Utopia, you are standing in it!

Any Teslas round here? [image credit: Edal Anton Lefterov @ Wikipedia] A bit of light relief perhaps, unless you’re already one of the victims or could soon become one. Are electric cars more appealing than combustion-engined types to hungry rodents? Check those brake cables.
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Elon Musk may have a rat problem, says The New York Post.

Fans of the South African billionaire’s electric cars say rats, mice and rodents are chomping down on their Teslas.

And despite having dropped tens of thousands of dollars to buy the pricey vehicles, Tesla refuses to cover the damage.

Walter Williams passed away this morning. He was a well-known professor of economics at George Mason University, having written, lectured, and debated extensively in defense of libertarianism. His contributions to the movement were enormous, and all those who value freedom should be grateful for the ideas he spread and the people he inspired.

If you are not familiar with Williams, please take some time to read his writings and view his media appearances. And if you are familiar, please honor his memory by spreading his wisdom to friends and family.

Steven Landsburg, The Armchair Economist

Steven Landsburg‘s The Armchair Economist is a book that anarcho-capitalists will appreciate for two reasons.

First, as an outreach tool it provides a solid introduction to economic ideas from a free market perspective. The concepts covered are simple enough for anyone to understand, but remarkable enough to spark interest in economics and the dangers of government. With fun examples and amusing anecdotes, it will help find those who are curious, open-minded, and almost ready for more earth-shattering works by anarcho-capitalists.

Second, the book comes from a mainstream free-market perspective that will not only force ancaps to hone their thinking, but also teach them a few tricks that are not found in the works of Austrian School economists. Most ancaps will pick up new arguments for freedom that will resonate with regular people, and learn interesting points about economic history that they may not…

An interesting exchange has occurred between Will Wilkinson of the Niskanen Center and Ilya Somin writing for the Washington Post on the issue of the influence of libertarianism over the modern Republican Party’s erosion of liberal democratic norms. Inhis initial piece, Wilkinson seemed to argue that the Libertarian view of absolutism in regards to property rights which was a way to offer an emotionally gratifying alternative to socialist redistribution was responsible for the Right’s adoption of a populist outlook which eroded democratic norms, for example, policies like Voter ID and Gerrymandering. Ilya Sominresponded by pointing out that the libertarian “absolutist” conception of property rights had next to nothing to do with why many libertarians Wilkinson cites are skeptical of democracy. Wilkinsonresponded by saying his initial argument was confusingly stated, not that absolutist property rights is driving democratic erosion on the part of the right, by trying…

The wind and sun may be free, but wind and solar power are anything but. Hidden ‘green’ taxes, costs and charges, not to mention massive subsidies redirected from both taxpayers and power consumers to wind and solar generators are just the beginning.

The market distortions created by those subsidies have wrecked the ability of conventional generators to deliver power as and when we need it, at prices that we can afford. But that was precisely the point.

Francis Menton has been targeting the true costs of wind and solar, for years now. Here he is detailing the nightmarish cost of the unreliables.

Texas Starts Waking Up To The Issue Of The Full Costs Of “Renewables”
Manhattan Contrarian
Francis Menton
20 June 2021

The promoters of the climate scam have a variety of deceptions to get the gullible to accede to their socialist plans. Those deceptions range from the quite sophisticated…

For the third time in just over a decade, a new map of parliamentary constituencies is being designed. This one will likely be implemented. Charles Pattie and David Rossiter argue that, despite the misconceptions of both Labour and the Conservatives, the review is neither a ‘gerrymander’ against one, nor redressing an imbalance that harmed the other. But these entrenched views could yet threaten the future of First Past the Post as the system for Westminster elections.

Here we go again. For the third time since 2010, a new map of Westminster parliamentary constituencies is being designed. The Boundary Commission for England released its preliminary proposals on 8 June (the Commissions for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will follow suit in the coming months). Final recommendations will appear in the summer of 2023. This time (the previous two attempts at redistricting faltered before being implemented) the new map is very likely…

by Judith Curry

Schellenberger and Nordhaus of the Breakthrough Institute posted an interesting essay last week entitled  “The Long Death of Environmentalism.”  The summary reads:

Last week Breakthrough co-founders Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus returned to Yale University for a retrospective on their seminal 2004 essay, “The Death of Environmentalism.” In their speech they argued that the critical work of rethinking green politics was cut short by fantasies about green jobs and “An Inconvenient Truth.” The latter backfired — more Americans started to believe news of global warming was being exaggerated after the movie came out — the former made false promises that could not be realized by cap and trade. What is an earnest green who cares about global warming to do now? In this speech, Nordhaus and Shellenberger reflect on what went so badly awry, and offer 12 Theses for a post-environmental approach to climate change.

by Judith Curry

How would you explain the complexity and uncertainty surrounding climate change plus how we should respond (particularly with regards to CO2 emissions) in five minutes?

The Dutch government in exile , also known as the London Cabinet () was the government in exile of the Netherlands, headed by Queen Wilhelmina, that evacuated to London after the German invasion of the country during World War II.It was established on May 13 1940.

Prior to 1940, the Netherlands was a neutral country, generally on good terms with Germany. In May 1940 Queen Wilhelmina escaped to London; the Dutch government under Prime Minister De Geer would follow a day later, after the German invasion.

The government was established at Stratton House in the Piccadilly area of London, opposite Green Park.

Initially their hope was that France would regroup and liberate the country. Although there was an attempt in this direction, it soon failed, because the Allied forces were surrounded and forced to evacuate at Dunkirk.

The government-in-exile was soon faced with a dilemma. After France had been defeated…

The Treasury is right to begin to wind down the furlough scheme – and not a moment too soon. The UK economy is springing back to life and the labour market is not far behind.

It will take a while for this to be confirmed in the official data. We still only have the headline numbers for unemployment in April and some early estimates of payroll employment in May. But these show that the unemployment rate has levelled out below 5% (some had feared it could be as high as 10%), and that the economy is rapidly regaining the jobs lost last year.

The more timely business surveys and ‘faster indicators’ are even more encouraging. For example, the KPMG and REC Report on Jobs showed that recruitment surged again in June, with other sources confirming that vacancies and online job ads are hitting new highs.

Indeed, many sectors are…