New results from Newspoll, Essential Research and Morgan has put BludgerTrack back to the position of two-party parity it was at three weeks ago, after which Labor was up to 51.8% and then 50.9%. They have also ironed out the brief slump recorded by the Greens last week, who have progressed from 11.3% to 8.9% to 10.4%. This week’s gain has come entirely at the expense of Labor, with the Coalition vote unchanged. On the seat projection, the Coalition is back in majority government territory, the meter having ticked in their favour by two seats in New South Wales and one each in Queensland and Western Australia. After a quiet spot last week, new leadership figures have emerged from Newspoll and Essential Research, and they find Tony Abbott with a rare lead over Bill Shorten on net approval, although preferred prime minister remains in the stasis it assumed in early December.
Also note that coverage of the Western Australian Senate count is ongoing on the dedicated thread, with a Liberal victory in the final seat looking increasingly likely.
Abbott will please Murdoch so it comes as no great surprise the Monkey wants to cut funding to the ABC.
A weaker ABC can only make Murdoch stronger!
[ victoria
Posted Saturday, April 12, 2014 at 10:48 pm | Permalink
dave
Whilst i concur with most of what you say, i dont believe these people were ever middle class. ]
Vic – I’ll look around tomorrow and post some US links on it if you like.
Mainly Zero Hedge who run pretty hard on this very topic.
No doubt in their mind and no doubt when the middle class started into decline ie the reagan years when special interest gained control of government.
But up to you.
Kezza
I had a similar problem with a Brother printer last week. Somehow I clicked a button and hey ho the printer installed.
Trouble is I cannot remember what it was I clicked.
Check every option
Oh and use the help button my first few tries failed but somehow I found the answer.
It is MUCH harder to install on windows 7 than on XP
I’ve been following a bit of the Pistorius trial.
I have a complete aversion to vomiting, upchucking, whatever.
I find it really hard to believe that anyone could “retch” or “vomit” at will, so I think Oscar is genuine when he reacts so viscerally to remembering the death of his girlfriend.
On the other hand, because of my own affliction, I do have to take into account that others may not feel the same way.
The crying, though, not to mention the the way the prosecutor is presenting the evidence, seems to point the other way. Especially after Friday’s cross-examination.
Glad I’m not the judge.
Dave /Victoria et a Re the USA
_We visit the US quite often ( we are long retired)to see our son who lives with his wife and son in Chicago..and who is now part-owner of a large IT company
For those like him …with high wages like he and his wife enjoy life is good…but for the larger part of the US,these are hard times and much poverty abounds
As has been said ,the public places are filled wih homeless,and in California,because of the mild climate,many towns have families living in cars and caravans and using public facilities to wash and clean…even in rich places like the lovely Santa Barbara on the coast near L.A there are really shanty towns on waste lands(also near the splendid old Art Deco rail station in central L A)
It’s bad too… for the USA is so rich for the rich..that a decent tax system and a good social security system could see all have a decent life there
We always travel with AMTRAK…the excellent long-distance railway system(always under fire from the Right-wingers who HATE all government enterprises…though AMTRAK WAS FOUNDED BY PRES CARTER WHEN THE PRIVATE RAILWAYS ABANDONED ALL PASSENGER SERVICES …ALMOST OVERNIGHT.
.Amtrak now
provides a nationwide service of great style and comfort from whose windows
One notices the depressed and run down small towns in the west and the south…much of the south is really 3rd world stuff…lots of poor blacks in derelict towns…and some states like West Virginia are terribly depressed with poor derelict small towns like something from a nasty crime film…America the Beutiful indeed
The US people are saturated with patriotism, and militarism…even the football games have much flag-waving and marching at the start…and the military is almost adored…but they don’t win many wars in my view
Oddly Americans care little about the outside world and a very ignorant … and the Empire which consumes so much wealth is beyond their understanding…but at the same the same time they are kind and friendly,and regard Australians as a bit exotic !!
