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Paul Frijters
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Cameron Murray
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Game Of Mates: How favours bleed the nation Paperback – April 5, 2017

by Cameron Murray (Author), Paul Frijters (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 195 ratings
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James is our most mundane villain. His victim is Bruce, our typical Aussie, who bleeds from the hip pocket because of James’ actions. Game of Mates tells a tale of economic theft across major sectors of Australia’s economy, showing how James and his group of well-connected Mates siphon off billions from the economy to line their own pockets. In property, mining, transport, banking, superannuation, and many more sectors, James and his Mates cooperate to steal huge chunks of the economic pie for themselves. If you want to know how much this costs the nation, how it is done, and what we can do about it, Game of Mates is the book for you.

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  1. Print length
    210 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Publicious Pty Ltd
  4. Publication date
    April 5, 2017
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.44 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0648061108
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0648061106
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Publicious Pty Ltd (April 5, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 210 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0648061108
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0648061106
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.5 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.44 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 195 ratings

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  1. Paul Frijters

    Paul Frijters

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  2. Cameron Murray

    Cameron Murray

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    Dr Murray specialises in the economics of property and housing systems, natural resource management and corruption, but is broadly interested in how societies organise, invest and progress. He regularly communicates economic ideas at his one-man think-tank Fresh Economic Thinking.

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
195 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Sarah Collins
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2017
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Well written and accessible. All of us should know about the James' that are bleeding us dry and understand that it's not grand conspiracy, but a giving of favours that our political and economic system allows for given its current structures.

If we want change ' Game of Mates' clearly illustrates the type of structural reforms we need. But it is also a reminder that we always need to be on guard and preferentially prevent James' from starting the Game of Mates in the first place. A game I fear will always emerge in a market based economy.
One person found this helpful
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Thaumatechnician
4.0 out of 5 stars Economists point out what should be bleedin' obvious to everyone.
Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2017
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It's great to find out that some economists agree with, well, what I always thought to be obvious.
Fer starters: that individual retirement plans can never be as efficient as government-run or union-run pension plans, and the individualized plans are simply methods of transferring money from the individual wage-earner to unproductive rent-seekers.

Other ways in which the system is rigged are addressed. While this book covers the how it works in Australia, readers all over the world will recognize many, if not all scenarios. Games of Mates should be required reading for anyone who opines about 'how the systems works'.
3 people found this helpful
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GK
5.0 out of 5 stars Well researched, informative and easy to read. An excellent book.
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2017
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Great insight into the opaque powers pulling the strings of Australian democracy and stealing wealth from everyday Australians. The authors not only provide a solid analysis of 'grey corruption' across a surprisingly large number of industries, but also offer original and practical solutions to stop Aussies getting ripped off by unscrupulous 'Mates'. The negative effects on productivity are an eye-opener. It's worse than you think! Highly recommended.
One person found this helpful
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James Scott
5.0 out of 5 stars Corruption of representative democracy
Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2019
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It was an eye-opener to have explained how lobby groups compromise the political process to get their way. They drive a wedge between the average citizen's claims and their own competing claims.
One person found this helpful
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Sam Arnold
5.0 out of 5 stars Corruption in Australian Politics
Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2017
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An excellent book. Easy to read. Explains how the political, capitalist system works. An expose on corruption, unethical and dodgy business within Australia. It tells the reader just how comfy the corporate and political sectors sidle up to one another.
One person found this helpful
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Peter Cunningham
5.0 out of 5 stars How life in (at least) Australia works.
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2019
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Sadly, confirms what I already know after decades of deliberate awareness. Wake up people - bigger wheels turn.
2 people found this helpful
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Mr. U. Stephenson-Ward
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2018
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This book perfectly articulates issues that are happening everyday in the economy. Worth buying and reading to get a better understanding of the way people are exploiting you and I.
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Christopher Lander
5.0 out of 5 stars A factual look at politics and the bureaucracy
Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2018
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This should be compulsory reading for all year 12 students
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Top reviews from other countries

