The 🐝 Disco 🐝 Rangers

he/him

[The 🐝 Disco 🐝 Rangers @Disco_Rangers]

I liked a @YouTube video https://t.co/ZMKPqkIHmo ERIKA LEARNS DISCO | Let's Play Pokemon Red 721 Nuzlocke Randomizer w/ ShadyPenguinn

[Aftermath @Aftermath_site]

There's already so many ways to play N64 games without supporting a fashy little freak's pet project. Do not buy the war crime n64. https://t.co/iDRv8hmdI8

[The 🐝 Disco 🐝 Rangers @Disco_Rangers]

@KatieGoldin

[Aaron Smith @aaronsmith]

Thank you, Dave. I appreciate you reaching out to ask what you got wrong.

The clip we’re discussing is less than 90 seconds long. What I’m about to do demonstrates Brandolini's Law: where the amount of energy required to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude greater than that required to produce it. Or, in this case, it takes around 600 words to correct 90 seconds of your economic fan fiction.

1⃣ Between 0 and 30 seconds

You begin by confusing government debt with the Future Fund and appear to suggest that the Future Fund can't exist along side Govt debt.

They’re different things. One can exist without the other, and in Australia they do.

Australia's Future Fund was established in 2006 with an initial govt investment of about $60B. Its first annual report, in 2008, showed assets of around $64 billion - not the $100B you suggested.

Then, at around 27 seconds, you talk about the Future Fund as though it ceased to exist (you used the word 'had' as in past tense).

It still very much exists Dave. In fact, it's grown every single year since it was created. Today it's worth around $270 billion, or over $330 billion once the other funds under management are included (eg Medical Research / Housing Australia / Drought).

So before we're even 30 seconds into the clip you've managed to confuse government debt, the Future Fund, its size, and whether it still exists.

That’s a lot of economic history to get wrong in under 30 seconds.

2⃣ Around 32 seconds

You then claim Kevin Rudd used the Future Fund to "flush money through the economy".

Again, that’s simply false. The Future Fund wasn't used to fund the stimulus. It wasn't used to build school halls. It wasn’t used for any of the things you’re describing. In your defence, you do briefly flirt with the possibility that you don’t actually know what you’re talking about. Sadly, it was a very short-lived relationship.

The GFC stimulus was funded through government borrowing.

For context, construction approvals were collapsing, more than a million Australians worked in construction, and the objective was to stop unemployment exploding during the worst global financial crisis in generations.

You're welcome to argue that was the wrong policy (but you didn't). You’re not entitled to rewrite where the money came from.

3⃣ At about 44 seconds

You say, "I might be wrong".

I concede you were correct during this part of the video.

4⃣ From 44 seconds onwards

You make a series of broad claims about the GFC response.

Yes, government debt increased. That's true.

What you omit is that Australia's stimulus largely went directly to households rather than primarily rescuing financial institutions, as happened in many other countries.

The aim was simple: keep people spending, businesses operating and Australians employed while global demand collapsed. It's known as counter-cyclical fiscal policy.

Whether you agree with it politically is your business.

The specific outcome for Australia isn't contested though - Australia was one of only two economies in the OECD to avoid recession during the Global Financial Crisis. There's no reality where that wasn’t a comparatively impressive outcome.

The money didn’t need to "trickle down". The entire point was that it started at the bottom.

5⃣ Government debt

Throughout the clip (and in life generally) you repeatedly return to the theme Labor is responsible for Australia’s debt (which btw is comparatively low).

Here are the actual numbers of net debt added by each Govt since 2007.

> Rudd/Gillard: about $190 billion over six years.
> Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison: about $366 billion over nine years, around two-thirds of which pre-dated COVID.
> Albanese: about $75 billion over four years.

Those figures don’t support the story you've been telling people. And that’s really the issue.

This isn't about getting one date wrong or misremembering one statistic. Nearly every claim in your 90-second clip turns out to be either wrong or misleading.

If you're going to publicly lecture Australians about economic history, the bare minimum expectation is that you’ve first acquainted yourself with it.

Because once the errors have been pointed out, as they have been to you multiple times, every repetition stops looking like an accident and starts looking like a strategy.

Given your very public coffee with Angus Taylor last week, perhaps people are entitled to ask what that strategy might be.

[The 🐝 Disco 🐝 Rangers @Disco_Rangers]

@ruicharadrius Queenslanders

[Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @NYCMayor]

Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal.

[TheDigiKnow @thedigiknow]

where is it...

[The 🐝 Disco 🐝 Rangers @Disco_Rangers]

@flarup @cibbyapp This looks so cool! Was AI used for the programming or collection database?

[contains taurine @_domf]

Mogged

[The 🐝 Disco 🐝 Rangers @Disco_Rangers]

@PlayStationES Bro will literally talk about ANYTHING to avoid the heat - it ain't working

[The 🐝 Disco 🐝 Rangers @Disco_Rangers]

@RaymanTogether I would love one for Switch 2!

[Kei 🌸🪐 | #BOYCOTTSONY #FUCKSONY #FUCKPLAYSTATION @ShingujiBlade_]

have you noticed how PLAYSTATION is posting so much about indie games recently, as they have never done before?

it's like they want THOSE games to suffer the backlash

they are anti-gaming. anti-indie. anti-art.

[The 🐝 Disco 🐝 Rangers @Disco_Rangers]

@PlayStationAU Go buy all of these physically instead - you can get the Avatar game for almost free anyway

[Teeto ➡️ OUT NOW! @EatPantGames]

Teeto is also on PC and Nintendo Switch 1 & 2 😉

[Hydro @HydroKirb]

PlayStation sending out these indie games as meat shields is so petty

[The 🐝 Disco 🐝 Rangers @Disco_Rangers]

@PlayStation Stop using these indie games as a shield

[K🔮 @Memey_PW]

it's also out today with a stellar PC port, and a locked 60 on Switch 2! Buy it elsewhere!

[The 🐝 Disco 🐝 Rangers @Disco_Rangers]

@PlayStation W game, L platform

[The 🐝 Disco 🐝 Rangers @Disco_Rangers]

@JillMarinelli1 Why the fuck would an atheist want to the country to be Christian?

[The 🐝 Disco 🐝 Rangers @Disco_Rangers]

@Mal926 @PhotoModeGamer @PlayStation Using AI to defend against the digital takeover isn't helping 😭

[Shannon Grixti @shannongrixti]

I’m super excited to announce that I’ve reacquired Press Start from SCA and it will now operate independently as Australia’s largest gaming and tech community.

I’ve given so much to Press Start over the last 13 years and I didn’t think I’d ever have the opportunity to own it again. I’m so thankful to SCA for believing in the brand over the last decade, recognising its importance in the local landscape and agreeing that it is best placed in my care moving forward.

I’m really motivated to navigate this next chapter and have loads of ideas for what Press Start can become, alongside Always-On and my personal channels to combine and reach as many Aussie gamers and tech-heads as possible. Being independent allows for the agility required to do that.

Thanks to anyone who has ever consumed Press Start to this point, and the core team for all the work that goes into delivering curated gaming news, bargains, reviews and more. Thanks also to all of the partners that we work with who continue to support Press Start - this is now more important than ever.