Although Maher is always accused of being a right-winger, that’s not true at all; he’s more or less a left-centrist, like me. Here he defines “ick” with some graphic examples, and says that Trump has a bad case of it, and that’s the best thing Democrats have going for them. But. . . . he […]
Bill Maher won’t vote for someone who conveys “ick”
Bill Maher won’t vote for someone who conveys “ick”
12 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, television, TV shows Tags: 2024 presidential election
Farewell, my (hereditary) lords?
12 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics, Public Choice Tags: British politics, constitutional law
Last week, the Government unveiled legislation to remove the remaining hereditary peers from the House of Lords. It’s a fairly straightforward bill that seeks to repeal section 2 of the House of Lords Act 1999, thereby making the exclusion of hereditary peers absolute rather than qualified. It also abolishes the Upper House’s jurisdiction over peerage […]
Farewell, my (hereditary) lords?
Tonight’s debate and what Tom Friedman thinks Harris must do to win
11 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
As you know, there’s a Big Debate tonight between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. It’ll be broadcast on television on ABC, a non-cable channel. ABC says this: (note that times are Eastern times): The ABC News debate, moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis, will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 9 p.m ET. […]
Tonight’s debate and what Tom Friedman thinks Harris must do to win
Please legalise new supermarkets
11 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, environmental economics, politics - New Zealand, transport economics, urban economics Tags: land supply, zoning
Jaw-dropping bit from the Grocery Regulator, in interview at Interest.co.nz:“What we’ve been told by these players is when they come and they want to open up a large store in New Zealand, the cost to get a spade in the ground is double that of Australia,” he says in a new episode of the Of…
Please legalise new supermarkets
SHOWDOWN: Willie Jackson vs David Seymour on the Treaty Principles Bill
11 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, economic history, law and economics, liberalism, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
VP Harris hasn’t ‘moderated’ on climate issues – She doubles down on ‘climate crisis’ narrative, still supports net-zero policies that will harm grids, U.S. farming, and domestic energy
11 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, solar power, wind power
KamalaHarris hasn’t “moderated” on climate issues. She doubles down on “climate crisis” narrative, still supports net-zero energy policies that will harm grid stability, agriculture, and all energy-related sectors. Nor does she regret her IRA vote.
VP Harris hasn’t ‘moderated’ on climate issues – She doubles down on ‘climate crisis’ narrative, still supports net-zero policies that will harm grids, U.S. farming, and domestic energy
Failing Banks
11 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in business cycles, economic history, financial economics, global financial crisis (GFC), great depression, great recession, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - USA Tags: bank panics, bank runs
From Sergio Correia, Stephan Luck, and Emil Verner: Why do banks fail? We create a panel covering most commercial banks from 1865 through 2023 to study the history of failing banks in the United States. Failing banks are characterized by rising asset losses, deteriorating solvency, and an increasing reliance on expensive non-core funding. Commonalities across…
Failing Banks
Uber messy
11 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, transport economics, urban economics Tags: employment law, Uber
Caught a fun phone call from an accountant after this week’s column over at the Dom Post (and Christchurch Press, etc) on the court’s decision in the Uber case.If Uber drivers are employees, rather than contractors, as the Court sees things, how will depreciation on their cars be handled? Contractors can count all those expenses…
Uber messy
Get Musk: Leading Investor Calls for the Prosecution of Elon Musk for “Undermining” the Federal Government
10 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: 2024 presidential election, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
Silicon Valley investor Roger McNamee this weekend went on MSNBC’s “Last Word” and called for the arrest of Elon Musk for “undermining” the federal government by sharing his opinions on X.
Get Musk: Leading Investor Calls for the Prosecution of Elon Musk for “Undermining” the Federal Government
The Ghost of Richard Daley: Democrats Aren’t Creating Disorder; They’re Preserving it
10 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
Below is my column in the Hill on the effort of Democratic officials to keep Robert Kennedy on the ballot in swing states after seeking to block actual candidates from the same ballots. It is all in the name of democracy. Here is the column:
The Ghost of Richard Daley: Democrats Aren’t Creating Disorder; They’re Preserving it
Recovering from New Zealand’s worst ever economic decision: The cancellation of the Kirk Government’s superannuation scheme
08 Sep 2024 1 Comment
in economic growth, economic history, fiscal policy, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics
EEconomists wonder about the “New Zealand paradox”, which is that New Zealand under-performs economically given its policies, institutions, natural resources, educated people, and compliance with trade and other multi-lateral agreements. Our economic reforms from the mid-1980s and on were textbook economic theory and yet the real-world results disappointed. However, New Zealand has different policy settings […]
Recovering from New Zealand’s worst ever economic decision: The cancellation of the Kirk Government’s superannuation scheme
Hunter Biden Discovers There is No “Nicer” Way to Say “I’m Guilty”
08 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election
Below is my column in Fox.com on the Hunter Biden guilty plea. The plea proved vintage Hunter Biden for all of the wrong reasons. The effort to plead guilty without admitting guilt left him looking like the most privilege person since Marie Antoinette. However, it was consistent with a bizarre criminal defense that never seemed […]
Hunter Biden Discovers There is No “Nicer” Way to Say “I’m Guilty”
From the comments, on moving to the suburbs
07 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, politics - USA, transport economics, urban economics
As Ed Banfield observed, the flight to the suburbs pre-dated the car because people prefer cheaper housing and more space: “The first elevated steam railroads were in New York in the 1870s, and twenty years later every sizable city had an electric trolley system. Railroads and trolleys enabled more people to commute and to commute […]
From the comments, on moving to the suburbs
Top notch DomPost op-ed #OTD on bloody cyclists
07 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in environmentalism, politics - New Zealand, transport economics
The Assassination of President William McKinley
07 Sep 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA
The 25th president of the United States, William McKinley, was assassinated on September 6, 1901, during a public event at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley was attending a reception at the Temple of Music, where he was greeting members of the public as part of his duties at the exposition, a grand […]
The Assassination of President William McKinley
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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