I asked #NeverTrump voters for their stories, and got hundreds of responses. What they told me may surprise you. https://t.co/K325D552QZ
— Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) February 29, 2016
The price of @RealDonaldTrump burning his bridges with anyone who disagrees with him
01 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, Public Choice
General government expenditure as % of US, British and Canadian GDP since 1960
28 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, politics - USA, public economics Tags: British economy, Canada, growth of government, Margaret Thatcher, size of government, Thatchernomics, Tony Blair
Both the British and Canadian economies experienced major winding backs in the size of government. Only the UK, under neoliberal pawn and closet Thatcherite Tony Blair, was that undone. He is now despised by many Labour Party members including its current leader for this record.
Data extracted on 23 Feb 2016 07:45 UTC (GMT) from OECD.Stat.
@BernieSanders no living wage for interns @HillaryClinton hires interns illegally
28 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in minimum wage, politics - USA Tags: 2016 presidential election, interns, left-wing democracy, living wage
Bernie Sanders pays well below the $15 living wage he expects all other employers to be by law required to pay out of their equally limited budgets. His revolution will be built on near starvation wages for the work of the worker bees.
Bring back @RusselNorman to save the planet from @NZGreens MPs carbon footprint @DBSeymour
28 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, environmental economics, global warming, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, transport economics Tags: carbon footprint, carbon offsets, Left-wing hypocrisy, New Zealand Greens, rational irrationality
Living the clean, green lifestyle means more than just buying carbon-offs in the same way that indulgences for sins were sold by the mediaeval Catholic Church. Russell Norman was an MP for 9 of the 12 months covered by this chart. He consistently had one of the smallest carbon footprints of a Green MP even when he was still co-leader of the Greens and not just a backbench MP.
Source: New Zealand Parliament – Members’ expense disclosure from 1 October to 31 December 2015.
New Zealand MP travel expenses 1 October – 31 December 2015 @DBSeymour
28 Feb 2016 1 Comment
in economics of bureaucracy, environmental economics, global warming, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking, transport economics Tags: carbon footprint, New Zealand Greens, rational irrationality
10 of the 14 green MPs have above-average air travel expenses – have an above average carbon footprint for a member of the New Zealand Parliament. It is not easy to be Green.
Source: New Zealand Parliament – Members’ expense disclosure from 1 October to 31 December 2015.
Implicit tax on a lone parent returning to a low-paid job in the USA, UK, Denmark, France, Germany, Canada, Australia and New Zealand
28 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, fiscal policy, labour economics, labour supply, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, public economics, welfare reform Tags: poverty traps, single mothers, single parents, social insurance, taxation and labour supply, welfare state
@NZGreens MPs travel expenses in the 3 months to 31 December 2015 @dbseymour @JordNZ
28 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in environmental economics, global warming, politics - New Zealand, transport economics Tags: Green Left, Left-wing hypocrisy, Leftover Left, New Zealand Greens, rational irrationality
Source: New Zealand Parliament – Members’ expense disclosure from 1 October to 31 December 2015.
Source: New Zealand Parliament – Members’ expense disclosure from 1 October to 31 December 2015.
Landcorp dividends and capital injections, 2007 – 2015 @dbseymour @JordNZ
27 Feb 2016 1 Comment
in environmental economics, financial economics, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, public economics, survivor principle Tags: agricultural economics, privatisation, state owned enterprises
As cash cows go, Landcorp has had $2.25 million more in capital injections from taxpayers than it returned to them in dividends since 2007.
Source: data released by the New Zealand Treasury under the Official Information Act.
Those $1.5 billion in assets in Landcorp do not appear to be worth a cent in net cash to the long-suffering taxpayer.
Source: data released by the New Zealand Treasury under the Official Information Act.
Landcorp is a state-owned enterprise of the New Zealand government. Its core business is pastoral farming including dairy, sheep, beef and deer. In January 2012, Landcorp managed 137 properties carrying 1.5 million stock units on 376,156 hectares of land.
Children fully immunised at selected ages in NZ
27 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: vaccination
Ratio of unemployment and single parents benefit to the New Zealand net average wage since 1970
27 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, labour economics, labour supply, politics - New Zealand, welfare reform Tags: domestic purposes benefit, single mothers, single parents, social insurance, unemployment benefit, welfare state
Source: OECD Economic Survey New Zealand 2015.
@Twitter is now a #safespace so #RIPTwitter
26 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, liberalism, politics - USA
https://twitter.com/politicsinmemes/status/702895866613514240
Source: Someone on Twitter is engaging in abusive or harassing behavior. | Twitter Help Center.
@Maori_Party New Zealanders aged 25 to 34 with NCEA level 4 or above qualifications by ethnicity
26 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of education, politics - New Zealand Tags: education premium, Maori economic development
Source: OECD Economic Survey New Zealand 2015.
#Childpoverty has nothing to do with @AmnestyNZ
25 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, international economics, politics - New Zealand
What gave Amnesty International its strength, appeal and political credibility was most could agree with its opposition to the imprisonment of prisoners of conscience and to torture and that political prisoners should be put on trial.
Including child poverty as part of its most recent international annual report proves Robert Conquest’s 3rd law of politics: the behaviour of any bureaucratic organization can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies
Source: 2015/16 Annual report – The State of the World’s Human Rights | Amnesty International NZ.
Amnesty International should not be giving people reasons not to join. It should stick to its original mission, which most people support. An NGO with members from across the political spectrum has much more credibility and influence.
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