Riches of Oz: A case study of the social and economic costs of real estate bubbles 1972 to 2006 for the Land Values Research Group (on behalf of Prosper Australia), demonstrated in easily understood maths how we could double GDP and see to its better distribution in short order by tweaking our revenue system. Why is the study of economics not up for this?

The relatively few heterodox economists and other disciplines must call modern economics to order and to an intellectual rigour which accounts for economic rent.

We first need to understand the difference between public and private property–because economics currently breaches human rights–and the great lawyer William Blackstone (1723-1780) is a good starting point here:

The earth, therefore, and all things therein, are the general property of all mankind, from the immediate gift of the creator.

…there is no foundation in nature or in natural law why a set of words upon parchment should convey the dominion of land.

– “Commentaries on the Laws of England” (1766)

By Mark Wadsworth –> http://www.if.org.uk/archives/5393/housing-crisis-what-housing-crisis

Couldn’t find much wrong in this interview with Joseph Stiglitz on the ABC’s Lateline last night.

I especially enjoyed his commenting to the effect that we can indeed have higher taxes, provided we draw them from miners and property speculators.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
And remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,
Even dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter;
For always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
It is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals;
And everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love, for in face of all aridity and disenchantment
It is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
Gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with imaginings;
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars;
You have a right to be here; and whether or not it is clear to you,
No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be,
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
In the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.

With all its shams, drudgery, and broken dreams,
It is still a beautiful world. Strive to be happy.

Author – Max Ehrmann (1872-1945)

Ever since returns on capital declined from the 1970s through to the early 1990s, the FIRE sector (finance, insurance and real estate) has won out hands down in Australia.  “Why produce?”, it asked. “Here’s some dough for speculating!” Now, Australia’s banks lead the world.

Why wouldn’t our banks be making super profits out of our bubble-inflated land prices and the vast mortgages around Australians’ necks?  http://www.smh.com.au/business/big-four-on-top-of-the-world-for-profitability-says-bis-20140629-3b2c6.html

Don’t worry, boys, we’ll bail you out when things go pear-shaped!

If you understand that if we fail to capture the rent of all our natural resources for revenue, all progress becomes capitalised into land prices instead of fairly distributed, then you are an economist of the highest order.

Financial and real estate interests prefer the existing pathology which allows them to create loans and debt on escalating land prices but, of course, they should be serving people and society instead of repetitively generating financial collapse.

“Latifundia perdidere Italiam” – Pliny the Elder

[Approx translation: The rent-seeking one per cent killed off Ancient Rome, just as surely as they will Pax Americana. ]

It’s surely akin to Gina Rinehart’s?

This is why the current budget is aimed at ripping the heart out of Australia’s poor and middle class – so our miners, banks, and others in the one per cent club, can escape paying Australia their fair contribution.

What was that I was saying about human rights? (There is no longer such a thing.)