Utopia, you are standing in it!

The  reverential   aura enveloping  the  Ardern government   is beginning to fade and ministerial  fallibilities are  emerging. Just as  suddenly, the  media  are  offering  some  space  to  critics  of  the  government.

Richard  Prebble  is  calling for a  Royal Commission into   the  government’s  handling of the pandemic response.  ACT’s  David Seymour  sees  the  government’s rollout of the vaccination programme  as  an “insulting lottery”.

The Prime Minister’s   famed  kindness  and compassion  did not extend to “Case L”  in Papatoetoe who, she said,  ignored instruction in going to work at  a  local KFC.  But  the PM’s  anger  was  misplaced: “Case L”  had  been told  she was free to go to work.   “Case L” is  said  to have been distressed  by  the  vilification she suffered  in social  media.

And  now it  is  becoming apparent how  the pandemic and the government’s response to it are wreaking  havoc among  businesses.  News media have reported  this week how  …

On balance, I think Rishi Sunak got more things right than wrong in Wednesday’s Budget. Let’s start with a couple of positives.

First, he extended the most important support measures, including the uplift to Universal Credit and the furlough scheme, until the end of September. This is probably longer than strictly necessary because the remaining lockdown restrictions could all be lifted by 21^st June. But it does make sense to continue this support in the meantime and to minimise uncertainty for businesses and households.

There was also a good case for asking employers to contribute more to the furlough scheme from July, as the Chancellor has now done. Continuing the scheme on its current terms after restrictions have been lifted could lock people into jobs that are no longer viable and delay the adjustment to the ‘new normal’, whatever that may be.

Some will still say that Rishi Sunak…

Over the three and half years that Jacinda Ardern has been Prime Minister and Grant Robertson Minister of Finance it has become increasingly obvious that not only do they have no serious ideas for turning around decades of productivity growth underperformance, and no intention of doing much on that score, but they have no real interest either.

Appointments are among the things that help reveal priorities. A couple of years ago they had the opportunity to look for a new Secretary to the Treasury who might revitalise the agency and start generating serious credible advice on fixing that economic failure – with all its ramifications for opportunities in other areas of life. They chose to pass up that opportunity.

More recently – and the focus of this post – there has been the Productivity Commission, set up a decade ago with some vision that it might offer medium-term analysis, research…

The list is provided by Gad Saad in his article and video Welcome To The Abyss of Infinite Lunacy.  Psychologist and author of “The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense,” Gad Saad, warns that society is descending into an abyss of ultimate lunacy. Text in italics with my bolds and images.

GAD SAAD: The rate at which our society is tumbling into madness is truly bewildering.

One, it is now racist for a white person to translate the work of a black person.

Two, it is now homophobic for a straight actor to play a gay role.

Three, it is now racist for a white therapist to treat a black client.

Four, it is now racist to have advanced high school programs.

Five, it is now transphobic for biological females to reject having to compete against trans women.

Six, it is…

Few people outside the Treasury think that now is a good time even to be talking about raising taxes, let alone actually doing so. Nonetheless, it seems almost certain that the Chancellor will start down this road in Wednesday’s Budget. This may not be as mad as it sounds.

The arguments against immediate tax hikes are well known. The UK economy is still in the midst of the worst recession in over three hundred years. The cost of borrowing is still remarkably low. Raising taxes prematurely could simply undermine the recovery and actually make it harder to bring the public finances back under control.

It would also be politically risky. Almost all independent commentators – as well as many on the Conservative backbenches – agree that fiscal policy should continue to focus on supporting growth. The financial markets are comfortable with this too. This is an open goal that Labour…

Denis Prager explores how to query a friend, relative or colleague to see if they are open to discussion, or locked into a fixed ideology.  His article is Questions to Determine Whether a Friend or Relative Is a Liberal or a Leftist.  Excerpts in italics with my bolds and images.

The great tragedy of our time is that liberals vote left.

Virtually every value liberals have held for a century is now held by conservatives and scorned by leftists. Therefore, America, in serious jeopardy of being lost, will be saved when people convince the liberals in their life that the left, not the conservative, is their enemy.

This process begins by establishing whether a friend or relative is a liberal or a leftist. If it turns out that he or she is a liberal, it is worth engaging in respectful dialogue on the issues of the day. If…

Our Beehive Bulletin

The news we expected to find – no, the news we thought we might find – was not there when we checked the Beehive website this morning.

It was an acknowledgement from our kindly PM that maybe she had been a tad unkindly when she failed to hide her frustration about the Covid-19 community case who had gone to work at KFC Botany instead of isolating at home.

What we did find was news that –

• The Government remains committed to hosting the Women’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand in 2022 should a decision be made by World Rugby this weekend to postpone this year’s tournament.
• The Government has confirmed details of COVID-19 support for business and workers following the increased alert levels due to a resurgence of the virus over the weekend.  This extends the COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme.

