Utopia, you are standing in it!

In yesterday’s post I drew attention – yet again – to New Zealand’s continued drop down the international productivity league tables. There are all sorts of caveats to the details – PPP comparisons are inevitably imprecise, and the data are subject to revisions – but few seriously doubt that we do much worse now relative to other advanced countries than we did just a few decades ago.

But it is easy to lose sight of what the numbers actually mean for ordinary New Zealanders, so I thought today I might do just a short stylised illustration.

In yesterday’s post – as on various occasions in the past – I’ve contrasted our outcomes with those of a group of highly successful OECD countries (but excluding Norway (oil), Ireland (even their own authorities don’t use GDP as a measure of Ireland’s outcomes) and Luxembourg): Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, the United States, Sweden, Austria…

Matilda of Flanders (c. 1031 – November 2, 1083) was Queen of the English and Duchess of Normandy by marriage to William the Conqueror, and regent of Normandy during his absences from the duchy. She was the mother of ten children who survived to adulthood, including two kings, William II and Henry I.

In 1031, Matilda was born into the House of Flanders, the second daughter of Count Baldwin V of Flanders and Adela of the Franks, the second daughter of King Robert II of West Francia and Constance of Arles.

Flanders was of strategic importance to England and most of Europe as a “stepping stone between England and the Continent” necessary for strategic trade and for keeping the Scandinavian Intruders from England. In addition, her mother was the daughter of Robert II of West Francia.

Marriage

There were rumours that Matilda had been in love with the English ambassador…

Germany’s so-called ‘transition’ to wind and solar is an unmitigated disaster: power prices have rocketed and more blackouts loom this winter, whenever the sun sets and/or calm weather sets in.

Hellbent on self-destruction, the Germans are planning to kill off their last remaining nuclear power plants and are equally determined to axe all of their coal-fired power generation, too; despite nuclear and coal-fired power plants providing the only reliable power generation within Germany. No doubt they will be forced to increasingly rely upon French nuclear power and coal-fired power from Poland, if those plans come to fruition.

Already suffering Europe’s highest power prices, Germans are in for much worse, as No Tricks Zone reports.

Energy Experts Warn Of “A Catastrophic Energy Emergency” If German Leaders Don’t Wake Up To Reality
No Tricks Zone
Pierre Gosselin
2 October 2021

Swiss publicist Roland Tichy hosted a discussion round with three energy experts:…

There would not be wind or solar industries in the absence of massive and endless subsidies. Those subsidies are either tacked on top of rocketing power bills and paid for by households and businesses; or they are provided in the form of tax credits or rebates to the owners and operators of wind turbines and solar panels; or they are provided to them by direct payment from governments for which all taxpayers are ultimately liable.

Governments and renewable energy rent-seekers have gone to considerable efforts to conceal how much subsidies are costing us; for obvious political reasons.

In Australia, as Alan Moran details below, the cost to date has been staggering and, if Scott Morrison signs up to a net-zero carbon dioxide gas emissions target, the cost born by households and businesses will be truly colossal.

Australia’s Obscene Green Subsidy Machine
Quadrant Online
Alan Moran
6 October 2021

When an…

Media Myth Alert today marks its 12th anniversary of calling attention to the publication or posting of prominent but exaggerated tales about media prowess and the presumed power and influence of journalists.

Twelve years offers a fitting occasion to recall some memorable posts — posts that tweaked often-arrogant media outlets such as the Washington Post and PBS, called out media lapses and hypocrisy, and supported the two editions of my myth-busting book, Getting It Wrong.

The lineup that unfolds below is admittedly subjective and represents but a slice of the hundreds of essays posted since the launch of Media Myth Alert on the afternoon of Halloween, 2009. It’s nonetheless a slice that makes for pleasant reminiscence. What follows are headlines and descriptions of five of the posts that for varying reasons have stood out over the years:

■ Why Trump-Russia is hardly Watergate-Nixon (posted March 5, 2017):