Politik reports: But Labour may have got the jump on ACT with its leader announcing that it is highly unlikely to go into coalition with the Greens or Te Paati Maori, but instead will simply do confidence and supply agreements with the two parties. This will actually make any Government less stable, and actually make…
Labour and Te Pati Maori
Labour and Te Pati Maori
16 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
The Spanberger Surge: Virginia Governor May Prove the Greatest Gun Influencer Since Charlton Heston
16 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: gun control
Is Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) a mole for the National Rifle Association (NRA)? After the recent scandal involving the…
The Spanberger Surge: Virginia Governor May Prove the Greatest Gun Influencer Since Charlton Heston
The Justification for Net Zero Has Vanished with the Demise of RCP8.5
16 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: climate alarmism
Any justification for Ed Miliband’s Net Zero climate policy, whether real or imaginary, has vanished with the official abandonment by the IPCC of the scariest concentration scenario RCP8.5. Even Tony Blair can now perceive that the pursuit of Net Zero is unwarranted and harmful to Britain. The post The Justification for Net Zero Has Vanished…
The Justification for Net Zero Has Vanished with the Demise of RCP8.5
The Hooton-in-chief
16 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
The Post announced: In a bombshell move, former National Party strategist-turned consultant Matthew Hooton has been chosen as the new editor of The Post, replacing outgoing Editor in Chief Tracy Watkins. He hopes NZ’s powerful institutions are ‘a little unsettled’ by his appointment, and has big plans to accelerate the brand to become Kiwis’ primary…
The Hooton-in-chief
Watermelon Economics
16 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, fiscal policy, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice Tags: development aid, regressive left, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, top 1%
Remember Thomas Piketty, the pro-class-warfare economist who is infamous for shoddy analysis and who also made a fool of himself by asserting back in 2023 that Javier Milei’s election in Argentina would lead to economic disaster? Yes, that Thomas Piketty. It turns out he’s also a “watermelon,” which is the derisive term for leftists who […]
Watermelon Economics
Quotation of the Day…
15 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, history of economic thought, labour economics, labour supply, unions
Tweet… is from page 88 of Art Carden’s and Ilia Murtazasvili’s paper “W.H. Hutt: An Economist for the Twenty-First Century,” which is a chapter in 2026 book Unsung Heroes of the Market: The 24 Underrated Economists You Need to Know – a volume edited by Robert Whaples, Christopher Coyne, Gregory Robson, and Diana Thomas [original emphasis;…
Quotation of the Day…
Bill Maher on Graham Platner
15 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in television, TV shows
I wondered what Bill Maher thought about the sketchy Graham Platner and his run as a Democrat for the Senate seat from Maine. Well, see the video below. Maher realizes that Platner is a “broken person,” but we’re “always electing our reflection in the mirror.” And he thinks that Dems should still vote for Platner…
Bill Maher on Graham Platner
*The Pressure* (no spoilers)
15 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in movies, war and peace Tags: World War II
A truly excellent movie, one of the best of the year. Specifically, it concerns the meteorological forecasts (!) leading up to the D-Day invasion. Thematically, it is about the differences between Americans and Brits, how bureaucracy operates, the nature of leadership, and the proper role of science in government. It is like an old-style Hollywood…
*The Pressure* (no spoilers)
The Pre-Trek Years: Gene Roddenberry’s Career from Bomber Pilot to LAPD Speechwriter
15 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in television, TV shows
Before he built the final frontier, Gene Roddenberry lived a life that read like an adventure novel. Long before he was a Hollywood showrunner preaching a utopian future of interstellar cooperation, Roddenberry was a decorated combat pilot, an international airline captain, and a street-hardened Los Angeles police officer. These early chapters of his career did […]
The Pre-Trek Years: Gene Roddenberry’s Career from Bomber Pilot to LAPD Speechwriter
Why the Left Keeps Misdiagnosing Populism
15 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: British politics
This article was first published by CapX, the online newspaper of London’s Centre for Policy Studies, on 3 June 2026. It was written for a British audience, but the diagnostic mistake it identifies is universal. * Roger Partridge writes – Andy Burnham has one prescription, and he means to fill it, whatever the patient walks in […]
Why the Left Keeps Misdiagnosing Populism
Greg Ip Is Mistaken Again About U.S. Trade Deficits
15 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, growth miracles, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, international economics, politics - USA Tags: free trade
TweetHere’s a letter to the Wall Street Journal. Editor: Writing about U.S. trade deficits, Greg Ip declares that “by exporting so much, China effectively forces its trading partners to run deficits” (“The Global Economy Is Threatened Again by Trade Imbalances,” June 12). Wrong. U.S. trade deficits occur whenever foreigners sell more to us than they…
Greg Ip Is Mistaken Again About U.S. Trade Deficits
Miliband comes for underfloor heating in net zero drive
14 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming Tags: British politics
By Paul Homewood h/t Ian Magness From the Telegraph: Ed Miliband will ban the sale of underfloor heating systems deemed to be using too much power in his latest net zero drive. The Energy Secretary has also set his sights on electric towel rails, gas fires and storage heaters, with plans for […]
Miliband comes for underfloor heating in net zero drive
Callaghan failure
14 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, survivor principle, theory of the firm Tags: industry policy, picking losers
The Post reports: Nearly a third of the Callaghan Innovation’s $149 million Covid-era research and development loan book is in arrears, including $21.5m linked to 63 failed or insolvent businesses, as the agency enters its final months before disestablishment. Callaghan Innovation – a government entity set up to make businesses around the country more innovative…
Callaghan failure
The History of Greenpeace: The Evolution of Green Extremism
14 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of climate change, economics of crime, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, International law, law and economics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: climate activists, nuisance suits
The era of unchecked “activism” that masks itself as science while practicing inhumane sabotage is reaching its end. We are witnessing the slow, painful process of reality catching up to the Greenpeace propaganda. And frankly, it’s about time. The post The History of Greenpeace: The Evolution of Green Extremism appeared first on Watts Up With…
The History of Greenpeace: The Evolution of Green Extremism
Has the risk premium for owning stocks disappeared?
14 Jun 2026 Leave a comment
Axios reported that the equity risk premium (ERP) — the extra return investors expect for holding risky stocks instead of safe Treasuries — has shrunk to almost nothing. A safe 10-year Treasury bond pays about 4.5%. Stocks, measured against the companies’ current earnings, return only about 3.7%. So right now the safe bond actually pays…
Has the risk premium for owning stocks disappeared?
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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