Labour and Greens in 2017 campaigned on capping core crown expenditure at no more than 30% of GDP. This was their election pledge. At one Budget I asked Grant Robertson about the policy and he (admirably) replied it was a limit, not a target. The latest forecast had expenditure at 33.4% of GDP. That 3.4% […]
NZ’s problem is too much spending, not a lack of tax
NZ’s problem is too much spending, not a lack of tax
26 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, economic history, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, public economics
Real ‘Green’ Energy: Germany Bulldozes Ancient Fairytale Forest For Wind Turbines
25 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: celebrity technologies, Germany, wind power

If the wilderness being turned into smouldering ash is used as a platform for hundreds of 260m high/300 tonne industrial juggernauts, it’s all for the greater good (as in the case above, where huge areas of pristine tropical rainforest is being wiped out in Far North Queensland to make way for hundreds of these things). […]
Real ‘Green’ Energy: Germany Bulldozes Ancient Fairytale Forest For Wind Turbines
California’s Electricity Disaster In Seven Charts
25 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - USA Tags: celebrity technologies, wind power
Residential electricity prices jumped nearly 12% in 2023 and they are going higher. But the carbon intensity of power generation isn’t falling and low-income ratepayers are subsidizing the rich.
California’s Electricity Disaster In Seven Charts
Home detention for attempted murder
25 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: crime and punishment, criminal deterrence, law and order
The Herald reports: A high school student wrote a detailed “kill plan” and told his ex to stay away from school on the day he wanted to kill her new boyfriend. But when his plans went awry, the teen instead went to his schoolmate’s home days later, swinging a machete at his victim’s head, slicing…
Home detention for attempted murder
The “Perversity” of Michael Cohen: Federal Judge Denounces Cohen as a Serial Perjurer
25 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2016 presidential elections, 2020 presidential election, 2024 presidential election

Michael Cohen was back in court this week and it did not go well. The former fixer for Donald Trump was in court seeking a reduction in his federal sentence and to answer for his use of Google’s AI chatbot to submit arguments with fake case authority. However, things went off the rails when his […]
The “Perversity” of Michael Cohen: Federal Judge Denounces Cohen as a Serial Perjurer
The Dripping Away of the Democratic Party: Sir Thomas More and the Biden Corruption Scandal
25 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election

Below is my column on Fox.com for the hearing this week on the corruption scandal involving the Biden family. For years, the Democrats have opposed any effort to investigate the Bidens, including as part of the current impeachment inquiry. Various members misrepresented my earlier testimony during the hearing on the basis for the impeachment inquiry. […]
The Dripping Away of the Democratic Party: Sir Thomas More and the Biden Corruption Scandal
Colle Zukertort System | Great Opening to improve as a Chess player | Ch…
25 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in chess
Massive Wind & Solar Subsidies Principal Cause of Your Rocketing Power Bills
24 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - Australia Tags: celebrity technologies, wind power

It takes more than just your average leap of logic to contend that the grand wind and solar ‘transition’ constitutes rational energy policy. That so-called ‘policy’ means doling out massive subsidies to wind and solar generators for weather-dependent occasional power; then subsidising coal-fired power plants to stay operating to fill the ‘gaps’ caused by sunset […]
Massive Wind & Solar Subsidies Principal Cause of Your Rocketing Power Bills
How credible is the Milei plan?
24 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, business cycles, development economics, economic growth, financial economics, fiscal policy, growth disasters, income redistribution, international economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: Argentina
Here is a good Substack essay by Nicolas Cachanosky, excerpt: Inflation expectations depend on what is expected to happen to the budget in the months to come. It is natural, then, to ask whether the observed surpluses are sustainable in the months ahead. Answering this question requires looking at two things. First, how was the fiscal […]
How credible is the Milei plan?
“Blatantly Misogynistic”: UC Berkeley Students Declare That They Feel Unsafe After Professor Shares Dating Advice
24 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of education, economics of media and culture, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left

This week, parents of students at the University of California at Berkeley took the extreme step of hiring private security to protect their children at the school after years of complaints over rising crime and anti-police policies. The university, however, is focused this week on another threat that has led students to object that they […]
“Blatantly Misogynistic”: UC Berkeley Students Declare That They Feel Unsafe After Professor Shares Dating Advice
ANDY ESPERSEN: Schizophrenic neglect must be addressed
24 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: economics of mental illness
40 years ago New Zealand had a nationwide, coherent system of psychiatric hospitals – 8,000 psychiatric in-patient beds – each hospital fully staffed with psychiatrists, specialist psychiatric general practitioners, psychologists, trained psychiatric nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, etc. Then, according to The Encyclopedia of New Zealand: “In response to a mix of ideological and fiscal imperatives,…
ANDY ESPERSEN: Schizophrenic neglect must be addressed
History of weather extremes reveals little has changed, new report shows
24 Mar 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism
By Paul Homewood London, 22 March – A new report published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation challenges the popular but mistaken belief that weather extremes – such as flooding, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires – are more common and more intense today because of climate change.
History of weather extremes reveals little has changed, new report shows
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