Matthew Hooton’s recommendation that Nicola Willis cut the cost of the Public Service by 25% (NZ Herald 22nd December) reminded me of a story. Years ago, the engineering community was getting fired up about new Japanese business and manufacturing efficiency methods, and “kaizen” (continuous improvement) and “just in time” were being bandied about. At the…
JOHN RAINE: Ministerial Spring Cleaning and the Parable of the Rowing Eight
JOHN RAINE: Ministerial Spring Cleaning and the Parable of the Rowing Eight
05 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics
“A Sad Day”: How the Colorado Disqualification Case is Bringing Back Bad Memories for the Supreme Court
04 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, constitutional law
Below is my column in The Messenger on the challenge facing the Supreme Court in the coming week over the electoral disqualification of former president Donald Trump in Colorado and Maine. The appeal in Maine has been filed and can now work its way up to the Court. Colorado is expected to file with the…
“A Sad Day”: How the Colorado Disqualification Case is Bringing Back Bad Memories for the Supreme Court
Harvard President Claudine Gay to resign
03 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left, war against terror
Breaking nooz, and from the Harvard Crimson. The revelations of plagiarism, and accusations of withholding/manipulating data, apparently rendered her ineffective as President. And her status as Harvard’s first black woman President didn’t save her. I heard rumors that she refused to resign, and had procured a lawyer and would sue, but those apparently weren’t true. […]
Harvard President Claudine Gay to resign
Antisemitism in America as displacement behavior
02 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Middle-East politics, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left, war against terror
It’s likely that most or all of today’s posts will be about the antisemitism in America and the world, a form of hatred revealed and exacerbated by the war between Israel and Hamas. There are no other worthy items to post about, so if you’re tired of the war, or of discussions about Jews, just […]
Antisemitism in America as displacement behavior
A starting thought
01 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
📸 Look at this post on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/share/h6TuCY1tTKt9zEGY/?mibextid=RXn8sy
Bari Weiss on why DEI must be dismantled
29 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
In this 20-minute video, Bari Weiss makes two points. First, the testimony of the MIT, Harvard, and Penn Presidents before a House committee was antisemitic and reprehensible, and reflects a widespread lack of “moral leadership” in universities. Second, this moral leadership requires the elimination of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in higher education. Weiss […]
Bari Weiss on why DEI must be dismantled
DON BRASH: The new government has one helluva a task in front of it: Compulsory indoctrination is unworthy of professional bodies
28 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: consititutional law, political correctness, regressive left
The other day, I became aware of another example of the way in which the last Government tried to embed its own narrow interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi into every aspect of New Zealand life. This one involves the Real Estate Authority. Like many similar bodies, it encourages its authorized agents to get…
DON BRASH: The new government has one helluva a task in front of it: Compulsory indoctrination is unworthy of professional bodies
A dearth of science books on the “Year’s Best” list
27 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
I’m not going after the NYT here, as this observation may simply reflect a dearth of science books published in 2023. However, the paper’s list of 100 best books of the year (click below), divided into 50 fiction books and 50 nonfiction books, has only a single book that I’d classify as “a science book”: […]
A dearth of science books on the “Year’s Best” list
How to Sell Protest Footage to FOX AND CNN
25 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, television Tags: free speech, law and order, political correctness, regressive left
Yielding to Temptation: Colorado’s Supreme Court Blocks Democracy to Bar Trump on the 2024 Ballot
25 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
Below is my column in The Messenger on the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision disqualifying former President Donald Trump from the 2024 election. There are now over a dozen states considering similar demands from advocates to prevent voters from being able to vote for the current leading candidate for the presidency. In California, Lieutenant Gov. Eleni […]
Yielding to Temptation: Colorado’s Supreme Court Blocks Democracy to Bar Trump on the 2024 Ballot
Calls to ban free speech at Auckland University in New Zealand
24 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, law and order, political correctness, regressive left
Troubles continue at the University of Auckland as it’s being sued by a somewhat off-the-rails professor named Siouxsie (real name Susannah) Wiles. Wiles apparently made some statements about Covid-19 as a public communicator of science, statements that the public didn’t like. The result was that she claimed to be inundated with hate mail and threats. […]
Calls to ban free speech at Auckland University in New Zealand
When Wokes and Racists Actually Agree on Everything
23 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in discrimination, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: affirmative action, Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Related Reading: “Jackie: Public, Private, Secret” by J. Randy Taraborrelli
23 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
Jackie: Public, Private, Secret by J. Randy Taraborrelli 528 pages St. Martin’s Press Published: July 2023 Released this past summer, J. Randy Taraborrelli’s biography of Jackie Kennedy is detailed, revealing and, in the end, utterly absorbing. Taraborrelli is a biographer and former journalist whose best-known books include biographies of Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe […]
Related Reading: “Jackie: Public, Private, Secret” by J. Randy Taraborrelli
The Call of History: It is Time for the Court to Speak as One in Overturning the Colorado Opinion
22 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
Below is my column in the New York Post on the next step in the effort to disqualify former president Donald Trump in the 2024 election. I believe that the Colorado opinion will be set aside, but it is not finality but clarity that we need from the United States Supreme Court. Here is the […]
The Call of History: It is Time for the Court to Speak as One in Overturning the Colorado Opinion
Unconvincing
21 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in business cycles, economic history, global financial crisis (GFC), great recession, history of economic thought, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: monetary policy
The Herald ran an op-ed yesterday under the heading “Why the Government’s new Reserve Bank mandate may lead to worse outcomes”. It was written by Toby Moore who served as an economic adviser in Grant Robertson’s office while he was Minister of Finance (a fact the Herald chose not to disclose to its readers). I’m more […]
Unconvincing
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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