The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Sunday, January 1, 2012

‘Conception is sin, birth is pain, life is toil, death is inevitable.’

Great quote from Niall Ferguson, in turn quoting Salvator Rosa. Reading Ferguson while on holidays in the wilderness, the following thought emerged when looking at a beautiful pool carved into earth:

There is something very intimidating, or anxiety inducing, about seeing the juxtaposition of man's best efforts to redefine a natural landscape contrasted against a sheer escarpment of rock-face that has stood gazing down on that same land for hundreds of thousands of years, through so many cycles of life. Nobody knows how long the current one will last...

at 4:43 PM