China's inflation rate touched 6.4 per cent in June, the fastest acceleration in three years, China's bureau of statistics said on Saturday.

The market also fell on disappointing US jobs figures which triggered falls of up to 0.7 per cent on Wall Street indices on Friday.

Only 18,000 jobs were created in June, 83 per cent fewer than economists forecast, which pushed the US unemployment rate up to 9.2 per cent, the US Labour Department said.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/business/markets/australian-shares-down-at-open-amid-continued-uncertainty-over-carbon-tax/story-e6frfm30-1226092264037#ixzz1RmUKt4V7

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Before getting to the news items above, the Murdoch press, of course, blames the carbon pricing for the stock dump... But anyone who knows trick would point the finger at what's happening overseas — in China and in the US — first. The Murdoch press also blame the Labor government for people not spending... Yep... Saving is bad, credit is good... (remember that the Howard government basically "saved" money, forcing people to spend on credit to survive?... The Howard government taking us eventually into a spiral of private debt. See where it has taken the world in the last few years... SO, WHO CARES ABOUT PROTECTING THE PLANET? Not the Murdoch press, that's for sure... When summer comes, events might start to make more people see the reality of global warming... But the Murdoch press? Never... Even if a sea of red starts to swamp the Murdoch basement...

Economists say that, although the compensation measures may blunt the effectiveness of the carbon tax, it should still have the desired effect of encouraging people to rely less on high-polluting energy.

HSBC's chief Australian economist, and former Reserve Bank official, Paul Bloxham says the carbon tax compensation measures are generous.

"It is always the case that when you introduce large reforms like this it tends to be, there tends to be over-compensation - we saw that during the GST," he said.

"When that was introduced there was over-compensation and of course, with the current political environment, this is obviously potentially a larger amount of compensation that may have been required in a less difficult political environment."

Economists have been looking back at the introduction of the GST to get some idea of the effect of the carbon tax on the economy.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/07/11/3266902.htm?section=justin

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has seized on news of Australia's biggest-ever bid for a coal mining company as proof that the industry is not under threat from the carbon price.

Coal mining giant Peabody Energy has teamed with steelmaker ArcelorMittal to launch a $4.7 billion bid for Australian miner Macarthur Coal.

The bid appears to show investor confidence in the coal industry and looks set to blunt Opposition leader Tony Abbott's attack on the carbon price, which he said yesterday would "destroy" the coal industry.

Ms Gillard welcomed the news this morning, saying: "You couldn't get a better indication that business people see a good future in coal mining in this country.

"It does pay when you are looking at businesses to track where the money's going - and where's the money going today?" she asked on AM.

"Well, it's going into buying an Australian mining business. People would only do that if they thought it had a great future."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/07/12/3267115.htm

JULIA Gillard's pledge to shield most Australians from carbon tax pain is under fire with cost blowout warnings on everything from groceries to cars, restaurant meals and department store goods.

Qantas and Virgin announced travellers would pay an extra average of $6-$7 for each domestic return flight under the tax.

And the Food and Grocery Council warned bills could rise by three times the government estimate.

This would mean groceries increase by $120 a year, or $2 a week, rather than the official $40 prediction.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/national/carbon-tax-pm-announces-23-per-tonne-carbon-price/story-e6frfkvr-1226092838097#ixzz1Rr0gdZNU

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Of course this item is at the forefront of News Ltd discourse on the subject... concocting lies for the little Tonicchio to spread like jam on bread. So the denialists continue the denial of carbon's influence on the atmosphere as they want to drive bigger cars and eat cheap tomatoes...

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On 3AW yesterday, Treasurer Wayne Swan was unable to say how the carbon tax would affect a Falcon.

"It would be very hard to make that sort of calculation at the moment," he said.

He also couldn't say what the price change for a can of tomatoes would be.

But he defended Treasury modelling.

