Over the years I’ve had various Wellingtonians approach me about setting up, or getting Jordan and the Taxpayers’ Union to set up, a dedicated Wellington ratepayer pressure group to fight for more fiscal prudence and better governance in our city. Jordan and I have always turned away the efforts as nine times out of ten, they […]
Call for Support: Has the Time Come for a Wellington Ratepayer Activist Group?
Call for Support: Has the Time Come for a Wellington Ratepayer Activist Group?
23 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics
Hiring discrimination sentences to ponder
23 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economics of education, economics of information, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, managerial economics, organisational economics, personnel economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap, implicit bias, racial discrimination, sex discrimination
Several common measures — like employing a chief diversity officer, offering diversity training or having a diverse board — were not correlated with decreased discrimination in entry-level hiring, the researchers found. But one thing strongly predicted less discrimination: a centralized H.R. operation. The researchers recorded the voice mail messages that the fake applicants received. When a company’s […]
Hiring discrimination sentences to ponder
The Waitangi Tribunal Summons; or the more things stay the same
23 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than by them. Chhour is challenging a decision […]
The Waitangi Tribunal Summons; or the more things stay the same
Dunne on Labour
22 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
Peter Dunne writes: But Labour’s current woes do not lie at Hipkins’ door alone. He is being constantly embarrassed and let down by the ineptitude of those around him. His main role these days seems limited to tidying up the mess made by his colleagues. In the last week alone, he has had to call […]
Dunne on Labour
Ninth Circuit Rules Against Seattle in Using “Heckler’s Veto” in Arrest of Pro-Life Protester
21 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: abortion law reform, free speech, political correctness, regressive left

We have often discussed how cities and universities will use the threat of protests to block or shutdown free speech, particularly of conservative speakers or groups. We now have a major decision out of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that could prove an important precedent in resisting the growing anti-free […]
Ninth Circuit Rules Against Seattle in Using “Heckler’s Veto” in Arrest of Pro-Life Protester
MICHAEL BASSETT: MAORI PUSH FOR PARALLEL GOVERNMENT STRUCTURES
21 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics Tags: constitutional law
If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have seen calls from one or two Iwi for prior consultation with…
MICHAEL BASSETT: MAORI PUSH FOR PARALLEL GOVERNMENT STRUCTURES
Wash Post admits reality: ‘Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power’ – U.S. ‘power grid’ being pushed ‘to the brink. Utilities can’t keep up’ – ‘It is staggering’ – But WaPo frets energy shortage ‘threatens to stifle the transition to cleaner energy’
20 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - USA
It makes you scratch your head and wonder how we ended up in this situation.
Wash Post admits reality: ‘Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power’ – U.S. ‘power grid’ being pushed ‘to the brink. Utilities can’t keep up’ – ‘It is staggering’ – But WaPo frets energy shortage ‘threatens to stifle the transition to cleaner energy’
What Time Is The Protest March To The Iranian Embassy?
18 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of religion, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, war and peace Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror
Waddayu mean Nothing planned. Surly hundreds of drones rockets including some quite big ones will get the Mintos out protesting the assault on a little democratic nation in the Middle East. The barrage of hundreds of weapons including drones, rockets including some large ones were thwarted by IDF countermeasures with only under 1% reaching Israeli […]
What Time Is The Protest March To The Iranian Embassy?
Peak Woke at GMU: A Belated Critique
17 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left

In late 2020, George Mason University publicly released this statement on behalf of the Presidential Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence. (Archived here in case GMU tries to flush it down the memory hole). When I first received the statement via email, I was stunned. I’d long known that the GMU administration leaned left.…
Peak Woke at GMU: A Belated Critique
“Do Not Touch Me…I am a Faculty Member”: Cornell Professor Disrupts Coulter Speech
17 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left

Monica Cornejo, an assistant professor of interpersonal communication, was forcibly removed from a Cornell University event this week after disrupting a speech by conservative commentator Ann Coulter. She is only the latest faculty member to seek to prevent others from hearing opposing views. The question now is what Cornell will do about her conduct.
“Do Not Touch Me…I am a Faculty Member”: Cornell Professor Disrupts Coulter Speech
NIMBYism explained
16 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, property rights, public economics, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
Illustrating The Absurdity Of New York’s Energy Transition
15 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - USA Tags: New York
…to date, relative to this project there exists no environmental impact statement, no feasibility study, no prototype, and no demonstration project to show how this can be done, let alone any detailed cost analysis to show how much it will cost.
Illustrating The Absurdity Of New York’s Energy Transition
No Knife But A Bloodletting Nevertheless.
15 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of media and culture, industrial organisation, managerial economics, market efficiency, organisational economics, personnel economics, politics - New Zealand, privatisation, Public Choice, public economics, survivor principle Tags: media bias
Hosking went after Radio New Zealand this morning and it was bad.The Mike Hosking Breakfast, 0600 till 0900 has three producer/support staff, Radio NZ Morning report has 16 production staff to cover the same five day time slot, yet the state run highly subsidised show falls way behind in ratings.. That 16 figure for production […]
No Knife But A Bloodletting Nevertheless.
Fun’s Over: America’s ‘Green’ Investors Ditch Climate Action Zealotry
15 Apr 2024 1 Comment
in energy economics, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, financial economics, global warming, politics - USA Tags: climate alarmism

The climate cult thought the serious money was all in, forever. Til now, weather zealots could call on Wall Street to bankroll the climate industrial complex; there was no end to the amount of money available for harebrained, uneconomic wind and solar projects; no end to the unhinged war on hydrocarbons. These days, not so […]
Fun’s Over: America’s ‘Green’ Investors Ditch Climate Action Zealotry
UCLA goes bonkers, hires unhinged “activist in residence” to give a lecture mandatory for all entering med-school students, who are forced to pray for “mama Earth” and chant pro-Palestinian slogans
14 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left

The last time I posted something about an article by Georgetown University Law Professor Jonathan Turley, I believe someone beefed because Turley was a conservative, implying that his articles couldn’t be trusted. Well, I deplore the attitude that you can judge the veracity of claims using the ideology, race, or gender of someone who reports […]
UCLA goes bonkers, hires unhinged “activist in residence” to give a lecture mandatory for all entering med-school students, who are forced to pray for “mama Earth” and chant pro-Palestinian slogans

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