Yes Gus – more porkies rottenus, with the dumb taxpayer yet again the victims ….

As Stephen Mayne reported in Crikey …..

The Howard Government has today announced a $100 million grant to the privately-owned HRL Ltd despite the company’s history as the largest exploiter of Labor’s tax incentive scheme for research and development.

The Herman Research Laboratory was the research division of the old State Electricity Commission of Victoria.

Back in the early days of the Kennett Government, when the state had no money but our Jeffrey was dead keen to simultaneously grovel to media moguls and privatise everything that moved, a particularly grubby deal was reached with Kerry Stokes.

Four Corners touched on the issue in September 1997 if you go about one-third of the way into the transcript which includes these observations from multiple-Walkley winner Sally Neighbour:

There was no tender for the privatisation of HRL and its research. The deal was rushed through on the last day of the financial year in 1994. The details not disclosed. It was finalised by Premier Kennett who signed the documentation himself.

As Kerry Stokes tells it, it began when the Premier rang personally inviting him to invest in Victoria. According to a glowing account by Mr Stokes in his company newsletter, the Premier said: "Just bring your money and come. If there's any red tape, we'll cut through it." It was a complicated deal. But amazingly, Mr Stokes recalled: "After what seemed like a wave from Mr Kennett's magic wand, all the complexities disappeared."

The attraction of the deal - apart from the potentially huge profits - was the fabulous tax benefits. Under a federal scheme to promote research and development, the money invested in the HRL research is "refundable, and tax deductible". Hence the rush to complete the deal by the end of the financial year. Even if the project fails, the investment syndicate led by Mr Stokes' company will get back all of its money, plus a guaranteed return of between 20 and 30%. This scheme has since been abolished by the Federal Treasurer, who said it had more to do with tax minimisation than genuine research.

Lo and behold, John Howard and Peter Costello have now decided to gift the same company $100 million.

Let’s hope tomorrow’s coverage takes in a flavour of this history.’

And nary a word has been said by our fearless media ….

stephen mayne follows the HRL smell …..

‘The Santo Santoro share trading "scandal" isn’t particularly exciting. The Minister hung onto his stock a bit too long but wasn’t exactly in a position to dramatically change the fortunes of CBio.

The same can’t be said for Peter Costello and John Howard who have allowed family members to be paid six figure salaries by companies that are directly affected by their decisions.

We’ve commented before about Peter Costello doing nothing to rein in the bank cartel and then allowing his wife Tanya Costello to land a six figure job at ANZ – an organisation that is directly licensed by the Treasurer.

Now, just take a moment to think about the $100 million grant to wannabe La Trobe Valley energy company HRL that was announced on Monday. Kerry Stokes is a 20% shareholder in HRL who also happens to be the executive chairman of the Seven Network, which decided to hire the PM’s son Tim Howard to work on "strategy".

Isn’t a $100 million taxpayer handout to a businessman who employs the Prime Minister’s son a slightly bigger "controversy" than Santo’s two-bob share investments. Did the PM participate in the HRL decision? Surely he should have left the Cabinet room.

Trying to pick winners like HRL is fraught with danger and Queensland Premier Peter Beattie is livid that an alternative proposal at Stanwell power station wasn’t selected for the largesse.

The Age’s Victorian political editor Paul Austin made an interesting observation on a political panel at State Parliament last Friday when he said that politics is like a triangle, with the government, the opposition and the media forming the three points. However, you need the interest of two of those points to create a story.

Australia’s political duopoly is petrified about upsetting powerful media owners, so don’t expect Labor to bang the drum on this HRL hand out. And any commercial media outlet that had a go would open a pandora’s box of nepotism and political patronage.

Take Fairfax chairman Ron Walker as an example. When he was a major shareholder and director of Melbourne’s Crown Casino he thought it was just fine for the sons of Jeff Kennett and then Treasurer Alan Stockdale to land jobs at Crown.

While the Kennett government did all sorts of favours for Crown, it never gave the company $100 million. When asked about the PM’s supposed admiration for Fortescue Metals billionaire Andrew Forrest yesterday, a mining insider commented: "He might like him but he never got any money out of Canberra and that’s the real test."

The PM should be subjected to some serious scrutiny on the HRL handout and his son’s job but don’t hold your breath.’

The Tony Abbott's Prayer…

"Our father is Howard"

"Hallowed be your fame"

"Your US kingdom come"

"Your will be done on earth as it is in America"

"Give us today our daily mud"

"Forgive us our transgressions as we do not forgive our transgressors"

"Lead us into hot temptation"

"And deliver us from the Rudd one"

"For thine is the kingdom, with war, and muck forever"


Today Miranda — after telling us about mudslinging being hypocritical since Debnam is collecting a lot of it on his nose while who's throwing it is not being noted by scribes — wheels in the famous "diminutive American free-market economist Milton Friedman, who died in November at the age of 94", to let us know that whoever runs economic bliss goes along the the line of small is beautiful since Friedman advocated small government... In some way, she tells us the Hawke-Keating, Howard-Costello duos followed Friedman economic model and basically in conclusion she advises us "luckily for us, neither side has much economic mud to throw any more."