Some Republicans oddly and the closure of all the bases and an end to the endless wars in the M East…Iraq/Afg’Stan/Libya/Syria…and endless war in the Islamic world which is draining the life out of the USA(and since 1948..$119 Billion dollars…YES ..that much has gone to Israel which has a high living standards..better then many Americans enjoy..based on endless US aid…their Lobby surely is powerful
…another fact now coming into the debate is about the future
When there one hears endless stories about health care,and Obama’s modest scheme should help some
My son has a total coverage for his family and pays a huge amount each year for that
My 9 year old grandson( a smart talking lttle Yank… goes to a good primary school nearby in the affluent suburb of Chicago…..a quite interesting city in many ways… the blacks live in the derelict South side and Obama has done little to help them,,despitehis background
I’m sure my grandson has had no contact with blacks ever
With so much unemployment a national housing scheme would do much to help…but the bulk of taxes goes to the military and the empire and Israel
The infrastructure is failing ..poor raail tracks on the long lines and much needs to be done on rolling stock…if one compares with Japan or France or even China
When told of this Americans have trouble with idea that they are no longer “the best”..and are less than a perfect society
On the Right the Tea Party is mildly fascist and recist..they really hate the hispanics who flock in at the rate of a 1000 per day..yes huge numbers…and in cities like L.A and San Diego they are a real force along with Asian and Blacks…San Diego might be in Mexico(There is a joke in San D which says ..”it’s like Nexico with out the dysentary ”
about 30% of voters are now non-white and the old white/male domination of public life is passing,especially in California and the Western states ;like Arizona and New Mexico and Nevada
In the central states you have the domination of the fundamentalist Christian churches who are both ignorant and reactionary…as against progressive places Like N York…. and San Fransisco…the most progressive place in the USA and a great place to stay
All up the USA is accessibe for english speakers like us…..with some of the best and worst media in the world”great papers like the N Y Times and journals like Counterpunch..but also the horrors of Fox…and the stuff owner by Monster Murdoch..who is surely one of the awful people in media history….only Dr Goebells would be a worse liar
I agree with what some have said here to night re the USA
dtt
Yep. The other OS was XP.
Maybe it’s Windows 7 that’s the problem.
I can’t be bothered doing it tonight, but I’ll give it another go tomorrow. I don’t like to be thwarted just before bedtime 😆
dave
The Reagan years was the beginning of fhe decline in wages growth. Productivity went up whilst wages for working people remained frozen. Thus widening the gap between the rich and everyone else. The theory of “trickle-down” economics favoured the capitalist boss and hurt the worker.
ESJ
[Everybody deserves a roof over their heads a component of which is amenity.]
Nobody ‘deserves’ anything. On the other hand, societies that take seriously human welfare ought to give priority to providing quality housing for all, which by definition will include significant amenity. That’s where good planning rules are vital. If societies are organised so as to rely as heavily as we do on having housing as a private commodity, then some protection against arbitrary loss of amenity is essential. If you have bought in a low density area, and paid a premium, then you ought not to find a proposal for two 25-storey blocks of flats next door.
[Delays of up to 12 months for development applications to be determined is the fault of local councils.Its just not a good thing.]
That’s not always the fault of councils. It also has nothing to do with planning.
[The Greens and Labor should be condemned for torpedoing the Ofarrell planning reforms which were modest in themselves.]
On the contrary, they wanted to debauch the planning system, not just for housing, but things like mines. The BOF regime was wanting to do their own version of 3a which they’d criticised in opposition. Plus ça change …
Noting that you still haven’t supplied any data or modelling to support your claim that in some way, Greens are pushing up the price of housing. If you had any integrity you’d withdraw the claim and apologise or offer something to support it. I suspect you will offer neither.
dtt
Also, once it says it’s installing there’s nothing to click.
I’m left with a dialogue box that has buttons labelled and And that’s it.
But none of them work, once it’s supposedly in install mode.
Except of course the button. And then all it does is close. And there’s no un-install.
The FAQ doesn’t help either.
Before slumber tonight I am going to delete history, run AVG, close down, and try it all again tomorrow.
If it doesn’t work again, I will do what dave suggests – put it on a memory stick – or try to work out what I want on word 98 – but that means carrying the bloody printer from one end of the house to the other, moving some furniture, and setting it up again.
Patience is a virtue, but I’m afraid I’ve rid myself of those and have settled for vices. Bugger.
and an only in America Headline for you ”http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/an-only-in-louisiana-newspaper-headline/
[ Productivity went up whilst wages for working people remained frozen. ]
And this is the Fiberals perfect world and why they bang on and on about productivity increases and wages restraint, while completely ignoring inflation and the cost of living in any serious way.
