Ireland’s effort to remove old-fashioned family values from its constitution suffered a double defeat Saturday as voters rejected the amendments on offer as maddeningly vague and threatening to property rights… In final results announced Saturday night, the amendment to change the constitutional definition of family was rejected by 67.7 percent of voters. The proposed changes […]
The Irish reject a “Woke” constitutional change
The Irish reject a “Woke” constitutional change
10 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of love and marriage, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics Tags: Ireland
Using procurement for political ends gives you worse prices.
09 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, entrepreneurship, income redistribution, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, theory of the firm, transport economics, urban economics Tags: cartels, competition and monopoly, competition law
Over 20 years ago, some middling economists (cite) estimated that the Small Business Set-Aside program reduced Forest Service Timber prices by 15%. By limiting the potential pool of available bidders to only smaller lumber mills, you get less competition and worse prices. Now San Francisco is re-learning that lesson. In 2016, it refused to do…
Using procurement for political ends gives you worse prices.
Environmentalism Perverted by Climatism
08 Mar 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of climate change, economics of crime, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, growth miracles, law and economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, property rights Tags: climate alarmism, free speech, regressive left, The Great Enrichment

J. Scott Turner explains how the roots of environmental stewardship were poisoned, resulting in the perverted modern decarbonization movement. His Spectator Australia article is Environmentalism: from concern about clean air to throwing soup at the Mona Lisa. Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images. H/T John Ray Garrett Hardin was a professor of biology […]
Environmentalism Perverted by Climatism
Bitten by her own attack dogs
08 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, International law, law and economics, laws of war, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left, war against terror

Whether comparing Leftist politics to mythology like Roman gods who ate their own children, or the creature known as Ouroburos, or showing up its self-destruction in real-life insanities like Defunding The Police, backing Burn Loot Murder and the Soros-backed District Attorney’s that have brought so much crime and misery upon the heads of their Democrat […]
Bitten by her own attack dogs
Tide turning in Washington State?
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: Age of Enlightenment, regressive left, taxation and investment
From an MR reader: Good story here about one man in Washington state fighting the battle against the progressive tide. He single handedly got six initiatives on the ballot to repeal progressive reforms over the past few years. These include a police pursuit law that prevents police from chasing criminals in most cases, and a […]
Tide turning in Washington State?
How the Washington Post and the New York Times practice abysmal journalism about the Middle East war
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economic history, International law, law and economics, laws of war, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror

Within about a month of each other, two articles came out discussing how America’s most prominent liberal newspapers—the New York Times and the Washington Post—have both abjured proper standards of journalism when covering the Israel/Hamas war. (Further, the other day the Torygraph wrote about how the BBC does the same thing.) And, of course since […]
How the Washington Post and the New York Times practice abysmal journalism about the Middle East war
Of Pings and Prosecutors: The Spectacular Imposition of the Willis-Wade Testimony
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election

Below is my column in the New York Post on the expanding controversy surrounding the disqualification of Fani Willis and Nathan Wade. In today’s legislative hearing in Atlanta, counsel Ashleigh Merchant testified that cellphone records on one occasion show “pings” on Wade’s cellphone from his home to the vicinity of Willis’s home followed by a […]
Of Pings and Prosecutors: The Spectacular Imposition of the Willis-Wade Testimony
A Moment of Supreme Clarity: How the Court Delivered a Blow of the Lumberjack School of Constitutional Law
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: 2020 presidential election, 2024 presidential election, regressive left, rule of law

Below is my column in USA Today on the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court to reject the disqualification of former president Donald Trump from the 2024 election. Some Democrats are now seeking to resume the effort through Congress to prevent voters from being able to vote for the leading candidate for the presidency. Here […]
A Moment of Supreme Clarity: How the Court Delivered a Blow of the Lumberjack School of Constitutional Law
Even Lowerer Hutt
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
One annoying thing about writing a Saturday column for the Stuff papers is never knowing whether a piece will show up in print.I’d thought this one was a banger. I’ll be talking about related issues tomorrow night as part of a panel for A City for People. 🟨🟪 Our speaker line up has dropped! 🟪🟨Join us on…
Even Lowerer Hutt
Longing for Auschwitz.
07 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, gender, International law, law and economics, laws of war, liberalism, war and peace Tags: Age of Enlightenment, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, Nazi Germany, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left, The Holocaust, war against terror

An article in Tablet Magazine with that title, “Longing for Auschwitz., that nails what lies at the heart of what happened in Israel last October 7. A couple of excerpts but as always… Hamas’s assault on Israelis on October 7th was not an act of war as we normally think of it but something far […]
Longing for Auschwitz.
CHRIS TROTTER: For the self-loathing Left, charity definitely does not begin at home
06 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, law and economics, laws of war, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, war and peace Tags: British politics, free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror
Chris Trotter writes – GEORGE GALLOWAY’S STUNNING VICTORY in Rochdale, Britain, has provoked a sharp response from leftists whose primary analytical focus remains socio-economic. Galloway turned the by-election into a referendum on the two main British political parties’ stance on the war in Gaza. Successfully exploiting the fact that 30 percent of the Rochdale electorate […]
CHRIS TROTTER: For the self-loathing Left, charity definitely does not begin at home
Raskin and the Agents of Chaos: Democrats Prepare to Resume Disqualification Efforts in Congress
06 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2020 presidential election, 2024 presidential election

Calling it “one on a huge list of priorities,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.) announced that he will be reintroducing a prior bill with Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Eric Swalwell to disqualify not just Trump but a large number of Republicans from taking office. The alternative, it appears, is unthinkable: allowing the public to…
Raskin and the Agents of Chaos: Democrats Prepare to Resume Disqualification Efforts in Congress
DON BRASH: PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT SPEECH FROM THE NEW GOVERNMENT SO FAR
03 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics Tags: land supply, zoning
Last week, Housing Minister Chris Bishop gave perhaps the most important speech by the new Government since the election. In a speech to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, he said he wanted the ratio of house prices to median household income to more than halve to between 3 and 5 over the next 10…
DON BRASH: PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT SPEECH FROM THE NEW GOVERNMENT SO FAR
ELLIOT IKILEI: Why I am joining Hobson’s Pledge
03 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
We thought some good news wouldn’t go amiss. The following content speaks for itself. Just a quick note to introduce myself as the newest member of the Hobson’s Pledge team. A quick bit about myself: I am a husband, dad, and proud New Zealander. I have ancestors from Niue, England, and Tonga, and I hail…
ELLIOT IKILEI: Why I am joining Hobson’s Pledge
No, the Court is Not “Slow Walking” the Trump Immunity Case
03 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: 2020 presidential election, 2024 presidential election

Below is a slightly expanded version of my column on Fox.com on the attacks on the Court for granting review of the immunity challenge brought by former president Donald Trump. The scheduling of oral argument has unleashed the familiar voices against the justices and allegations of political machinations. The claims of “slow walking” the appeal […]
No, the Court is Not “Slow Walking” the Trump Immunity Case
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