Congress routinely engages in targeted, short-term tariff cuts through “miscellaneous tariff bills.” Although conventional wisdom says that unilateral tariff cuts are politically impossible, these bills show that it is possible to reduce tariffs given the right political environment. Proponents of such tariff cuts argue that the cuts support U.S. jobs; critics argue that the economic value of miscellaneous cuts is modest, and that the process is open to abuse because it requires companies that want a tariff cut to ask their legislator to introduce a specific bill on their behalf.
Like the United States, Australia has been confronted by a dual crisis in its government-run old-age pension system. Benefits payments to an aging population threatened to consume ever larger amounts of Australia's budget according to projections in the 1980s, yet the Australian Social Security system clearly was unable to provide an adequate income for retirees.
Australians are finding travel to the US is now simple enough but financially much tougher due to the strength of the US dollar. That’s likely to get worse still.
There is a niche in the global submarine industry that Australia is well-placed to occupy, reports Alan Austin. IT WOULD BE a bold move which