Kezza
He’s guilty.
dtt
[I’m left with a dialogue box that has buttons labelled and And that’s it.]
Pardon me. That sentence looks silly. What I wrote was this:
I’m left with a dialogue box that has buttons labelled “back”, “next” and “cancel”. And that’s it.
Because I used the open and close html tags they didn’t show up. No excuses. But you needed an explanation to understand what I meant.
If you get my drift.
deblonay
Your observations give a fair overview of where the US finds itselfl
And of course, It suited the ruling class to have hispanics come into the US in the form of cheap labor.
I don’t think the Greens are pushing up the price of housing, they want all property to be owned by the state 😈
*night
deblonay 1705
An excellent post. I think we really are seeing the collapse of an empire.
@Imacca/1711
Which is pretty similar to the events of Waterfront if I am not mistaken?
imacca
The fiberals will just expect everyone to make up the shortfall by maxing out their credit cards and being heavily indebt until they drop off the perch. Of course in fhe meanfime, ensuring that we will work for crumbs without complaint
kezza2@1709
I suppose the printer is connected properly to the computer?
Sorry to ask a dumb question, but you would be surprised how often the obvious is overlooked.
deblonay
I can’t say I’ve personally experienced any American culture, at all, except for a few sit-coms, like Sienfeld, and a few satirical/comedic political shows like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, and the odd Bill Maher. Cos if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.
On the other hand, every Christmas that I can remember from when we got telly through to when my kids still believed in Father Christmas, we watched all those bloody sugary sweet Christmassy productions out of the good ole US of A.
And what were we fed? A diet of fairly wealthy Americans with fantastic presents and fabulous trees, both decorated within an inch of their lives, with wonderfully outfitted and coiffured clean and invariably white people. With Father Knows Best.
The only difference was, over the years, was that Mother Knows Better.
It’s so depressing to know that a once well-perceived country, that has turned rogue as far as I’m concerned, is in its death throes. It’s good too, because it deserves to know its place and to learn how badly it’s abused its once highly-regarded moral authority.
Just like the empires of old it has become top-heavy and corrupt.
We are witnessing its death throes, and there’s nothing we can do.
[bemused
Posted Saturday, April 12, 2014 at 11:29 pm | PERMALINK
kezza2@1709
I suppose the printer is connected properly to the computer?
Sorry to ask a dumb question, but you would be surprised how often the obvious is overlooked.]
😆 Seriously, I checked that a zillion times today. But, another thing on my list is to get the torch and make sure I’ve got it plugged into the right place.
As far as I could discern today, there are only two places I could connect to the computer, and one is taken by the cable from the router.
Sorry, I still don’t know the correct terminology.
[1704
kezza2
I find it really hard to believe that anyone could “retch” or “vomit” at will,…]
Went to school with somebody whose party trick was to empty his stomach at will, with no apparent ill effect, apart from wasting his lunch. Interesting trick, if a little disturbing. Very effective at getting him out of a class he didn’t want to attend.
Anyway, I’m outta here.
I cannot agree with Fran that no one deserves anything, and even if I though that I would notthen have the temerity to argue that people do deserve stuff – even though it’s couched in other language – as long as its what a moral society decides as a whole.
And Fran, you used that tired regime word. I’m sure you do it on purpose.
I’m sure you mean well, but to me your argument is contradictory.
Doing my head in.
Im outta here too. Night all
kezza2@1721
Hmmmmm…. well my old trusty Brother printer is plugged in to my router.
Maybe your should be too.
It sounds like you are connecting to your printer with a networking cable so your printer has networking capability.
The advantage of plugging in to your router is that the printer can be used from any computer on your network.
We just might be onto something.
(Begin rant)
So what’s the LNP vision? Working poor living in shanty towns on the outskirts of our cities, third rate health care, meagre pensions for those who don’t drop off their perch before 70, a third rate public education system teaching them the skills they need to serve their betters? A pool of unemployed to keep them on their toes.
A middle class crushed by debt and bills, firstly to pay off their own education, then for a place to live in the suburbs, private health, private schools for their kids, long hours, with the carrot of chance of making it into the elite (aspiration) and the stick that if they don’t satisfy their masters they’ll drop into the favelas.
