@BernieSanders and @realdonaldtrump trade in fear and blame
08 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, politics - USA, Public Choice, television
How Michael Bloomberg thought he would go against Sanders, Trump and Clinton
08 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, politics - USA
The enduring lie that George W Bush lied about Saddam’s WMD
08 Mar 2016 3 Comments
in defence economics, politics - USA
The renegade left so hates George W Bush that it could not bring itself to make the most obvious argument against invading Iraq. That argument was the one I made at the time.
It is the height of folly to attack a country with weapons of mass destruction with the intent of conquering it. That intent of conquest and regime change gives the other side every incentive to use their weapons of mass destruction if only in an act of desperation. The whole purpose of weapons of mass destruction is to deter invasions.
Rather than concede the other side’s argument and use it against them, the renegade left preferred every other argument, most of which bolstered the case for invasion.
The most obvious of these was more weapons inspections by the UN instead of invasion. If there is a need for more weapons inspections, there must be some WMD weapons to find. The UN had 12 years to find these and still cannot find them all.
What was the point of the UN inspections and the renegade left calling for the inspections to continue as an alternative to invading in 2003 unless they expected to find more evidence of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons?
The reality is Saddam played a fine game of bluff. He destroyed his WMD capability early after the first Iraq war. He could not be afforded be found with WMDs.
Saddam then tricked everybody into believing that he still had weapons of mass destruction as a way of projecting strength, especially to regional rivals.
It is also the case that if the UN inspections stopped, Saddam would have resumed his WMD armament program.
It is not possible to stop countries from developing WMDs. You can deter them from using them. Far more volatile characters in Russia and China in the 50s and 60s were deterred from using nuclear weapons.
James Heckman on what money cannot buy including a universal basic income
08 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of education, politics - New Zealand, population economics, poverty and inequality, welfare reform
Source: The Economics of Human Development and Social Mobility, James J. Heckman, Stefano Mosso, NBER Working Paper No. 19925, February 2014.
This @amprog conservative antipoverty dictionary does not add up
08 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, labour economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, welfare reform Tags: 1996 US welfare reforms, pessimism bias, social insurance, welfare state
From @EugeneSteuerle: Combined tax rates and creating a 21st century social welfare budget tpc.io/1GCdrYF http://t.co/aNRPqz5gAc—
Tax Policy Center (@TaxPolicyCenter) June 28, 2015
The only alternative offered by the Centre for American Progress is send them on a course. This response, which is the standard policy response to any labour market crisis, will not solve poverty, mush less inequality.
Will more education decrease inequality? A simulation provided an answer. nyti.ms/1xw5m9W http://t.co/paQp19BEWc—
The Upshot (@UpshotNYT) March 31, 2015
Mentally ill shot by US police by threat level: January – February 2016
07 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, health economics, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: crime and punishment, mental illness, police killings, the and order
Unfortunately for all concerned, most of the mentally ill shot this month by police was the result of an impossible dilemma. They were either attacking police or were armed.
Source: Investigation: People shot and killed by police this year – Washington Post.
Blacks shot by US police by threat level: January – February 2016
07 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, politics - USA Tags: crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order, police killings
@nzlabour – wanted by the sugar police
06 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
As the New Zealand Medical Association has pointed out tackling obesity needs to be embedded in everything, from new buildings to school classrooms…
The food industry needs a rev up as well. There’s no reason manufacturers couldn’t already have been reducing sugar and saturated fat in process food. That shows there needs to be some very strong directives from the Government.
Andrew Little, Leader of the Opposition, 19 October 2015
I’m really concerned that we’ve wasted eight years in terms of doing anything about obesity since the government’s been in after they cancelled all programmes, and what they have put in place is timid. They are not treating obesity with the seriousness that they ought to.
They’ve got to a bind now it’s hard to get out of without looking like nanny-state. They’ve got to get over themselves and think about the health of New Zealanders rather than their own political backsides.
Labour Party health spokesperson Annette King, 11 December 2015
Shot by US police by threat level, 1 January – 5 March 2016 – corrected
06 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, politics - USA
Once again, few are shot by police if they are unarmed, much less with their hands in the air and not offering resistance. A leading cause of death of unarmed civilians is stray bullets. The lesson there is do not travel in cars or live with armed criminals.
Source: Investigation: People shot and killed by police this year – Washington Post.
Presidential candidate tax plans and economic growth
06 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, politics - USA, public economics Tags: 2016 presidential election, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
[/embed]https://www.facebook.com/UnbiasedAmerica/photos/pb.123061011213236.-2207520000.1457089554./449398021912865/?type=3&theater[/embed]
This @amprog lead in picture and its 1st figure about minimal improvement in living standards in 30 years just does not gel somehow
05 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, economics of media and culture, industrial organisation, politics - USA Tags: good old days, Leftover Left, pessimism bias, rational irrationality, smart phones, The Great Enrichment
Source: When I Was Your Age | Center for American Progress.
The claim by the Centre for American progress is that despite being more educated and working in a more productive economy, 30-year-olds today barely make more than 30-year-old Baby Boomers did in 1984.
Source: When I Was Your Age | Center for American Progress.
Nearly everything from RadioShack ad in 1991 is replaced by a smartphone. https://t.co/xGh6ZzW1Nx—
Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) December 19, 2015
The apps in your smartphone cost $900,000 thirty years ago —@datarade https://t.co/pjw7q4QGDp—
Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) October 29, 2015
Effective marginal tax rates on single and dual earner families in the USA, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Australia and New Zealand
05 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of love and marriage, fiscal policy, gender, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, public economics Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada, Denmark, effective marginal tax rates, family tax benefits, family tax credits, France, Germany, in-work tax credits, Italy, poverty traps, rational irrationality, social insurance, Sweden, taxation and labour supply
Some countries including New Zealand and Australia do not give ordinary families much of an incentive to earn more. Effective marginal tax rates on low income families is one of the few times that the Left discovers supply-side economics.
Source: Taxing Wages 2015 – OECD 2015.
Mandatory Maternity Leave is a Bad Idea @suemoroney
05 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economics, gender, labour economics, labour supply, politics - USA Tags: maternity leave
Income tax plus employee Social Security contributions less tax benefits by family structure in the US, Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Denmark, France, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand
05 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in fiscal policy, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, public economics Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada, Denmark, family taxation, France, Germany, Italy, social insurance, Sweden, taxation and labour supply
Those sensitive and caring northern European welfare states do tax families rather heavily even after accounting for family cash benefits.
Source: Taxing Wages 2015 – OECD 2015.
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