Utopia, you are standing in it!

June 20, 2008 Update: Here are my initial random thoughts of the first two installments of Prof. Cheung’s “The Economic System of China”.

July 22, 2008 Update: Here is a link to various coverage of the 2008 Chicago Conference on China’s Economic Transformation including an indirect link to Prof. Ronald Coase’s Introduction at the conference. Enjoy.

Oct 7th, 2008 Update: I have blogged and referenced extensively about The Economic System of China, you can search for these blog entries by clicking here.

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Economics Nobel Prize winner Professor Ronald Coase (the Coase in Coase Theorem) is 96 years old and Professor Steven N S Cheung is younger at 71 years old. Both are well passed the retirement age but still are hard at work!

Coase is organizing a 2008 Chinese Economics Reform Symposium (my translation from “中 國 經 改 研 討 會 議”) and has personally…

Being a bit early for an appointment yesterday, I ducked into a secondhand bookshop and emerged with a history of Countrywide Bank (by Tony Farrington, published in 1997), to add to my pile of histories of New Zealand financial institutions and major corporates.   For younger readers, perhaps unfamiliar with the name, Countrywide grew up from the building society movement, became a bank in the late 1980s after deregulation, and was taken over by the National Bank (itself later taken over by ANZ) in the late 1990s.

As I idly flicked through the book, I came across the account of one of those little episodes in financial history that (as far as I know) are not that well documented: the run on the building society, in April 1985.  Literal physical retail bank runs –  people queuing in bank branches and out onto the street – just aren’t that common.  …

In four months’ time, the extension to the Article 50 period agreed in April will expire. The UK will have a new Prime Minister by then, although it remains unclear what position they will take if the Commons continues to refuse to approve the Withdrawal Agreement. Jack Simson Caird analyses the legal and political mechanisms available should parliament seek to prevent the next Prime Minister taking the UK out of the EU without a deal.

Boris Johnson has said that if he is the next Prime Minister the UK will leave the EU on 31 October with or without a deal. Theresa May, made the same pledge before the original Article 50 deadline on 29 March. However, after coming under significant pressure from MPs, she did not follow through and sought two extensions from the EU (resulting in the current exit day of 31 October).

Since Theresa May said that…

“REMEMBER when we paved the world with electronic waste
that chopped eagles and condors and made bats extinct
because we thought wind was natural and uranium evil?
– man that was a dark age!”
– Michael Shellenberger

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ONE of the great falsehoods and dangerous myths pushed by reckless global warming climate change zealots and the mainstream media is that ‘renewable energy’ – wind and solar – is “clean, green and renewable”.

‘RENEWABLES’ are neither “clean, green, or renewable”. In fact, they are pure embodiments of fossil fuel technology, with oil and “dirty” coal derivatives required for :

• Mining
• Manufacturing
• Transportation
• Installation
• Maintenance
• 24/7/365 Backup

SEE :

• WHAT I See When I See a Wind Turbine | Climatism
• IF CO2’s Your Poison, Renewable Energy Is No Antidote | Climatism

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ANOTHER excellent article of reason and sanity written by man-made “global warming” believer and environmentalist, Michael Shellenberger.

POLITICIANS, please take note…

By Andy Jehring 15 Jun 2019 The Sun

A FRACKING protester clambered on equipment and shackled herself down – while illegally claiming thousands on one of the highest level of disability benefit.

Catherine Jackson, 51, said she could barely stand due to arthritis and rarely left the house due to panic attacks despite attending the rally against the Cuadrilla plant.

She was photographed at the Little Plumpton site in Lancashire shackled to equipment during a protest against fracking and police were forced to use angle grinders to release her.

The protester pocketed £5,392 of Personal Independence Payments between June 2017 and May 2018.

She told authorities she slept most of the days, was in constant agony and had to be woken for meals by her daughter.

The mum said she had arthritis and claimed the extreme pain in her shoulder meant she couldn’t hold anything so couldn’t cook for herself.

With the death of King William IV of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover, on June 20, 1837, his 18 year old niece ascends the throne as Queen Victoria.

Queen Victoria was christened as Alexandrina Victoria and for a while was known as “Drina” in her youth. The first official documents prepared for her on her first day as queen named her Queen Alexandrina Victoria. However the queen requested it to be changed and stated she wanted to be known as Victoria.

Queen Victoria was the only daughter of HRH Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and   Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Her father was the fourth son of King George III and he died in 1820. With both George IV and William IV leaving no legitimate offspring Victoria was heir to the throne. Her accession to the throne also witnessed the separation of the personal union between the United Kingdom…

The big news of the day seems to have been  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s  embarrassing mistake, which she seems not to grasp – was a mistake. Democrats, who want open borders, are anxious to capitalize on any evidence that the federal government might be misbehaving at the southern border.  Perhaps you noticed that when the Border Patrol rescued sick children who died in the hospital from dehydration, Democrats tried to blame the deaths on the Border Patrol rather than the parent who failed to keep them hydrated. Democrats came up with photos of children in cages from the Obama administration, and tried to pass them off as current prisoners of the Border Patrol. They haven’t missed a chance to attack the Border Patrol, the very force designed to protect Americans from criminal illegal aliens and drugs coming across the border.

The congresswoman, during an Instagram Live broadcast on Monday, accused the U.S…

Two very interesting articles published last Thursday by The New York Times point out that anti-vaccine activism is largely on the political Left. In light of a measles outbreak in Rockland County, New York, the Grey Lady profiled the Green Meadow Waldorf Schools based out of Chestnut Ridge that are bastions of anti-vaccine activism.

According the The Times school’s base philosophy is based on the teachings of early 20th century educator Rudolf Steiner. While Steiner did not entirely vaccines, he did state that diseases were formed by astral bodies and that rosemary baths were better for diphtheria and that smallpox could be avoided by being mentally prepared to confront it.

There are close to 150 Waldorf Schools around the country with several branches in the New York City area and the school does not require vaccines for children to attend. Two schools (one in North Carolina and the other…

Before climate expert Paul Ehrlich was worried about global warming, he was worried about global cooling – and wanted to poison Africans.

Ehrlich and Obama’s science adviser John Holdren, warned of a new ice age.

So Ehrlich proposed to the UN that they poison the water and food supply of Africa and Asia.

A STERILITY DRUG IN FOOD IS HINTED – Biologist Stresses Need to Curb Population Growth – View Article – NYTimes.com

As Italy plans fiscal money to subvent ECB and Euro, there is another interesting story from the country.

Italian Mafia still uses Old Lira notes!

Italy’s proposed mini T-Bills may be pie in the sky for now, but it appears the country already has another currency floating around — the old lira.

A senior police officer revealed this week that domestic criminal organizations are still using the pre-euro currency for illicit transactions. It’s not clear how the former notes are ultimately exchanged for euros, if at all, though he said officers are still uncovering them. The lira ceased to be legal tender at the end of February 2002.

“We still discover big amounts of liras,” Giuseppe Arbore, a deputy in the Guardia di Finanza, which investigates financial crimes, said at a parliamentary hearing on Thursday. “Italian liras still constitute parts of illicit transactions.’’

Arbore’s remarks prompted amazement among lawmakers…