Here at Point of Order…

Credit: University of Liverpool / National Oceanography Centre (Liverpool branch)
The graph looks consistent with mild warming following the Little Ice Age. About 30 cms. or 1 foot of sea level rise in 130 years since 1890 is nothing remarkable. The average duration of solar cycles was longer in the 19th century than in the 20th but that trend is reversing now, with a lot more sunspot-free days per cycle. Climatic effects may follow.
– – –
A study published by University of Liverpool scientists, alongside colleagues from the Liverpool branch of the National Oceanography Centre, has uncovered and analyzed new sea level records from the nineteenth century which show that the increased rate of the rise of British sea level took place from 1890 onwards, says Phys.org.

Nowadays, sea level measurements around the British Isles are made by tide gauges which record digitally and transmit the data automatically.

Prime   Minister  Jacinda  Ardern has admitted  to   the  NZ Herald’s  Claire Trevett  that ”Covid  is  constantly in my mind”.

In an interview  at the weekend, extending  over two pages of  the newspaper, Trevett observed:

“Ardern is  now  very confident in her Prime Ministerial  skin. There is  nothing  tentative  about her  leadership.

“She has admitted suffering from a  touch of self  doubt in the past— but if she, or others, ever thought  she  was  not up  to the  job, the  past year has  dispelled  it  completely. There  is  also optimism in her.”

Trevett  went  on to  assert –

“The  most recent  community cases have been dealt  with, with limited  disruption  to people’s  lives” .

On  that, there  may be  a  question mark.  The  interview  appeared   the  very day  another  community Covid case had  led to  a fourth lockdown of  Auckland.  The  decision had been taken by  Cabinet  on Saturday  afternoon …

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Brits are already paying the price for its suicidal renewable energy policies. Under ‘Bonkers’ Boris that price will be positively murderous. His plan to squander a further £50,000,000,000 on subsidies and over-the-market contracts for intermittent offshore wind power beggars belief. And will turn many on the lower rungs into beggars, proper.

Every good socialist reset requires a healthy dose of positive propaganda; especially those involving state-mandated crony capitalism. Which is where Britain’s energy miss-regulator, Ofgem comes in.

Packed with policy wonks and wind industry rent seekers, it’s an outfit as practised in the art of subterfuge as Sherlock Holmes’ arch-nemesis, Moriarty.

The Global Warming Policy Forum launches a Holmes-like attack on Ofgem’s latest effort to keep Brits in the dark as to what’s driving their power prices through the roof.

Ofgem condemned for misleading the public about energy price rises
The…

I very much enjoy political satire, so I appreciate that some topics create endless opportunities for mockery

• Politicians
• Gun control
• Socialism

Heck, I even have a collection of libertarian-themed humor.

Today, we’re going to share some examples of environmentalism humor, starting with this clever (and surprising, considering the source) video from the BBC.

Speaking of Ms. Thunberg, she also is the star of the following meme (she’s also appeared in one of my columns on socialism humor).

The theme of that meme, as well as the one that follows, is that some environmentalists don’t understand that there are costs and benefits for different sources of energy.

And that makes them susceptible to charges of “virtue signalling” and hypocrisy (and maybe ignorance).

P.S. I don’t have a big collection of environment-themed humor, but you can click here, here, here, here, and here for previous examples.

The news on Friday was Biden signing another order, this one restoring the so-called “Social Cost of Carbon” to Obama’s $51 a ton, along with threats to raise it up to $125 a ton.  The whole notion is an exercise in imagination for the sake of adding regulatory costs to everything involving energy,  that is to everything.  A background post below describes the history of how this ruse started and the manipulations and arbitrary assumptions to gin up a number high enough to hobble the economy.

Background from 2018 post: US House Votes Down Social Cost of Carbon

The House GOP on Friday took a step forward in reining in the Obama administration’s method of assessing the cost of carbon dioxide pollution when developing regulations.

The House voted 212-201, along party lines, to include a rider blocking the use of the climate change cost metric to an energy and water…

Not content with depriving the poor of electricity, the climate-industrial complex is determined to “break their will” to heat their hovels and drive their beat up Chevies.

Apparently, the punishment meted out by renewables driven power price hikes wasn’t enough to break their selfish mettle.

Massachusetts Governor, Charlie Baker is a card-carrying member of the climate cult, as is his ever-faithful sidekick, David Ismay.

In a moment of telling candour, Ismay dropped all pretense when he informed a group of fellow travellers engaged in a videoconference that – in order meet Massachusetts’ zero-emissions target – the State’s real target is:

“you, the person across the street, the senior on fixed income, right … there is no bad guy left, at least in Massachusetts to point the finger at, to turn the screws on, and you know, to break their will, so they stop emitting. That’s you. We have to break…

So-called ‘progressives’ are long on moral posturing, but short on human compassion. Enamoured with costly wind and solar, and determined to outlaw every last reliable power source, they couldn’t care less about the inevitable spike in power prices that follows, that disproportionately punishes the least fortunate souls among us.

Letting granny freeze in the dark is a sacrifice that the renewable energy zealot is always ready to make. It’s all about saving the planet, don’t you know?

As broadband Internet took off a decade ago, policy wonks talked about a ‘digital divide’ between rich and poor.

These days – with the recent emergence of ‘energy poverty’ amongst first world nations – a growing proportion won’t have power at all and, accordingly, no hope of connecting their dimly lit homes to the Internet, either.

Where policymakers once saw electricity as a commodity to be provided universally, a literal beacon of light…