Media worth consuming – September 2026

Top eight links

The ATO conducted a blitz on Melbourne cafes and restaurants suspected of cheating on their taxes, based on tips from staff and customers. This program could be greatly expanded with a lottery system like the one being introduced in Belgium. ATO debts continue to mount, with a stronger crackdown on late-payers involving penalties, insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings required.

Australia’s quantity over quality migration system needs a shake-up that confronts the myths propagated about skills shortages and productivity. Employer groups consistently call for more migrants to fill supposed shortages, but the routine underpayment of migrants shows what the greater motivation is. A ten-point plan to improve the quality and reduce the quantity of migration to Australia.

A luxury Sydney home sold at a 35% discount to its 2022 purchase price, a combination of the previous owners badly overpaying and a downturn in prices, particularly for luxury properties.

Several Texas smokehouses are taking brisket off the menu and replacing it with beef cheeks in response to the rising cost of the signature cut.

Finance

The US services sector is recording rising inflation, which points to higher CPI readings in the coming quarters. US producer price inflation is at 4.5% for the last 12 months. Rising bad debts have seen several German regional banks request capital injections, with sales of bad debts up fivefold in 2025. Struggling American malls are often held back from being repurposed by decades old covenants that give anchor tenants the power to veto change.

Bondholders of Aston Martin have taken legal action over new debt secured by assets stripped from their security pool, with some saying the manoeuvre merely allows Aston Martin to “die another day”. Apollo’s history of aggressive anti-creditor actions is estimated to cost it an extra 1% yield when issuing debt for businesses it owns.

Australian banks made $600 million in loans to fraudsters for properties purchased at 40-50% above market, which points to shonky valuation practices and banks not checking the quality of valuations. Bathla Group had its own migration agency, which helped it build housing at a lower cost. Australian property and construction executives want to import more migrants to build homes for more migrants.

Politics & culture

Trump’s ban on left of centre media outlets faces significant legal hurdles, and if it succeeds it would allow future presidents to ban media outlets he prefers. Trump’s stories about his supposed personal involvement in September 11 become more fanciful as the years pass. His proposed $5,000 per adult handout if Republicans win the midterm elections is being a called a socialist handout to stop the socialists winning the election. Trump’s tariffs have pushed other countries to focus on negotiating trade agreements without the US. CNN tried to blame Trump for the Nepal landslide.

Rather than dealing with poor government policies, cost of living issues and restrictions on free speech, the UK government is creating the National Centre for Information Defence to attack those who promote a “narrative of decline” about the UK. A pro-Palestinian activist graffitied a statue of Winston Churchill, costing British taxpayers £7,000 to clean up, but a jury found him not guilty in a textbook case of jury nullification. MI5 has blocked white British applicants from applying for its 2027 summer internship program. A meta study found there is more evidence against than for the proposition that “diversity is our strength”. A short history of the AfD, which was nicknamed “The Professors’ Party” when founded in 2013.

A New York Times journalist sent her daughter to a low performing government school with an aim of improving the education system, but misunderstood the reasons why her daughter fell behind on standardised tests while getting high grades from her school. With most of the big picture issues resolved, modern feminists have struggled to come up with a new agenda and are now proposing social changes that could benefit men just as much as women. The Australian High Court has refused an appeal in the Giggle v Tickle case, leaving it to Parliament to change the law if it disagrees with the outcome.

A Virginia mother received a six-month suspended sentence for allowing her five year old son to collect feathers within their gated community. The University of Washington has settled with a professor it retaliated against after the University tried to force the use of land acknowledgement statements and he used an alternative version.

After previously banning welfare cards from being used on alcohol, gambling and unhealthy foods, Florida has added tattoos, nicotine and video games to the list. A Republican primary candidate has been charged over a plot to plant cocaine on a political rival.

Economics & work

The RBA’s 2-3% inflation target is too high; the 0-2% target of Switzerland is the gold standard, yet the RBA still can’t achieve its target. The RBA’s number two acknowledged that public feedback is consistent that inflation is too high, while also admitting that the RBA has deliberately held back from acting to fully confront it.

With the US, Europe, Japan and China all having high levels of government debt, expansion of financial repression seems likely. Japan’s rising bond yields, increasing inflation and falling currency are a natural outcome of the fiscal and monetary shenanigans of the last 30 years. Germany has long been viewed as Europe’s risk-free asset, but its economic decline now makes that a dubious claim. Governments often treat their debt like a frequent flyer program, not defaulting outright but eroding the value over time. The demand for AI processing has turned the supposed “savings glut” into a savings shortage. (The savings glut is better understood as a glut of quantitative easing and central banks setting overnight rates too low.)

A 63 minute podcast that highlights how generous Australia’s welfare system is, particularly for those already well-off. The Fair Work Commission has repeatedly ordered Uber to reinstate drivers who were deactivated for speeding, texting while driving and offending customers.

War doesn’t just destroy lives and goods, it destroys productivity for the non-war parts of the economy. It took Bono several decades to figure it out, but aid often entrenches poverty, with economic growth the long-term solution. A flat tax encourages savings and investment, which results in higher wages, wealth and prosperity. Greece is luring wealthy individuals and hedge funds from the UK with low tax rates. When judged on key economic statistics, Milei’s chainsaw economics has been a great success.

Miscellaneous

After OpenAI announced it had solved the long-standing Navier-Stokes problem, two mathematicians alleged OpenAI used their work to create the solution. After many predictions hyping AI have fallen short, here’s ten more cynical predictions on AI. A Chinese cryptocurrency billionaire is suing his former fiancée and her family for the return of the $4.5 million bride price he paid them, with the relationship apparently breaking down after she asked for more money and property.

The last five years of coral coverage data for the Great Barrier Reef are its five best years in the last forty years, but the Super El Nino this year will be a strong test of the gains. Twenty years after the decision to downgrade Pluto from major planet to dwarf planet, the debate rages on. Roughly one in ten people who meditate will have a negative reaction to it, including insomnia and psychosis.

Indian scientists found that adding 5-10% faecal sludge strengthens concrete. Scientists in Bolivia have identified a new species of wild cat, smaller than domestic cats, with a leopard like coat. A British zoo was selling tickets for children to see lions and tigers in its “child predator tour” but changed the name after receiving public feedback.