Vampire Squids and Blood Funnels

When even the Crikey!-trained operatives at Media Watch concede a fellow ABC employee has screwed the pooch, you know the act was done thoroughly, absolutely and with extreme prejudice. Thus, last night were viewers treated to a tut-tutting Paul Barry lamenting newly elevated chief economics correspondent Emma Alberici’s misadventures in Tax Land. For those who haven’t followed the national broadcaster’s latest debacle, the former Lateline hostess took it upon herself to explain why rapacious companies aren’t paying the taxes she seems to think they owe.

Alas, a little knowledge can be a very dangerous thing and unexamined preconceptions make it more so, especially when combined with a chief economics correspondent’s apparent ignorance of the difference between revue and profit. Put it this way: were Ms Alberici required to pay for her own office vehicle, construct the building in which she tickles her keyboard and cover every other capital and incidental expense from her own…