iKoz

Coal extract

When I was nine I asked my mother why Australia, Europe and North America – the developed world - was so rich when comparably people in Africa, South America and much of Asia were so poor. Her response was simple and easy to understand: Resources. That countries blessed and well endowed with natural resources such as: coal, oil, gas, uranium ore, iron ore, zinc, copper, gold, rubber, timber, diamonds and silver were richer than countries who were on the unlucky side of the natural commodities luck-of-the-draw.  This explanation satisfied the younger, naïve and curious Kylos.

But like so much of what your parents tell you when you’re younger and how many people try to answer complicated questions with simple answers, it is actually very wrong.  In fact poverty is not determined solely by natural resources or commodities and in fact many impoverished countries are instead blessed with an abundance of natural resources.  Mexico, Angola, Ecuador, Sudan, Iran, Venezuela, Peru, Iraq, Russia, Indonesia, East Timor, Azerbaijan, Nigeria and Algeria are comparably blessed with relatively higher concentrations of natural resources, but in contrast Japan, France, Germany, Switzerland, Taiwan (ROC), South Korea, Israel, England, Denmark and the USA** (relative to its population and size) are much less blessed.  Most people would quickly realise that all the comparably resource poor countries of the second group are vastly richer than the resource-rich first group. Of course there are exceptions:  Australia, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar  and Saudi Arabia are all resource rich-”rich” countries, but I am trying to counter the false impression most people have: that the natural distribution of commodities is the ultimate determinant of the division between richer and poorer countries. A graphic example of this is that between 1965-1998 the global production and consumption of oil expanded, but the oil-rich Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations suffered an average real GDP decline of -1.3% per year during this period (Gylfason, 1998).

The paradox that countries richer in resources are often poorer, or have a tendency for lacklustre economic growth is known as the Resource Curse. The link between resource dependence and poor economic development has been argued by numerous authors such as Gelb, 1998; Karl, 1997; Ross, 1999, 2001  (cited in Robinson, Torvik and Verdier, 2006).

Continue reading ‘Poverty and the resources curse’ »

The beautiful glacier of Eyjafjallajökull, is the source of volcanic activity

Thousands of passengers are stranded in airports across the world as flights in Europe have been cancelled due to a volcanic eruption in Iceland.

On March 20th a volcano on the Icelandic glacier of Eyjafjallajökull erupted. The eruption briefly ceased before resuming violently on April 14th. Although 800 people in Iceland have been evacuated life on the sparsely populated island has continued without significant disruption.

From April 15th winds carried the plume of volcanic ash south east into Europe, causing national authorities to ground flights across the continent. As of April 18th flights remain suspended, on the 16th of April 16,000 of 28,000 European flights were cancelled and on April 17th 16,000 of 22,000 flights were cancelled.

Thousands of passenger stranded across the world are becoming desperate as they are unable to get home. It is estimated 5,000,000 are now stranded. Rail, bus and ferry services across the continent are increasing congested: fairs on the Eurostar service between London and Paris have skyrocketed and remains fully booked. The economic fallout could be immense, airlines are losing millions per day and tonnes of freight has been diverted to road and rail across Europe, drug supplies remain stuck at airport warehouses, mail is piling up as the delivery process has stalled and millions of tonnes of food is now rotting in warehouses in Africa unable to be imported into Europe. Most world leaders who had announced plans to attend the funeral of the late Polish President Lech Kaczynsk have had to cancel their plans, although the dedicated President Valdis Zatlers of Latvia embarked on a 14 hour car trip in order to attend.

The ash cloud over Europe on April 18, 2010: Ironically Iceland remains mostly ash free. Map from the New York Times.

It remains unclear how long the situation will continue,  Eyjafjallajökull last erupted in 1821 until 1823, in 1612 and in 920. If the prevailing wind changes direction consistently for a sustained period then the ash cloud will start to dissipate. Some reports suggest that in the worst case Eyjafjallajökull could continue to erupt for several months.

A few European airlines including AirFrance, Lufthansa and KLM have disputed the public hazard of the ash plume, claiming they have successfully undertaken test flights with no damage reported.

Still it’s amazing that one obscure volcano on a little known glacier, Eyjafjallajökull, in a far remote and isolated part of the world could cause such a disruption. It’s a reminder that we still aren’t quite in control, that natural events still have potential to drastically effect our lives with substantial global consequences.

Crucial to the Liberal’s chances of attaining a majority government is that they can deliver one new seat in each of Tasmania’s five electorates, plus one other somewhere else in the state. Despite their confidence and enthusiasm, the electorate of Bass in Northern Tasmania looks likely to strangle the party’s electoral chances.