"The team in the Treasury is the same team that modelled John Howard's emissions trading scheme and it's also the same team in the Treasury that modelled the GST, and ... they got all of that, actually, entirely correct," he told ABC radio.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/national/carbon-tax-pm-announces-23-per-tonne-carbon-price/story-e6frfkvr-1226092838097#ixzz1Rr1YG3dB

It is a sad saga to see myopic people measuring a few extra cents (which would be fully compensated) in a shopping trolley rather than counting tonnes of CO2 in the blue yonder... We're at "the-ignoramuses-are-winning" stage...  Humanity's understanding of the planet is in decline, beaten by the shopping trolley accounting experiment... It would be so funny if it was not serious...

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has downplayed revelations one of his backbenchers recently bought shares in a coal exploration company.

Central Queensland's Member for Flynn Ken O'Dowd bought 10,000 shares in East Energy Resources, which has coal deposits in central Queensland's Galilee Basin.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says Mr O'Dowd has shown confidence in the coal mining sector, despite Mr Abbott predicting its demise under the carbon tax.

"I think it shows that the fear-mongering by the Opposition is one thing, but even they know it's wrong," she said.

"They know that there's a great future in energy in this country, a great future in coal in this country, and they're prepared to put their dollars in."

But Mr Abbott dismissed her argument today.

"Just about every Australian has a stake in the coal industry through his superannuation," he said.

"There'd hardly be a superannuation fund that doesn't have shares in the coal industry or shares in companies that have big stakes in the coal industry.

"All of us have stakes in the coal industry and that's why this is such a bad package."

Mr O'Dowd has defended his decision to buy shares in a coal exploration company despite his strong opposition to the carbon tax.

Climate Change Minister Greg Combet says that it is hypocritical, but Mr O'Dowd says he is simply supporting Queensland's coal industry.

"I think the coal industry has a good future if we can come to terms with this carbon tax," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-13/liberal-backbencher-coal-shares/2793184

I can understand why the ranting of people like 2GB's Chris Smith has gotten so many people worked up. Gillard's about-face seemed blatant and shocking, albeit not compared to Smith at a Christmas party. If a politician can expressly promise not to do something, win an election and then a few months later, go ahead and do that exact thing anyway, you have to wonder why we bother having election promises at all.

You can imagine the fury from the union movement if Tony Abbott, having repeatedly vowed not to do so, had blithely reintroduced WorkChoices within a year of assuming office. And Labor had essentially promised that the carbon tax, to adopt Abbott's peculiar mixed metaphor, was also "dead, buried, cremated".

But the current Eyjafjallajokull-level fury does seem something of an overreaction when anyone with even a passing familiarity with Australian politicians knows that their election promises are as flexible as News International's code of conduct. Gillard is not some Ricky Gervais figure who invented the idea of lying in a mediocre movie. John Howard developed the risible concept of the non-core promise after his first election victory, and Tony Abbott tried to argue on the 7.30 Report last year that only his written commitments should be treated as binding - a standard which, as it happens, would excuse Gillard entirely. When ignoring election promises has been a proud bipartisan tradition, neither side of politics has any right to feign umbrage.

Furthermore, the claim that Gillard lied to win the election is wrong for two reasons. First, she did not lie, and second, she did not win the election.

....

There are many things one could fairly call Julia Gillard. Some - well, perhaps just Albo, at this point - might call her a skilful legislative tactician who has guided a raft of contentious policies through an extremely difficult Parliament. Others, responding to her view on gay marriage, might call her... words that the ABC's editorial policies prevents me from uttering.

But despite the hilarious punnery that the name 'Julia' makes possible, despite her surname also being one letter away from containing 'liar', and despite the fact that even her electorate of Lalor sounds very much like that same word, her promise not to introduce a carbon tax was sincere. Personally, I'm delighted she was forced to change her mind.

 

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2798318.html

 

Me too, but two sane satirists do not make a trend in a sea of moronic hysteria... Punishing Julia at the next election would be punishing ourselves for having done the right thing. Stupid... See toon at top.

Dear Ms Julia Gillard...

Do not try to explain the reasons for what you do, to a public at large that is being frothed up by the shockjockery and a rabid slithering idiotic wooded puppet... Just do what you have to do. You have no ally in in the rabid media, though there are a few good souls left in that dung-beetle cowpat media... Carry on. That's the correct thing to do...