“With a resource portfolio that includes a substantial amount of solar [panels], the risk of supply shortfall is associated with summer evening periods when demand is high and solar output is diminished.”
International Regulatory Authority Says California Grid at Risk of Energy Shortfalls
International Regulatory Authority Says California Grid at Risk of Energy Shortfalls
29 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA Tags: California, solar power, wind power
What is a woman? My discussion on a Freedom From Religion Foundation website
29 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, gender gap, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination

So here’s the story. I’m not only a member and supporter of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, but am also on its Honorary Board. Thus I was doubly distressed when I saw the post below on their website Freethought Now!, a post that completely ignores the widely-accepted biological definition of a woman—one based on the […]
What is a woman? My discussion on a Freedom From Religion Foundation website
On Trump On Panama Canal Fees
29 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, international economics, International law, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, tarrifs

TweetThis letter of mine appears in today’s New York Times: To the Editor: Donald Trump complains that the fees Panama charges for ships to use its canal are a “complete ‘rip-off.’” How mysterious. Given Mr. Trump’s belief that “the most beautiful word in the dictionary is ‘tariff,’” he should be pleased that these fees are…
On Trump On Panama Canal Fees
More Police, Fewer Prisons, and Other Ways to Reduce Crime
29 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of crime, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, politics - USA Tags: crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order
What does the existing research evidence say about how to reduce crime? Jennifer Doleac offers and over overview in “Why Crime Matters, and What to Do About It.” It appear as an essay in a book published by the Aspen Economic Strategy Group, Strengthening America’s Economic Dynamism, edited by Melissa Kearney and Luke Pardue. You…
More Police, Fewer Prisons, and Other Ways to Reduce Crime
Our Lying Eyes: New Photo Shows Biden with Hunter ‘s Business Associates Despite Past Denials
28 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
“Lies.” That response was a mantra for President Joe Biden, who denied ever meeting or knowing about his son’s foreign dealings. Despite the pronounced lack of interest by most media outlets in the alleged multimillion dollar influence-peddling scheme, the House and conservative groups have doggedly pursued the matter and found overwhelming evidence that the President […]
Our Lying Eyes: New Photo Shows Biden with Hunter ‘s Business Associates Despite Past Denials
Trump just wants to copy NZ citizenship law
28 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in International law, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA
Politico reports: Donald Trump’s team is crafting an executive order to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants, a monumental move the president-elect’s allies say is a key step in their long-term strategy: getting the issue before the Supreme Court. The effect of Trump’s order would be to exclude the children of undocumented […]
Trump just wants to copy NZ citizenship law
The New FDA and the Regulation of Laboratory Developed Tests
28 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, health economics, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: drug lags
The FDA under President Trump and new FDA head Martin Makary should rapidly reverse the FDA’s powergrab on laboratory developed tests. To recap, laboratory developed tests (LDTs) are the kind your doctor orders, they are a service not a product and are not sold directly to patients. Congress has never given the FDA the authority […]
The New FDA and the Regulation of Laboratory Developed Tests
By Any Other Name.
28 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After all, what sort of person…
By Any Other Name.
The Secretary to the Treasury defending govt fiscal policy
27 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, economics of bureaucracy, fiscal policy, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice

I wasn’t envisaging writing anything more for a while, but….Welllington’s weather certainly isn’t conducive to either the beach or the garden, and the Herald managed to get an interview with Iain Rennie, the new Secretary to the Treasury (not usually the sort of stuff for 27 December either). I’ve always been rather uneasy about heads […]
The Secretary to the Treasury defending govt fiscal policy
What does society expect from fathers?
27 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of love and marriage, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: economics of fertility
We live in a society utterly confused about parenthood and the role of fathers. The last Labour government made fathers increasingly irrelevant. In 2020 a law change repealing section 70a of the Social Security Act meant mothers applying for a sole parent benefit no longer had to name the father of their child for the…
What does society expect from fathers?
“This Orange County…They Don’t Play”: California’s Tougher Shoplifting Law Receives Curious Endorsement
27 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of crime, Gary Becker, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order

Proposition 36, which increases punishments for some retail theft and drug possession offenses, overwhelmingly passed in California despite the opposition of Gov. Gavin Newsom and most Democrats. Newsom denounced the measure as something that “takes us back to the 1980s, mass incarceration.” Despite discussing her tough-on-crime record in the election, Vice President Kamala Harris refused […]
“This Orange County…They Don’t Play”: California’s Tougher Shoplifting Law Receives Curious Endorsement
Savoie ne sait pas: The Governor General of Canada Does Not Unadjourn the House of Commons
26 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in politics Tags: Canada, constitutional law

The Governor General does not decide when the House of Commons or the Senate come out of an adjournment and resume sitting. The House of Commons and Senate vote to adjourn themselves and to resume sitting, but the Crown summons, prorogues, and dissolves Parliament on the Prime Minister’s advice. This really is not complicated. Yet […]
Savoie ne sait pas: The Governor General of Canada Does Not Unadjourn the House of Commons
Biden’s Curious Capital Punishment Stance is Vintage Biden
26 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: capital punishment, crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order

The decision of President Joe Biden to clear the federal death row has caused an uproar in some quarters and praise in others. There are good-faith arguments on both sides. However, there was a curious element to the Biden pardons for 37 people on death row. There were 40 people on death row. Three remain.
Biden’s Curious Capital Punishment Stance is Vintage Biden
Bye and Bye: Washington State Moves To Toward a “Wealth Tax” As the Wealthy Move to Leave the State
26 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, financial economics, fiscal policy, income redistribution, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics Tags: regressive left, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and savings, wealth tax

Washington State’s unofficial state motto has long been “Al-ki” which means either “bye and bye” or “by and by” in Chinook. The former meaning now seems official as Gov. Jay Inslee pushed for a “wealth tax.” Wealthy citizens are already saying bye to the state in anticipation of what one Democratic billionaire recently called a […]
Bye and Bye: Washington State Moves To Toward a “Wealth Tax” As the Wealthy Move to Leave the State

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