#NewsCorpFail / #Ozfail / Boneheaded stupidity
Tweet trouble
According to Chris Mitchell at the Oz (paywalled, I think), I'm the mastermind (or at least a mastermind) behind the original version of Emma Alberici's now-rewritten analysis of company tax cuts. Here's Mitchell
In Alberici's case a lot of weight was given to left-wing academic John Quiggin and economist Saul Eslake, a prominent commentator whose position on the central question — do corporate tax cuts eventually trickle down as increased wages? — seems to have changed over the years.
It's nice to be so influential, but there's just one problem. In Alberici's original article (here), I don't get a mention.
But maybe Alberici is presenting my ideas second-hand. Sadly, the arguments I've put forward on the topic don't get a run either. Here's the summary of my piece in Crikey (also paywalled, I fear)
Optimistic tax models put the average Australian at being 0.1% better off under the proposed company tax cuts. And the good news is they'll only have to wait 25 years for that tiny benefit to appear!
Alberici doesn't mention this.
So how did I get top billing? The villain, as usual, is social media. Twitter user (tweep?) Matt K asked me whether there were any mistakes in the Alberici piece and I said no. Apart from a couple of replies to further questions, that was my entire contribution, as you can see from the thread of the conversation. But, as they say nowadays, it went viral, at least insofar as a comment on tax policy can go viral.
Before I knew it, I was being attacked from all directions. Helen Razer said I was a bogus "leftist", while Aaron Patrick at the Fin hit me from the right because I mentioned Marx and Engels in the draft introduction to my book. To be fair, Razer wrote to explain her position. By contrast, Patrick's whole technique is verballing and out-of-context gotchas', so I don't expect that to change.
I do get a passing mention in the revised column, but since my name is mis-spelt, I think it's safe to assume that I'm not a primary source. Obviously, Mitchell didn't get around to reading the original (maybe the research skillz of Newscorp aren't up to locating it) and assumed that I was quoted there.
While I'm on the subject, Mitchell had an amazing piece a while back (not worth linking, since Paul Kelly and Mark Latham have already trodden this ground many times) about the end of freedom of speech in Australia. The burden of it is that decent, ordinary Australians like Mitchell and Andrew Bolt, limited as they are to major national newspapers and broadcast media, can't say what they think about Muslims, lefties and so on any more without people on Twitter saying what they think about Mitchell and Bolt. As Tim Dunlop says in a similar context, any less self-reflection and they'd be vampires.
Economics in Two Lessons: Chapter 2
29 thoughts on "Tweet trouble"
kel young says:
John I really enjoy your infrequent articles attack on other commenters deleted, please read comments policy – JQ
@kel young
@Ernestine Gross
Not quite sure of the question. Overseas investors and traders are both owners of the resident company that utilises public services here to undertake the company's business, but the trader's business is short term frequent trading in business ownership not the productive and service consuming business of the company owned. Calculation of their taxable return without franking if a company is bought and held to an ex dividend date is surely a factor speculators, sorry, traders monitor closely, poor things. Of course they'd like a franking credit extra, but they are already only taxed once on the business they actually engage with.
Ernestine Gross says:
@Svante
It seems to me you understood my question very well and I am reasonably confident in saying I understand your answer.