Bass includes the city of Launceston council area, George Town and Dorset, it also includes Riverside, Trevallyn, Prospect, Legana and Hadspen. (Source; Tasmanian Electoral Commission)

Continue reading ‘Bass in the 2010 State Election’ »

Regrettably it has been months since I last posted a blog, and I’ve been meaning to get back into the swing of it, since blogging is fun! Nothing could be a better motivational topic to inspire a post than enthusiasm about the Tasmanian State Election due one week from now.

On March 20th Tasmanians will go to poll to decide the composition of the next House of Assembly, under our states weird but wonderful Hare Clark Proportional Representation System anything can happen and that makes it very exciting for politics enthusiasts like me.

The current Tasmanian parliament is composed of

• AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY - 14 in government
• LIBERAL PARTY AUSTRALIA - 7 Opposition
• TASMANIAN GREENS - 4 Opposition

Continue reading ‘ELECTION 2010’ »

I was just having a look at Fortune Magazine’s 2009 list of the 500 largest global corporations, based on annual revenue.

While a growing number of companies from the developing world are creeping into the list, the overwhelming majority are still listed from rich countries:  163 were in European Union countries, 140 in the United States, 68 in Japan, 15 in Switzerland, 14 in Canada and 14 in South Korea.

Continue reading ‘Largest 500 companies…’ »

An ongoing saga that has dominated news headlines for the last fifty years is the seemingly perpetuated Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Since and prior to the 1948 Israeli Declaration of Independence the Southern Levant region has been plagued into decades of conflict, atrocity, terrorism, violence, war, an arms races, power plays and intensive diplomatic action and extensive instability across the remainder of the Middle East.

I often wonder whether in my lifetime we will see this conflict resolved, or if it will only continue to exacerbate. Many envisage an apocolytpic nightmare, in which the Arab-Israeli conflict is the casus belli for a third world war.

It’s difficult to appreciate just how deep and complicated this conflict is. For this reason I will warn anyone about to continue that this post is going to be long and separated into three parts. However I believe an understanding of this conflict is integral to anyone trying to interpret the issues of terrorism and Islamic Fundamentalism, which have dominated international politics during the last decade. For the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is at the epicentre of the instability in the Middle East and arguably a route cause of the September 11^th attacks on the United States, the Invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, the War on Terrorism and the current Western diplomatic stand off with Iran over it’s nuclear programme. It is almost a certainty that events relating to this conflict are about to unfold. Continue reading ‘Clash of Nations Part I: Seeds of a deadly conflict’ »

Today Jamie and I decided to exploit the beautiful, calm, sunny day and travelled to Baker’s Beach at Nirawantapu National Park, about 30km East of Devonport. This is the third time I’ve been to the beach in the last week and the second time I’ve visited Baker’s Beach.

Continue reading ‘Gentle stroll along the beach’ »

This week the Australian media is buzzing with speculation that the Australian Dollar, for the first time in history may soon reach parity with the US dollar. Currently the AUD$ is hovering under a purchase value of 92 US cents, in one year from now the dollar has recovered from a low of about 60 US cents. The predicted parity is imminent; they speculate, soon the AUD/USD will be trading at $1/1.

However excuse me for a case of déjà-vu, but I remember the predicted parity having come before. On the week of July 16^th, 2008 the Australian Dollar reached a peak all time high of $0.9734 USD, this was at a high point for the Australian economy, although our stock market was already in reverse gear.

Continue reading ‘Dollars and cents..’ »

Historic ruins at Highfield in Stanley, Tasmania

Today the plan was to drive to take the 231 km drive from Launceston to Smithton, well actually 40 km Southwest of Smithton and enjoy our afternoon at the Forestry Tasmania Dismal Swamp attraction.

Dismal Swamp at Togari, features a 110 metre slide through luscious rainforest. I had been there once before with friends, but after an eternity of driving we arrived at the close of the attraction. On that occasion the staff at Tarkine Forest Adventures were willing to let us take the slide, but one of my friends baulked at the cost (A $20) of entry and so we made other plans in the North West.

Continue reading ‘A short visit to Stanley’ »

For the past several weeks I have regularly paid $1.27 for each litre of petrol required to fill up my car (about 45), this amount includes $0.382 AUD paid as excise tax. Governments find slapping taxes on petrol generally unpopular, but a tempting source of easy revenue. The main argument in favour of petrol excise tax is that it can be used to compensate for the ‘external’ cost that motorists incur on society: the requirement for road maintenance, traffic management, congestion and most importantly of all carbon population. Many Australians often complain about the high cost of fuel and animosity towards the Federal Excise Tax is frequently vented in the popular media like Today Tonight. However according to this OECD report Australians should consider themselves lucky.

Continue reading ‘just a short post on petrol taxes…’ »