There was a curious moment this week when Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed expressed shock that people were asking him…
Abdul El-Sayed and the Piker Problem
Abdul El-Sayed and the Piker Problem
29 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, Israel, Middle-East politics, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left, war against terror
Vice signalling
29 Aug 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of information, politics - USA Tags: signaling
Vice signalling is the opposite of virtue signalling, although it is not nearly as established as a technical term. Political scientists are more likely to discuss transgressive signalling, norm violation, incivility, performative transgression, or out-group hostility. Research on populism, for example, explicitly treats deliberate breaches of conventional standards of political behaviour as part of a political style. A […]
Vice signalling
Opportunity knocks
27 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
Good vibes all round – unless you’re a woman. It’s fair to say that the leader of the revamped Opportunity Party Quilae Wong is the best looking of all the political leaders contesting the 2026 New Zealand election.
Opportunity knocks
FAA Moves to Exempt Commercial Rocket Launches From Key Environmental Reviews
27 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, environmentalism, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, transport economics Tags: space
FAA moves to ensure regulatory processes serve genuine environmental interests rather than becoming a legal mechanism for undermining American space competitiveness. The post FAA Moves to Exempt Commercial Rocket Launches From Key Environmental Reviews appeared first on Watts Up With That?.
FAA Moves to Exempt Commercial Rocket Launches From Key Environmental Reviews
Great ad
26 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
This is a very good ad. With the likely government of the left needing a four way coalition, one can only imagine how many of the nine taxes they’ll need to implement to fund all their promises. The post Great ad first appeared on Kiwiblog.
Great ad
Assassination Sing-a-Long: Hasan Piker Mocks the Murdered Charlie Kirk to Cheering Crowd
24 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA
We have seen protesters on the left around the country mocking the assassination of Charlie Kirk, even reenacting his murder.…
Assassination Sing-a-Long: Hasan Piker Mocks the Murdered Charlie Kirk to Cheering Crowd
The all powerful TOP Board
23 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
Pleased to see at least one journalist asking tough questions of TOP. It is alarming that the party leader doers;t even know her own party’s rules, especially one as important as the board being able to over-rule the caucus. I guess this is what you get when a party leader is not a long-standing member,…
The all powerful TOP Board
West Point Professor Challenges Ban on “Un-American, Divisive…Radical, Extremist, and Irrational Theories.”
23 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of education, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: free speech
There is an important lawsuit being litigated in the Southern District of New York over the limits of free speech…
West Point Professor Challenges Ban on “Un-American, Divisive…Radical, Extremist, and Irrational Theories.”
The Fair Share Myth and Other Socialist Fables
22 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: Sweden, Denmark, Norway
Below is my column in the Hill on Mamdani’s “Fair Share Myth” and other fables being spread on the left…
The Fair Share Myth and Other Socialist Fables
Fidel Castro: Human Garbage
22 Aug 2026 1 Comment
in development economics, economic history, growth disasters, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Cuba, regressive left
I’ve written many columns documenting Cuba’s economic misery. Probably the most-persuasive evidence that socialism has failed in that country is the chart showing how Cuba has fallen behind other (very similar) countries ever since Fidel Castro took over more than six decades ago. Though I’ve always thought the most-damning visual came from the Economist, which […]
Fidel Castro: Human Garbage
Judicial Power, Democratic Accountability, and the Smith Case
22 Aug 2026 1 Comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law
Supreme Court lacks democratic responsibility and accountability: its excesses demand clearer leadership from the legal profession.
Judicial Power, Democratic Accountability, and the Smith Case
How much land tax will you pay?
20 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: 2026 general election
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?
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?
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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