TOP has proposed a 1.75% tax on the value of urban land (except Maori communal land) and 0.5% on rural land. It is worth noting that land values have been declining for the last five years, so TOP’s policy is to tax you on an asset that is declining in value! Urban Av land value…
How much land tax will you pay?
How much land tax will you pay?
20 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
Voter Ignorance and the Problem of Confusion Caused by Candidates With Similar Names [Updated]
20 Aug 2026 1 Comment
Voter confusion caused by candidates with similar names – as in the current Alaska Senate race – is part of the much larger problem of political ignorance.
Voter Ignorance and the Problem of Confusion Caused by Candidates With Similar Names [Updated]
The 1934 German Head of State Referendum: A Pivotal Moment in Nazi Consolidation of Power
19 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economic history, politics, Public Choice Tags: Nazi Germany
The 1934 German head-of-state referendum, held on August 19, stands as a crucial moment in the Nazi regime’s consolidation of power. Following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg on August 2, 1934, Adolf Hitler sought to solidify his grip on Germany by merging the offices of President and Chancellor, thus assuming the title of […]
The 1934 German Head of State Referendum: A Pivotal Moment in Nazi Consolidation of Power
Who Pays for Medicare for All?
18 Aug 2026 1 Comment
in health economics, income redistribution, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics
Plus: Democrats reckon with the rise of the DSA, Trump scales back America’s military presence abroad, and the case for letting kids play outside
Who Pays for Medicare for All?
Opportunity Party on when you’re a child
17 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of education, health economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election, crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order
The Opportunity Party policy is or was that any criminal offender aged under 25 should be sent to the Youth Court for a family group conference, rather than go to an adult court. They say this is because 24 year old brains are not fully developed, so they should not be held fully accountable for…
Opportunity Party on when you’re a child
Dr. Fauci’s Contempt of Congress Can Be Challenged but his Contempt for the Public Cannot be Denied
14 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: constitutional law
“Today I am the most famous and talked-about person in the country.” Those words from the diary of Dr. Anthony…
Dr. Fauci’s Contempt of Congress Can Be Challenged but his Contempt for the Public Cannot be Denied
The folly of the DSA
12 Aug 2026 1 Comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, International law, law and economics, laws of war, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left
If you already think the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are bad, have a gander at this interview. An article in the Times of Israel (click screenshot below) summarizes a New Yorker interview, also on video (below), with Megan Romer, current co-chair of the DSA. As you know, DSA members or affiliates are winning important…
The folly of the DSA
SST lashes crazy TOP policy
11 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of education, health economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
Chris Lynch reports: The Sensible Sentencing Trust has launched a blistering attack on The Opportunity Party’s policy to raise the age of Youth Court jurisdiction, describing it as one of the craziest ideas it has seen in years. Opportunity’s “Smart on Crime” policy promised until recently to “raise the age of the youth court jurisdiction…
SST lashes crazy TOP policy
Deliberately keeping people waiting
11 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
In May 2008, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd reportedly kept Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, then Chief of the Defence Force, and Michael L’Estrange, Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, waiting for several hours outside his office before a scheduled meeting. L’Estrange reportedly missed an engagement with the French ambassador as a result. It is not as if […]
Deliberately keeping people waiting
The limits Una Jagose KC cannot name
11 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
When former Solicitor-General Una Jagose KC told a Law Association breakfast on 2 July 2026 that New Zealand risks “sleepwalking” towards a collapse of the separation of powers, she framed herself as the constitution’s anxious guardian. The framing deserves scrutiny.
The limits Una Jagose KC cannot name
Once again: why anti-Zionism is antisemitism
08 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, International law, law and economics, laws of war, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left, war against terror
Of. course I’ll get raked for putting up this post, but I’m frankly sick of people denigrating others as “Zionists”, which in most cases is simply a euphemism for “people who are pro-Israel” or even “Jews”, so that “anti-Zionist” becomes a euphemism for “anti-Israel” or “antisemitic”. My contention, echoed by Natasha Hausdorff and Douglas Murray…
Once again: why anti-Zionism is antisemitism
The power of incentives with illegal migration
08 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in Economics of international refugee law, international economic law, international economics, International law, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: economics of immigration
At the end of June the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that migrants arriving by sea could not be summarily deported. A few weeks later 60,000 people from Morocco crossed in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, almost doubling their population in a few days. People smugglers exploit situations. This is why you need harsh preventive measures.…
The power of incentives with illegal migration
The Lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith: A Dark Mirror of American History
07 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: racial discrimination
On the night of August 7, 1930, the small city of Marion, Indiana became the site of one of the most infamous and haunting episodes of racial violence in American history—the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith. What makes this event particularly searing in the American consciousness isn’t just the brutality of the act. […]
The Lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith: A Dark Mirror of American History
The New McCarthys: Forty Percent of Professors Would Vote Against Hiring a Trump Voter
06 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, human capital, labour economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
According to a new survey, roughly 40 percent of college faculty would “oppose hiring a Trump supporter.” The results of…
The New McCarthys: Forty Percent of Professors Would Vote Against Hiring a Trump Voter
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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