Utopia, you are standing in it!

In Part I of this series, we learned from a report in the Wall Street Journal that the combined economies of the European Union have grown by only 6 percent over the past 15 years compared to 82 percent growth in the United States.

That is stunning evidence that big welfare states lead to economic stagnation.

For Part II, let’s look at a remarkable new study by the Brussels-based European Centre for International Political Economy.

We’ll start with this chart, which shows that the U.S. is much richer. But what’s especially noteworthy is that the gap between the U.S. and E.U. keeps widening even though convergence theory says poorer nations should grow faster than richer nations.

Given the E.U.’s dismal performance over the past 15 years, it seems like the “anti-convergence” is becoming even more pronounced.

Here is some of the analysis from the report, authored…

The CPI data out yesterday were not good news.

Annual headline inflation was, more or less as expected, down, but at around 6 per cent is miles from the 2 per cent target midpoint the Reserve Bank’s MPC has been required to focus on delivering. Much more importantly, core inflation measures show little or no sign of any reduction.

Six months ago I had been intrigued by this chart

It looked as though a reasonable case could then be made that core inflation had peaked a year earlier and was now falling (albeit still far too high).

But jump forward to today and the chart now looks like this

If it still suggests a peak at the start of last year (at least on one of the measures), it is no longer a picture of (core) inflation falling now. (NB: You cannot put much weight on the absolute level of…

At the risk of being repetitive, I’ve been arguing (and arguing, and arguing) that the United States should not turn its medium-sized welfare state into a European-style, large-sized welfare state.

Simply stated, that’s a route to economic anemia.

If you don’t believe me, look at this shocking chart, which compares European stagnation to American growth over the past 15 years.

The chart comes from a report in the Wall Street Journal. Here are some excerpts from that article.

Europeans are facing a new economic reality… They are becoming poorer. …Private consumption has declined by about 1% in the 20-nation eurozone since the end of 2019 after adjusting for inflation… In the U.S., where households enjoy a strong labor market and rising incomes, it has increased by nearly 9%. …Adjusted for inflation and purchasing power, wages have declined by about 3% since 2019 in Germany, by…

Buzz from the Beehive  

The Government claims to be delivering certainty to displaced homeowners affected by the recent North Island extreme weather events, providing an interim payment to support them when their insurance payments for temporary accommodation run out.

But certainty for taxpayers is missing from the press statement from the Minister for Social Development and Employment, Carmel Sepuloni.  It contains not one figure with a dollar sign. which means the sum being budgeted by the government for this initiative is a mystery.

We are told only that the interim payment will be available from 4 September,  made weekly and directly to homeowners, and set at 100 per cent of the average rent declared by Accommodation Supplement recipients in the recipients’ region.

Sepuloni’s announcement had been posted on the government’s official website (when we checked early this afternoon) along with news that the Therapeutic Products Bill has…

Rocket Lab’s latest launch from Mahia Peninsula marks another significant milestone for both the company and its founder Peter Beck.

The first stage of the Electron rocket for the “Baby Come Back” mission – which launched satellites for Nasa and commercial clients from Mahia on Tuesday afternoon – was fished out of the Pacific Ocean and put on a boat. It is now on its way to Rocket Lab’s Auckland HQ to be assessed for possible reuse, Chris Keall reported in the NZ Herald.

Rocket Lab has retrieved a first-stage before – several times – but has yet to reuse a booster. It hopes to do so by the end of this year.

“Today’s mission is a big deal, not just in NZ but internationally. We’re getting tantalisingly close to reusable rockets,” Rocket Lab communications director Morgan Bailey said.

The Edict of Expulsion was a royal decree issued by Edward I of England on July 18, 1290 expelling all Jews from the Kingdom of England. King Edward told the sheriffs of all counties he wanted all Jews expelled by no later than All Saints’ Day (November 1) that year. The expulsion edict remained in force for the rest of the Middle Ages.

The edict was not an isolated incident, but the culmination of over 200 years of increasing antisemitism in England. The edict was eventually overturned more than 350 years later, during the Protectorate when Oliver Cromwell permitted the resettlement of the Jews in England in 1657.

Background

The first Jewish communities of significant size came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066, when William issued an invitation to the Jews of Rouen to move to England, probably because he wanted feudal dues to be paid to the…

Over many years I have written here, and elsewhere, of my frustration with the National Party and its perceived “values”. I struggle with their bland policies and their “we do Labour, but better than them” attitude. I know many National Party people, including candidates. A lot of them talk the talk privately, but when push comes to shove, they don’t, or can’t, walk the walk. It’s almost as if they’re scared to be bold or daring or take a position for fear of upsetting a part of society, so they try to be everything to everybody. At least that’s how it appears. I realise that elections are won by winning the 75% or so who are in the “middle” of the spectrum and so the realpolitik means that caution must be applied. And so over this election campaign, and the next year or so, I am going to try very…