Aussie Greens Leader Adam Bandt flew a private jet to give a speech on the evils of fossil fuel.
Aussie Green Party Leader Used Private Jets, Expensed $1 Million to Taxpayers
Aussie Green Party Leader Used Private Jets, Expensed $1 Million to Taxpayers
13 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - Australia Tags: climate alarmism
One Year Since the Meltdown at Silicon Valley Bank: Commercial Real Estate and Ongoing Threats
13 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of information, economics of regulation, financial economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - USA Tags: banking panics
One year ago in March 2023, Silicon Valley Bank melted down, quickly followed by similar meltdowns at Signature Bank and First Republic Bank. Measured by the nominal size of bank assets, these were three of the biggest four US bank failures in history. (The failure of Washington Mutual Bank in 2008 remains the largest.) Was…
One Year Since the Meltdown at Silicon Valley Bank: Commercial Real Estate and Ongoing Threats
NZ should go further than Australia
13 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in international economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: free trade, tariffs
New Zealand sensibly got rid of most tariffs years ago. We should go further than Australia plans to do and abolish the rest: The Taxpayers’ Union is renewing its calls to abolish all tariffs following reports that Australia plans to unilaterally abolish nearly 500 of its tariffs. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “With the stroke […]
NZ should go further than Australia
Once again: the claim that sex is non-binary, but there are no new arguments
13 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, gender, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
Really? Do I have to rebut the same arguments about the definition of biological sex again? Well, here in American Scientist is a group of two anthropologists, one anatomist, and a gender-and-sexuality-studies professor, all telling us that there is no clear definition of sex, using the same tired old arguments to rebut the gamete-based sex […]
Once again: the claim that sex is non-binary, but there are no new arguments
Nightmare Scenario: How a Trump Trial Could Now Run Up to (or Through) the 2024 Election
12 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
Below is my column in the Hill on the real possibility of a federal trial of former president Donald Trump just before or even through the 2024 election. The claim that this schedule is the result of treating Trump like other criminal defendants is increasingly dubious given statements of courts and the Special Counsel. Here […]
Nightmare Scenario: How a Trump Trial Could Now Run Up to (or Through) the 2024 Election
Like vs. Cringe
12 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
Joe Biden is now the most unpopular President in US post-WWII history at this stage of the Presidency, being 1140 days in, as analysed by the FiveThirtyEight site. The following figures for each President is the difference between their approval ratings and disapproval rating, which you can in more detail (including graphically) at the link. […]
Like vs. Cringe
What media bias looks like
11 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in labour economics, labour supply, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: marriage and divorce
Lindsay Mitchell writes – When news media took a pummelling last week at both TVNZ and TV3, a number of critics said part of the reason ratings are poor is the public don’t trust them. The public believe that the media is biased. The print media is similarly suspect. An article in Stuff on Sunday […]
What media bias looks like
Reading deal – rare media bouquet
11 Mar 2024 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of media and culture, income redistribution, industrial organisation, law and economics, market efficiency, movies, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, survivor principle, theory of the firm, urban economics Tags: Wellington
Both Matt Nippert of the NZ Herald and Tom Hunt of The Post deserve a bouquet for their analyses of the truly remarkable deal between the Wellington City Council (WCC) and the troubled American Cinema company Reading. For this who don’t know, Reading owns a large (more than 14, 000 square metres or 1.4 hectares) […]
Reading deal – rare media bouquet
“Patently False”: Special Counsel Files Blistering Reply to Hunter Biden Motion to Dismiss
11 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
Special Counsel David Weiss has filed a blistering opposition to the motion to dismiss by Hunter Biden in California that cites his own book and conflicting statements as creating “nothing more than a house of cards.” The filing (below) shows how Hunter’s claims (repeated by many in the media) collapse under even cursory review in […]
“Patently False”: Special Counsel Files Blistering Reply to Hunter Biden Motion to Dismiss
“Banning Books is Never the Answer”: RuPaul’s “No Censorship” Bookstore Lasted Just Three Days
10 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
It took just three days. After drag performer RuPaul announced the creation of a “no censorship” Allstora bookstore, censorship was back with a vengeance after many on the left learned that free speech meant that opposing views might be sold at the site. While the sentiment was appealing, it became intolerable when activists noted that […]
“Banning Books is Never the Answer”: RuPaul’s “No Censorship” Bookstore Lasted Just Three Days
Not Bridgeable
10 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, discrimination, economic history, economics of crime, economics of education, economics of love and marriage, gender, income redistribution, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: 2024 presidential election, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
In the last few years, especially after I started writing for this blog, I got more than a few comments about the need for bi-partisanship, not hating out ideological, let alone political opponents. What was notable about this was that they all came from the Right of the political spectrum. The Left seem quite happy […]
Not Bridgeable
TV layoffs not a threat to democracy
10 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, income redistribution, industrial organisation, managerial economics, market efficiency, organisational economics, personnel economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, survivor principle, theory of the firm Tags: media bias
A few weeks ago I joined some contemporaries by abandoning the near sixty year habit of watching nightly TV news. I dropped it because I felt it did not give me real information that I had not acquired from other media sources, including some I pay for – The Economist, the NZ Herald, The Atlantic […]
TV layoffs not a threat to democracy
Tama Potaka brings te reo into play in Parliament while avoiding giving guarantees about numbers of homeless
10 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand, urban economics Tags: homelessness
************************* The biographical notes about Tama Potaka on the National Party website suggest he should be able to eloquently answer a Parliamentary question. He has had a diverse career across legal, public service, education, advisory, tribes, investment, charities and enterprise. He was the chief executive of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki prior to entering politics. He […]
Tama Potaka brings te reo into play in Parliament while avoiding giving guarantees about numbers of homeless
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.
Sick Joke: Nothing ‘Green’ About California’s All Electric Vehicle Mandates
09 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, global warming, market efficiency, politics - USA, Public Choice, transport economics, urban economics Tags: electric cars, solar power, wind power
There’s nothing wrong in theory about all-Electric Vehicles. But, if they really were a sensible substitute for petrol or diesel-powered vehicles, they’d already be jumping off the shelves. Except, for some strange reason, they aren’t. There’s plenty of irony attached to the all-EV cult: the world’s largest EV charging station is run entirely using diesel […]
Sick Joke: Nothing ‘Green’ About California’s All Electric Vehicle Mandates
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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