Pernicious inflation and an imploding Europe – a few things for Joe to think about

• Feeling down – Deflation can be a good thing. But today’s version is pernicious – “Deflation poses several risks, some well-understood, one not. … The least-understood danger is also the most serious, because it is already here. Deflation makes it harder to loosen monetary policy. … Policymakers should be more worried than they appear to be, and their actions to avert deflation should be bolder. Governments need to boost demand by spending more on infrastructure; central banks should err on the side of looseness.”
• An orderly Greek exit is the only option for Europe – “The euro will eventually break up. But, before it does, we’ll see a lot more democratic transgressions as big countries, aided by the Brussels machine, impose their will on smaller neighbours.’If we aim deliberately at impoverishment, vengeance, I dare predict … will not limp,’ Keynes wrote in 1919. ‘But who can say how much is endurable, or in what direction men will seek at last to escape from their misfortunes?’ I’m not predicting war in Western Europe. But I am saying the eurozone will generate ever-rising tensions and spiralling financial instability until it finally implodes or is deliberately dismantled.
• The hideous dialectic of Isis savagery - “The methods of the jihadi blackshirts are chillingly savage. But Isis is chillingly smart too.”
• Facing Up to the Democratic Recession  – Democracy has been in a global recession for most of the last decade, and there is a growing danger that the recession could deepen and tip over into something much worse. Many more democracies could fail, not only in poor countries of marginal strategic significance, but also in big swing states such as Indonesia and Ukraine (again). There is little external recognition yet of the grim state of democracy in Turkey, and there is no guarantee that democracy will return any time soon to Thailand or Bangladesh. Apathy and inertia in Europe and the United States could significantly lower the barriers to new democratic reversals and to authoritarian entrenchments in many more states.”
• Why Do Many Reasonable People Doubt Science? “We live in an age when all manner of scientific knowledge—from climate change to vaccinations—faces furious opposition. “Some even have doubts about the moon landing.”
• The Great Jewish Exodus – “Israel is indeed the home of every Jew, and that is important, a guarantee of sorts. It is equally important, however, that not every Jew choose this home. That is another kind of guarantee, of Europe’s liberal order, of the liberal idea itself.”

• What shape might we be in? – “Boseley is also insightful about the role of dieting, which she argues probably does more harm than good overall. We live in a world where a medical, or quasi-medical, solution is expected for most ailments. A pill or a doctor can usually sort things out. Not obesity; which then begs the question: what will? Not commercial dieting regimes. Bariatric surgery tries to adapt our anatomy and physiology, and it works in the short term, to deal with this commercial onslaught. But this approach is no solution to a population problem. What is required is an intelligent reversal of the massive behaviour change that has caused this problem. “
• Enough about Islam: Why religion is not the most useful way to understand ISIS
• Mike Baird set to be re-elected Premier in NSW next month. Palaszczuk’s Queensland Election victory reveals fresh ‘gender split’ in Queensland - Morgan state polls