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
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
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
The New York Times, reporting on a shooting in Vermont, gratuitously incites hatred against Israel
03 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, war against terror
It’s taken me a while to fathom how anti-Israeli (or even antisemitic) the New York Times is, but the article below exemplifies this bias, which constantly leaks into the paper’s news reporting and non-op-ed stories. In fact, I find that the Times of Israel gives more accurate information about the war than does the NYT. […]
The New York Times, reporting on a shooting in Vermont, gratuitously incites hatred against Israel
The Uncompetitive Urban Land Markets Theory of Everything
03 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, environmental economics, income redistribution, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
The Housing Theory of Everything has one of those wonderful self-explanatory titles. A good title matters. The recent and thorough essay explains how the anglosphere’s unnecessarily expensive housing affects, well, everything. Or at least almost everything.Zoning makes it too hard to build houses where people want to build. Urban containment policies block new subdivisions, so…
The Uncompetitive Urban Land Markets Theory of Everything
A Moment of Truth: Five Questions for Hunter Biden
01 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 closed door deposition of Hunter Biden. After years of conflicting and evasive responses on these corruption allegations, Hunter Biden is now faced with a moment of truth.
A Moment of Truth: Five Questions for Hunter Biden
“Craven” and “Insurrectionists”: MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Other Denounce the Supreme Court for Granting Review of Presidential Immunity
29 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
Yesterday, the Supreme Court granted review of the presidential immunity question, but set an expedited schedule for the review of the question with oral argument scheduled for April. Former president Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that “Legal Scholars are extremely thankful for the Supreme Court’s Decision today to take up Presidential Immunity.” As I […]
“Craven” and “Insurrectionists”: MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Other Denounce the Supreme Court for Granting Review of Presidential Immunity
Productivity Commission gone tomorrow, Māori Health Authority gone in June – so what should we do with the Waitangi Tribunal?
28 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, health economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking
The Productivity Commission will cease operations tomorrow, to make way for the new Ministry for Regulation. On the same day, the Waitangi Tribunal will begin an urgent inquiry into the government’s proposal to disestablish the Māori Health Authority. But legislation passed under urgency by Parliament will result in the authority being shut down by the end […]
Productivity Commission gone tomorrow, Māori Health Authority gone in June – so what should we do with the Waitangi Tribunal?
Claims about Iran (from the comments)
27 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, development economics, economics of crime, economics of religion, growth disasters, law and economics Tags: Iran
I’ve chatted with a lot of Iranians online in the past few years (they’re in Iran). Some of their takes (always subject to the “plural of anecdote is not “data”)… 1. Islam is seen by younger people as the doctrine of a failed government staffed by a bunch of crooks. 2. And it’s a foreign, […]
Claims about Iran (from the comments)
Hunter Blows Away His Own Counsel’s Sobriety Defense
27 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
There is a lot of chatter this morning about the interview of Hunter Biden with Axios before his appearance in Congress for testimony on the alleged corrupt activities of his family. The interview has powerful moments as Hunter describes his struggle with addiction and the pressure that he feels to stay sober in light of […]
Hunter Blows Away His Own Counsel’s Sobriety Defense
Friends with Benefits? Telephone Records Raise New Challenge to the Willis/Wade Testimony
26 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, crime and punishment, free speech law and order, regressive left
In the movie Friends with Benefits, the character Jamie asks Dylan “why do I get the feeling this is the first real commitment you’ve ever made?” Dylan responds “It’s not. T-Mobile. Two years. And f*** do I regret that one!” The ongoing proceedings involving Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and lead prosecutor Nathan Wade […]
Friends with Benefits? Telephone Records Raise New Challenge to the Willis/Wade Testimony
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