And the elites, enjoying most if the goodies, playing a corporate version of ‘game of thrones’.
Tony Abbott seems to want a sort of DLP 50s paradise. That’s not what was described above. The LNP bankrollers want a Thatcherite revolution, only further reaching. Once Abbott has served their purpose as far as he can they’ll ditch him for someone more closely aligned to their vision.
(End rant)
The people oh-so-regretfully nowcasting the USA’s supposed ‘downfall’ (as if they’re neutral, dispassionate observers) better hope that is not what is actually happening. In the event of a collapse, given the state of the average American voter, what way will they be radicalised? What sort of power structure, political landscape and class of political leaders would supersede the ones they have now?
I venture we’d see a very, very dark form of fascism take hold. Probably with a distinctly theocratic bent. And you thought Dubya was a fascist?
Fortunately I don’t believe the entire country is down the gurgler and I do believe that democracy and hope will flourish there sooner or later, despite the wish-fulfilling, spookily eschatological fantasies of some on the supposed left.
Kezza 2 and Victoria re the USA
_______________
Actually my son lives in an up-market Chicago suburb which looks exactly like something from one of those US TV family situation comedies
He has done” very well”as they say…(as has his wife in her choice of husband ) His wife comes from China and a very modest background ,far from the wealthy suburb in which they now
live
To my chargin she buys the American Dream totally ,UGH !!!!!!
Much debate and some serious disagreements ,which my wife abhors,,,,and the suburb…..
Two storied houses with no fences…immacculate green.green gardens,and lawns and fine trees.and the splendid gardens …there are no water restrictions ever(very cheap water too) so the sprinkers go all day in summer(two feet of snow in winter though…unbelievably cold in winter so the heater does go on endlessly for months.. and in the large basement ,,,carpeted and well lit and full of kids toys and funiture and bedding and other stuff..there is an emergency generator that can be switched on to supply heat and light in deep winter if the power or gas should go off)
There’s another Chicago on the South Side..all black…(the murder capital of the USA) though the CBD is one of fine wide streets and many fine parks and a splendid Lakeside parkway which runs for miles…much grander than ratty old New York(which we love anyway)
So they live the great life and our lovely grandson(still trying to get us to speak properly) has it all and that other America is unknown to him
I hope he grows up, with more of a social conscience than his Mother…as it is he also attends weekend classes in Chinese and he already speaks Mandarin like and to … his Mother…,and to a little chinese friend…and I noticed that they talk when playing in both English and Chiunese…with that combination he will have a great choice of options after he graduates ….as his mother plans to have him do.,.,,as a Brain Surgeon from Harvard or Yale..and also a concert pianist on the weekends (yes he has a baby grand piano)
I add a jarring note by suggesting he might just run a good Chinese restuarant…a thought that appals my daughter-in -law
On this Blog I have several times been described as anti-American… and this amuses me greatly in the circumstances…as you can understand
Steve 777 1724….
________
Actually the Australia you forecast sounds a great deal like the USA today
homeless and beggers …even in lovely places like Santa Barbara,,Cal(my pick for one of the nicest places in the USA,),,or in Providence Rhode Island. a lovely state capital on the East Coast…a lovely small city,…. on the other side of the USA..classic New England stuff
Perhaps what we see is this stage of Late Capitalism…much as that old prophet Marx forecast with amazing insight …..which he saw as the final stage of capitalism where vast gulfs in wealth and poverty would mark the end of it all
deblonay
The collapse of capitalism is to Marxists is what the return of Jesus is to Christians.
Always just around the corner. Any second now… wait for it…
Yawn.
twaddle
I don’t think that capitalism is going to ‘collapse’ and I doubt Deb thinks that either.
But more likely the US having to have a radical change in how it spends its tax revenue.
I.e. less on external ‘defense’ and more on domestic affairs.
Seems that Abbott’s invitation for the Chinese Navy to join RIMPAC was actually made by the USA last May.
[This spring, China’s navy accepted the Pentagon’s invitation to participate in the 2014 Rim of the Pacific — RIMPAC — naval exercise to be held off Hawaii. This will be the first time China takes part in the biennial event.]
