The Christian Science Monitor is running a series of pieces about the big challenges ahead for the coming year.

The first one is about the end of the era of cheap food.

It is worth reading...

Beyond that however we have the biggest challenge - which is that while the Presidential race in the US is on, no one over there is paying any attention to the real issues - survivability of the planet. So we are going to have to wait another year while the various candidates blast the media with rhetoric and do nothing.

At the same time, look at this trend, which is all too visible in Australia right now - government held hostage by a single industry and lobby group. In the case of Australia one of those lobby groups with huge power is the oil industry. As the price of oil continues to rise, so too does the marginal rate of tax on petrol at the pump. The federal government now has too strong a vested interest in the continuance of revenues from the pump to have any motivation to change the revenue collecting dynamic. That means that the government will now do exactly what the oil industry wants, if it didn't do it before!

In New South Wales the 500lb gorilla in the room is the poker machine business. There is so much revenue going to support the cost of infrastructure build (and incidentally salaries and benefits for politicians too) to allow the politicians to make any decision other than one that allow continuance of the industry.

We need to have a public analysis of the trends relating to these gorilla industries that fund government. We need to understand which industries are likely to be the key funding engines for the nation and the states and for the elected officials who are charged with making decisions that affect all of us.

When food prices double as is predicted by the Christian Science Monitor and petrol prices double there is going to be growing hardship in the community. We need to have a look at whether government is really capable of making an unbiased decision, when they know that in many cases making the 'right' decision for the community will almost certainly negatively impact the companies that are providing both money by campaign contributions or by indirect taxation of utilities etc.