Nick Marshall
5.0 out of 5 stars No conspiracy - just the worst of human nature
Reviewed in Australia on September 3, 2018
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We all know that the trading of favours goes on but this book gathers the evidence in a systematic way to show that what has always gone on between people has reached epidemic proportions. I am not a conspiracy theorist and, mercifully, neither is the author. He takes pains to point out that he does not believe that Australia (or anywhere) is run by a secret group of evil people. He does point the finger at the neocon ideas and his own beliefs are clearly on the left side of the fence but he does not get bogged down with wild conspiracy claims.
The book is detailed and contains many quite complex ideas. I understood it a lot better on my second reading. I think it is a very important book because it takes such a deep look at the way Australia is run today. Its weakness is that it never really gets to grips with the question of whether it has always been like this or whether the behaviour of people in positions of power and influence have always been so selfish/narcissistic to the extent of fundamentally endangering themselves as well as everyone else. A good polity understands that the principles of ecology do apply to human society. The present political/corporate spectrum is a line of complacent bums in the air and heads in the sand. I don't think this has always been so. While this book is certainly worth reading for its very substantial survey of the present state of society in Australia, I think that the ideas presented by the writer Robert Prechter (The Socionomic Theory of Finance and other books) are a better explanation for the present dismal outlook. Prechter does not get stuck with political explanations. He sees human behaviour as cyclical and makes a good argument for the reasons for this.
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Nick Marshall
5.0 out of 5 stars No conspiracy - just the worst of human nature
Reviewed in Australia on September 3, 2018
We all know that the trading of favours goes on but this book gathers the evidence in a systematic way to show that what has always gone on between people has reached epidemic proportions. I am not a conspiracy theorist and, mercifully, neither is the author. He takes pains to point out that he does not believe that Australia (or anywhere) is run by a secret group of evil people. He does point the finger at the neocon ideas and his own beliefs are clearly on the left side of the fence but he does not get bogged down with wild conspiracy claims.
The book is detailed and contains many quite complex ideas. I understood it a lot better on my second reading. I think it is a very important book because it takes such a deep look at the way Australia is run today. Its weakness is that it never really gets to grips with the question of whether it has always been like this or whether the behaviour of people in positions of power and influence have always been so selfish/narcissistic to the extent of fundamentally endangering themselves as well as everyone else. A good polity understands that the principles of ecology do apply to human society. The present political/corporate spectrum is a line of complacent bums in the air and heads in the sand. I don't think this has always been so. While this book is certainly worth reading for its very substantial survey of the present state of society in Australia, I think that the ideas presented by the writer Robert Prechter (The Socionomic Theory of Finance and other books) are a better explanation for the present dismal outlook. Prechter does not get stuck with political explanations. He sees human behaviour as cyclical and makes a good argument for the reasons for this.
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Colin F. Pain
4.0 out of 5 stars Mates like this - who needs enemies
Reviewed in Australia on April 8, 2020
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The first chapter is “A Loathsome Tale” and the second sentence is “It is the story of how groups of ‘Mates’ have come to dominate our corporate and political sectors, and managed to rob us, the Australian majority, of over half our wealth.” There follows a litany of just how blatant the grab for money is and how the Australian coffers for public good have decreased by billions of dollars as a consequence. By the time I was half way through I was getting ready to go out and man the barricades. But as the authors point out, most if not all people would become a “Mate” if given the opportunity. The solutions lie in changing the structure of how things like housing, infrastructure, health, education etc. are funded. And to stop or severely limit the “revolving door” between politics and government bureaucracy on the one hand and the corporations and interest groups that lead the “Game of Mates” on the other. These solutions sound like socialism, and I’m OK with that. I took one star off because of the awkward way the book is written. Have a look at it – at least it took my mind off the shortage of toilet paper in these coronavirus times.
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Jim KABLE
5.0 out of 5 stars Maaate! Australian Thievery Exposed (The James M.A.T.E. Conspiracy Against the Bruce Citizens)
Reviewed in Australia on August 18, 2019
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Murray and Frijters explain the past 20-25 years in which the Australian egalitarianism of old has been re-worked into a class society now one of the most inequitable among the 20 odd OECD countries. Old school ties, huge public funding for the so-called private schools, university Vice-Chancellors paid far more than the nation's PM - cosy PublicPrivateParticipation infrastructure building companies and projects (totally opaque contracts), bureaucrats and ministers moving back and forth between private profit financial and other institutions - taking knowledge from one to the other blurring the ethical distinctions until they have basically disappeared - just think Private Health Cover abd pharmaceuticals, aged care facilities - family trusts and other tax avoidance at the major company/corporation level - superannuation scams, sell-off of most government instrumentalities, huge defence (so-called) contracts to build weaponry we don't actually need) ...on and on the rorting of our public common wealth goes on - into the hands of "gangs of mates" cronies - on both main sides of the political fence (think Shorten and Palaschuk and their complicity with the corrupt Adani and the shafting of the Wangan and Jagalingou peoples of Central Queensland) - and away from better public school funding, public health... I left Australia at the start of the 1990s and returned at the close of the 2000s - and quite frankly I could not recognise my own land - everything that had been public had been sold off to "Mates" - airlines, banks, public lands, Telecom, Australia Post...this book answered all my questions about how why, who, how and for what end - the treasonous ruination of an equitable and fair society to enrich Australia's own 1%ers.
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Magee
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for those who want to understand more about the world!
Reviewed in Australia on January 1, 2018
Verified Purchase
If you have ever wondered how relatively unintelligent people manage to make a lot of money, then this is the book for you.

It shows how people in positions of power (mainly in the government) give out favors to others that cost nothing to themselves (such as land rezoning to improve the value of their mates land) but has a hidden cost to society. It then explains and evaluates this hidden cost to everyone else as these tactics are basically skimming money off everyone else.

And this makes sense logically, if these people are making money quickly and easily for nothing, this is a MASSIVE market inefficiency that is taking away money from hard working and intelligent people. In a just and fair market system, you would expect the income and wealth to go to those that actually create economic value. But instead, this book shines a light on these inefficiencies were money is taken not by virtue of creating economic value, but by being in a position of power over others and natural human tendencies to look out for your mates / friends.

It is likely that if we could get rid of these market inefficiencies, the vast majority of people would be much better off financially and the rewards of their skill and hard work will go fairly to those that produce the most, not those that can steal the most.
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John Alderton
3.0 out of 5 stars Good
Reviewed in Australia on July 27, 2019
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Good read
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