LA Times May 30, 2013
Ah Fran – “if you have bought in a low density area…” Really gives the game away , translates as not in my backyard. Nuff said.
Good to dee deblonay going with the commo talk too . Marx a prophet pfft! Of death , misery and enslavement of millions perhaps.
Good morning Dawn Patrollers.
PATROL BULLETIN: After attending the official opening ceremony for our new CFS station today BK will be heading off to Edithburgh on the Yorke Peninsula for several days of fishing with his numbers 1 and 3 sons and granddaughter. Accordingly the Dawn Patrol service will be suspended until Good Friday – which will probably have slim pickings.
Lies and broken promises come so easy to this mob.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbott-to-break-abc-no-cuts-promise-20140412-zqty9.html
Really, this MH370 investigation has been shambolic at times.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/mh370-search-copilot-made-call-after-plane-went-off-flight-path-reports-20140412-zqu2q.html
What has this country become?
http://www.theage.com.au/national/children-born-overseas-feel-pain-of-racism-at-school-20140412-36k69.html
Adam Goodes clotheslines Brandis again.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/racial-discrimination-act-changes-will-hit-vulnerable-adam-goodes-20140412-36jzc.html
Dennis Napthine seems to have some difficult internal issues.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/libs-rocked-by-privacy-breach-as-insider-tries-to-skew-state-council-vote-20140412-36k45.html
Talk about a wake-up call!
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bill-shorten-ignored-warnings-about-joe-bullock-20140412-zqtwg.html
Will Abbott now have to launch a “Stop the Tides!” policy?
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/treasury-chief-martin-parkinson-says-climate-refugees-inevitable-20140412-36k47.html
Ron Tandberg with Abbott’s “reverse red tape reduction policy”.
http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/federal-politics/cartoons/ron-tandberg-20090910-fixc.html
And from the Land of the Free –
Sarah Palin Mk 2?
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2014/04/11/marsha-blackburn-16-oh/
There is no limit to the supply of disgraceful GOP candidates!
http://crooksandliars.com/2014/04/virginia-gop-candidate-sometimes-incest
Bill Maher’s “New Rules”.
http://crooksandliars.com/cltv/2014/04/maher-gop-has-kind-become-talk-radio
Making voting easy in Florida.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/10/1291058/-Miami-Dade-blocks-voters-standing-in-line-from-using-the-bathroom
The Young Turks on how Stephen Colbert will upset Rush Limbaugh.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017186464
Whilst a regular visitor to the States (Boston) will get an idea of the state of play as doing an East Coast road trip in August/September from Florida Keys to Nova Scotia (Canada).
Don’t think it is a dire as some say but in saying that most Americans have little idea what happens outside their area. Did spend Thanksgiving with a family (who rarely travelled from their area) and what you see in tv shows was exactly how it was and these people lived in rural New Hampshire – the house was picture post card and the owner was a teacher (not highly paid). One of the best experiences in my travels.
AT
[In the event of a collapse, given the state of the average American voter, what way will they be radicalised? What sort of power structure, political landscape and class of political leaders would supersede the ones they have …]
Quite right. Germany had a large, heavily unionised socialist movement and fascism still triumphed. So too it was with Italy. The US has nothing like this as a bulwark — at best, a loose atomised liberal populist fringe and on the other side, a well-resourced and reasonably well connected band of putative fascists.
The US is not about to collapse economically or socially, though it’s likely to remain an extremely inequitable and malign place for quite some time. The challenge for those who reject these usages is to work hard enough at the side of the marginalised to inspire them to contrive something better.
bemused@1725
Mine is too, and works from any computer accessing the wifi/router.
But printers have a mind of their own. Here there be dragons.
