In 2005 I bought a Prius. Its been a tremendous car. Fuel efficient, quiet, inexpensive to run. In fact it was so good I decided that when it hit 100,000 k’s instead of trading it I would keep driving it. At 140,000 k’s I thought I would find out how much it would be worth [...]
We all exist in networks of people. Before the industrial revolution they were close knit and very local. Fast forward through the industrial revolution and the ability to travel far and fast and into the digital era and we all have complex and vast networks of connections. All of those connections have influence on our [...]
A couple of years ago I spent a lot of time reading and blogging about the global economy. There were lots of signals that things were looking bad, and finally the proverbial hit the fan. But in actual fact, it really wasn't that bad. As we, in Australia, can attest to. So pretty soon the [...]
The following is from “The Value Of Nothing” by Raj Patel. The late Oxford philosopher Jerry Cohen concieved a thought experiment that helps us understand how money works, and the way that it intersects with the liberty offered by free markets. When the market rations goods on the basis of money, he argued, there's reason [...]
Back at the beginning of the 20th Century H.G. Wells, the great science fiction writer and visionary, wrote about the way that civilization would become ruled by scientists, engineers and managers. That is what is taking place – regardless of the number of lawyers who become our elected leaders. What he didn’t foresee was that [...]
There is the story of the little girl that asks her father if there are any other kind of fairy stories except for the ones that start, “Once upon a time…..” and her father replies, “Yes dear, there are also those that start with If I am elected….”. Well he said he [...]
Almost everyone I know is blaming the banks for the Global Financial Crisis. However, there is another aspect to the GFC that I will present here today. The GFC has been ascribed by journalists to low doc housing loans. (Low doc equals mortgage applications that normally wouldn’t meet the banks lending criteria being [...]
Today we present a point of view that will offend many, please few, but will attempt balance the mainly conservative viewpoints and opinions that Perceptric strives for. “Conservative? Hah!” I can hear from the peanut gallery. “Conservative my arse! Koltai you’re nothing but a leftwing Bolshevist commie agitator.” Thank-you. You are right on [...]
In the beginning man hunted for his livelihood with club, spear and rocks. Now man hunts for his livelihood by trying to ensure that he can retain what is his, against all comers. Any successful business is based on disrupting existing business models. Today, it is no longer sufficient to be good at what [...]
President Obama may get pushed out of his internet attained office because of Health care. On the subject of Health care, I’ll be brief and anecdotal only. Someone with more available time may like to turn this into an empirical analysis. I thought I would do a quick little comparison for Health care [...]