As an aside let me say "small is beautiful" in everything, including governments was the trademark of Professor Jacob Bronowski (January 18, 1908, Łódź, Poland - August 22, 1974, East Hampton, New York, USA) who was an English-Polish mathematician, best known as the presenter of the BBC television documentary series, The Ascent of Man (1973). This holy man of mathematics taught us to micromanage and live on a small scale — an advice that as we speak, the US has followed to the letter since it only burns half the energy of the entire planet.

Obviously too, the US also follows Friedman economic model, of course with a bit more deficit in their pants and a smaller attitude that "big is even more beautiful". This leads the US to declare war on anything as long as they can pump the oil on a larger scale. T'is mine! As Fletch says: "It takes a big man to admit he is wrong and I am a small man!"

On the other side of the "small" hemisphere, the Howard-Costello team has now sold off all the government assets to lighten up the load, apart from Medibank Private (that belongs to the private shareholders, but who cares, it's only a few small billions) and are also trying to buy States Rights via water management to give them to private enterprise, of course not just yet, as — like a widow cannot let her hair lose on the same day as the funeral — they can't give them away straight away.

Now Howard-Costello are giving away public money to big multi-billionaires brown-coalers while the smaller people, those at the whacking end of the broomstick get less and less — rightly so, following the concept that "smaller is even more beautiful" until there's nothing left. In this case bliss can be measured by brother Tony Abbott (the Mud-racker in Eminence) in units of infinite eternal spirituality since we do not exist on this measly Earth anymore.

Success breeds success as they say. And since we (some of us) are not successful at making money by the truck-load — the truck-load being the only yard stick of success in "an economy" (the new euphemism that has replace "a society") — we are cursed to be poor and buried forever.

Yes the true way to make money — not the piddly weekly wage that's eaten by huge moths disguised as cost of housing, debts (see America's loan defaulters rocking the boat) and others — is to be able to make other people work for you while you suck a reasonable amount of their blood and sweat, until you're sitting on a scrooge ball that makes the rest of the world envious. And I mean really envious that they buy the magazine where they can see your poor small mug suffering from indigestion — while sipping Champagne on the deck of your mega 300-foot yacht.

And the smaller that huge ball is, the more it becomes dense and immensely small, like a black hole swallowing everything... Down sizing by grabbing more... Here's a conundrum for you: a small black hole pin-head size can contain many big worlds... how come it's so small...?

In economic worlds, we're still building sand castles on the sea shore and the sea level is rising...

‘Industry boosters tout the prospect of so-called "clean coal," but right now there is simply no such thing. Zero-carbon coal plants - ones that will gasify coal, filter carbon dioxide from the vapor, then stow the CO2 underground - are a long way off from commercial application. A handful of coal-gasification plants are in development, and could eventually be retrofitted with carbon-capture and -sequestration capabilities, but for now this pollution-storage technology is years away from even a working pilot phase.

"Until we have that clean coal power plant, we should not be building them," Hansen told his D.C. audience. "It is as clear as a bell."

Will King Coal Be Deposed?

From the ABC

Don't overplay global warming threat, scientists say

Two leading climate experts have accused some scientists of overplaying warnings of the likely effects of global warming.

Professors Paul Hardaker and Chris Collier were speaking ahead of a conference on the issue in Britain.

The two men say warnings without clear evidence could undermine awareness of the real risks of climate change.

Both men are world renowned and they both hold the mainstream view that human activities are causing the earth's climate to change.

But the concern that in an effort to highlight the seriousness of the problem some scientists and institutions have been guilty of overstating their case.

The latest example is from one of America's foremost science body's which, in a strongly worded statement, suggested that global warming was already responsible for more severe floods, storms and droughts which could lead to irreversible damage.

According to professors Hardaker and Collier this may well turn out to be true.

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Gus: Yes, global warming may be responsible for a few severe storms and such... yes, it may well turn to be true... But in the mean time let's not shout the word "PANIC!!!" too loud, in case it creates a stampede and wreaks our toy — the stock market — in the process... So here it is, more delicately whispered: "p a n i c ,  in moderation, please"... Shhhh... relax... The poles are melting...

 

from the sydney morning herald …..

‘The former head of BHP has punctured the optimism of the Howard Government about clean-coal technology by saying the long-term storage of the carbon waste may be as difficult as dealing with nuclear waste.

Paul Anderson, who ran BHP-Billiton in 2002 and still sits on its board, told the Herald: "People can't believe you're safe putting nuclear waste five miles under the ground when it's petrified in glass. How are they going to feel safe putting pressurised gas under the ground?

"I think it's as big as the issue of nuclear waste. What are you going to do with millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide that is not nearly as compact as nuclear waste?"’

BHP Chief's Doubts Over Clean Coal Technology

Consider the lead paragraph:

“The United States is failing to develop the math skills of both girls and boys, especially among those who could excel at the highest levels, a new study asserts, and girls who do succeed in the field are almost all immigrants or the daughters of immigrants from countries where mathematics is more highly valued.”

The idea that the U.S. won’t even properly develop the skills of young people who could perform at the highest intellectual levels is breathtaking — breathtakingly stupid, that is.

The authors of the study, published in Notices of the American Mathematical Society, concluded that American culture does not value talent in math very highly. I suppose we’re busy with other things, like text-messaging while jay-walking. The math thing is seen as something for Asians and nerds.

Meanwhile, the country is going down the tubes.

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Is this applicable to Australia? ... see toon at top, read blog about Bronowski.