It has come as a big jolt to Tony Abbott to find out that the black box he has been looking for is actually orange. He has a personal affinity with black, so had been supremely confident that he would be able to find it. Join in with Tones as he laments the wrong colour scheme. Cue: “Paint it Black” by The Rolling Stones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHGTqF8l6-U
I presumed all flight recorders were painted black
That’s why they’re called black boxes, surely that’s a fact
But now I see Flight Three-Seventy’s has an orange hue
Lookin’ for a black one, that’s why we hadn’t a clue
:- (
I blame Boeing for leadin’ us off the track
Didn’t tell us the orange box wasn’t painted black
Coulda sent an orange lifeboat as our last fling
Being of the same colour, would’ve made the darn thing ping
:- (
I look around me and my future path looks black
Lately everything I touch soon goes out of whack
Had a big majority in September ‘13
Now shit’s happened and I’m a washed-up has-been
:- (
Was the Libs’ blue-eyed boy, but now they’re very black
Used to dish it out, but now cop all the flack
Thought I’d find that black box, bask in world-wide fame
Now I’m seen as a grave-robber, my scheme’s down in flames
:- (
I presumed all flight recorders were painted black
That’s why they’re called black boxes, surely that’s a fact
But now I see Flight Three-Seventy’s has an orange hue
Lookin’ for a black one, that’s why we hadn’t a clue
:- (
Why wasn’t it painted black, painted black
Black as night, black as coal
No point in an orange one, so much hyperbowl
I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black
We’ll miss you, BK. Have a great break. It’s well-deserved.
ESJ
[Ah Fran – “if you have bought in a low density area…” Really gives the game away , translates as not in my backyard. Nuff said.]
Not nearly enough said. On any other issue of property, you’d be jumping up and down about property rights, but now, when the possibility of some big developer making a motza out of doing an end run around local environment plans arises, then you’d say that people ought to suck it up.
I am, as you may suppose, not a huge fan of having the housing market so heavily private. I’m keen on public housing. Yet if private is the way it is, then it makes some sense that people have a degree of protection against radical and rapid diminution of the asset against which loans are written. If someone proposed printing 30% more Australian dollars, I doubt you’d advise those with cash savings to harden up and call them financial nimbies.
Also, you still haven’t bothered to advance any data or modelling to sustain your claim that Greens are forcing up the cost of residential housing. You should withdraw this claim, since you plainly can’t support it.
[Shockingly, our prosperous nation will allow its environment to be degraded. How long the condition lasts will depend on the capacity of the Labor Party to re-establish the conservation agenda of Carr or Bracks or Gallop or Hawke]
It’s time the Labor Party defended the environment against Coalition wrecking.
http://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2014/04/12/abbott-governments-offensive-against-nature-conservation/1397224800#.U0mzGlWSyKI
Good Morning
Regarding the US. What we see is the high water mark of Free Market ideology.
President Obama has started its retreat with “Obamacare”. Hopefully some regulations will come with another Democratic administration to turn the economy from a wild horse to a broken i one.
I do not expect much in the way of movment on establishing a welfare state, which is the only way homelessness and the stratospheric crime rate can be tackled.
As a power in the world the US is on the retreat as the reality of economics impacts. It does appear the US will not do a Soviet Union and collapse by over spending on the military.
Give it a few years and even the hawks in the GOP will realise that the US has to use the UN to advance US interests backed by their military instead of the other way round. It will take longer for them to realise Free Market ideology has failed.
Morning all. BK enjoy the fishing!
One of the IPAs drones trots out a string of unproven assertions to argue the GST should not be raised. ABC Factcheck please check the rubbish of your own columnists. Australia is one of the lowest taxing regimes in the OECD.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-11/novak-revenue-lobbyists-should-leave-the-gst-alone/5383862
Speaking of ABC Factcheck, they clearly know nothing about trains.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-11/barry-ofarrell-sydney-trains-claim-doubtful/5371446
Single decker trains have fewer seats than double decker trains. However they have a much faster boarding time. Thus you can run more rains per hour on a line and move more people overall.
Food for thought
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/12/capitalism-isnt-working-thomas-piketty?CMP=twt_gu
Morning all.
Enjoy your trip BK. Will miss the DP while you’re away.
Townsville copping it at present.
https://www.facebook.com/iCyclone/photos/a.403096644596.183425.52553204596/10152194718909597/?type=1&theater
Guytaur
I partly agree with you. I agree we have seen the zenith of free market ideology. But I do not see a return to any sort of balance following. I think now we see a naked power struggle by wealthy corporate interests to increase their control over the state(s). We seem to be headed towards a new feudalism, with CEOs as the robber barons.
Anyone who thinks you cannot regress from individual freedom to serfdom should read the history of Russia after the. Mongol invasions.
There have been a few issues on which the ABC’s Factcheck has been wrong, from memory.