Jan. 24 marked the 20th anniversary of the release of Al Gore’s alarmist global warming movie “An Inconvenient Truth.” Gore has surfed the movie and climate alarmism to a net worth estimated at $300 million and a Nobel Peace Prize.
STEVE MILLOY: 20 Years After ‘An Inconvenient Truth’
STEVE MILLOY: 20 Years After ‘An Inconvenient Truth’
05 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of climate change, economics of natural disasters, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, movies, politics - USA Tags: climate activists, climate alarmism
Tariffs and Inflation: Where Are We?
05 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, international economics, politics - USA Tags: free trade, tariffs
One of the predictions made by economists when President Trump announce the start of his freewheeling tariff policies in April 2025 was that the costs of the tariffs would ultimately be passed through to consumers, leading to overall higher inflation. Well, President Trump has been tossing out tariff threats, keeping some and withdrawing others. However,…
Tariffs and Inflation: Where Are We?
Iwi ensure respect is shown to a crash site – but how are the beliefs of crash victims and their families respected?
04 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of religion, liberalism, politics - New Zealand Tags: Freedom of religion
About this time a week ago, the New Zealand Police released a statement to report that two people had died in a helicopter crash north of Wellington earlier in the day. Work was under way to recover the deceased and to examine the crash scene, near the Battle Hill regional park. The statement included: Police […]
Iwi ensure respect is shown to a crash site – but how are the beliefs of crash victims and their families respected?
Debunking Trump’s Error-Filled WSJ Column
04 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, economic growth, economic history, fisheries economics, history of economic thought, income redistribution, industrial organisation, international economic law, international economics, macroeconomics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: free trade, tarrifs
Donald Trump, who describes himself as “Tariff Man,” recently wrote a column in defense of his protectionist trade policy for the Wall Street Journal. After reading the column, my first thought was that Trump was trying to show he is more economically illiterate than Joe Biden (a big challenge, as seen here and here). And […]
Debunking Trump’s Error-Filled WSJ Column
Netflix, WBD, and the Myth of the Streaming Monopoly
03 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: competition law
The proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) assets by Netflix is already being cast as a landmark antitrust “test case.” If past deals are any guide, the critiques will follow a familiar script: narrow market definitions, selective data points, and headline-friendly market-share claims designed to trigger alarm. Yet in a video ecosystem defined by…
Netflix, WBD, and the Myth of the Streaming Monopoly
Vance on the Greens
03 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: regressive left
This column by Andrea Vance was actually last March but I only just discovered it, and it is so good it needs repeating. She writes: In the Chlöe Swarbrick era, the Greens have been reduced to a caucus of anarkiddies posting out a flood of social-justice clickbait. They indulge in culturally progressive obsessions, moored in…
Vance on the Greens
Border Security Type I and Type II Errors
03 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: economics of immigration
One way of looking at the a policy of increased ICE enforcement of US border security is as a debate over decision error costs. The expressed goal is to remove the worst of the worst criminals. Few would disagree with this goal. However, in this dragnet, immigrants without criminal backgrounds have also been detained. The…
Border Security Type I and Type II Errors
Cutting losses – governments too slow to learn
02 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
Updated 3.20pm Business generally works out when to cut losses because the risks of failure are too high for shareholders and workers. Government on the other hand are very slow, regardless of stripe. Grant Robertson got very grumpy with KiwiRail re the ship and ferry land side infrastructure and should have stopped or changed it, […]
Cutting losses – governments too slow to learn
Newsom talking across the aisle
31 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: 2028 presidential election
Politico reports: Gavin Newsom is fully embracing his status as his party’s foremost podcast bro. … It got off to a polarizing start last March, with a succession of friendly interviews with conservative influencers like Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon. And while the headlines that tended to enrage Democrats have fallen off, the California governor’s […]
Newsom talking across the aisle
Crossing the Floor: Tales from the Oral History Project
31 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in politics Tags: British politics
Following some recent, high-profile, political defections, Alfie Steer and Dr Emma Peplow have delved into the History of Parliament’s Oral History archive to explore historical cases of MPs changing their party affiliations: their causes, motivations and wider significance. Political defections, commonly known in Westminster parlance as ‘Crossing the Floor’, have been a phenomenon in Parliament…
Crossing the Floor: Tales from the Oral History Project
No wonder Te Pāti Māori wants to abolish prisons when Māori make up most of the inmates
30 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand, law and economics, economics of crime Tags: crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order, regressive left
Te Pāti Māori says it wants to abolish prisons by 2040.
No wonder Te Pāti Māori wants to abolish prisons when Māori make up most of the inmates
How authorities failed campers at Mount Maunganui
29 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of natural disasters, politics - New Zealand
The picture is firming up, and it’s devastating. Six people are dead at the foot of Mount Maunganui because, over four critical hours on the morning of 22 January, New Zealand’s emergency management system failed. Not just failed, but failed repeatedly, in ways that now look systemic. And what’s becoming clearer with each new revelation […]
How authorities failed campers at Mount Maunganui
Health workers are kicking off their day with a karakia, but Act MP ensures it is in their own time and not compulsory
28 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
No, it’s not just a lump of rock. The National Public Health Service has been getting along – it seems – on a wing and a prayer. The Platform’s Tina Nixon drew PoO’s attention to the spiritual side of the service’s daily rituals and routines in an interview with Act MP Todd Stephenson. This prompted […]
Health workers are kicking off their day with a karakia, but Act MP ensures it is in their own time and not compulsory
The full text of Don Brash’s Orewa speech (2004)
28 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, politics - New Zealand
I shared the video of Don Brash’s 2004 Orewa speech earlier.
The full text of Don Brash’s Orewa speech (2004)
Michelle Tandler on NYC rent control
28 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: rent control
This is what I’m seeing: + 2.4 million rent-controlled apartments in a city with a massive housing shortage and 1.4% vacancy rate. + A huge % of these tenants are wealthy, white boomers using the units as pieds-a-terres while they spend their weekends and summers elsewhere. + Meanwhile, the government is using rent control to…
Michelle Tandler on NYC rent control
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments