In my post Affordable Housing is Almost Pointless, I highlighted how point systems for awarding tax credits prioritize DEI, environmental features, energy efficiency, and other secondary goals far more than low cost. A near-comic example comes from D.C., where so-called affordable housing units now cost between $800,000 and $1.3 million dollars each! One such unit […]
Very Expensive Affordable Housing
Very Expensive Affordable Housing
10 Jun 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, offsetting behavior, The fatal conceit, unintended consequences
Should Israel let Greta get to Gaza?
09 Jun 2025 1 Comment
in defence economics, International law, laws of war, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, useful idiots, war against terror
As you surely know, the “Freedom Flotilla,” which is a boat called the Madleen carrying a bunch of activists (most notably Greta Thunberg), is heading to Gaza with a bit of aid for civilians. (I heard it was enough aid for about a dozen Gazans, but I don’t know for sure.). Israel has vowed to […]
Should Israel let Greta get to Gaza?
HA.,HA., Thump: Hawaii Sued by the Babylon Bee and Other Groups Over Speech Crimes
09 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, politics - USA Tags: free speech
We have previously discussed laws that seek to criminalize “materially deceptive” political content worldwide, including memes and parodies. A civil law was blocked in California, where satirists and comedians opposed a Democratic law barring parodies and other expressions considered misleading. Now, legislators in Hawaii are trying again with a new law (S 2687) that criminalizes […]
HA.,HA., Thump: Hawaii Sued by the Babylon Bee and Other Groups Over Speech Crimes
Hard Landing: The Return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia
09 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - USA Tags: economics of immigration
Below is my column at Fox.com on the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and what lies ahead in the case. Regardless of the outcome of the criminal prosecution, one thing seems virtually certain: Abrego Garcia will eventually go home . . . to El Salvador. Here is the column:
Hard Landing: The Return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia
America’s Housing Supply Problem: The Closing of the Suburban Frontier?
08 Jun 2025 1 Comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, income redistribution, politics - USA, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
Housing prices across much of America have hit historic highs, while less housing is being built. If the U.S. housing stock had expanded at the same rate from 2000-2020 as it did from 1980-2000, there would be 15 million more housing units. This paper analyzes the decline of America’s new housing supply, focusing on large […]
America’s Housing Supply Problem: The Closing of the Suburban Frontier?
Bill Maher’s newest rule
08 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, television, TV shows
Bill Maher’s “new rule” deals once again with why Democrats have lost power. Maher considers that we need a “liberal Joe Rogan,” but notes that Rogan doesn’t seem to have hewed too close to the Trumpian dogma. He adds that Musk, too, used to be more liberal, and explains their conversion, in part, due to […]
Bill Maher’s newest rule
The Battle of Belleau Wood Begins I THE GREAT WAR Week 202
08 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: World War I
A CALCULATED RESTRAINT: WHAT ALLIED LEADERS SAID ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST by Richard Breitman
08 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, war and peace Tags: Nazi Germany, The Holocaust, World War II
(Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin at Yalta 2/1945) The most frequent question concerning the Holocaust centers on what allied leaders knew about the genocide against the Jews and what they spoke about it in public and private. In previous monographs, FDR AND THE JEWS and OFFICIAL SECRETS: WHAT THE NAZIS PLANNED AND […]
A CALCULATED RESTRAINT: WHAT ALLIED LEADERS SAID ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST by Richard Breitman
Crush Everyone Below 1600 ELO with this Aggressive Opening for White
07 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in chess
“This is a circus”: The unmitigated bullying from Piers Morgan
07 Jun 2025 1 Comment
in defence economics, laws of war, liberalism, war and peace Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left, war against terror
Some time ago I was on the Piers Morgan “Uncensored” show for half an hour, talking about why biological sex is binary (see my post about this here). I now realize how fortunate I was, because I knew in advance that Morgan agreed with me and I didn’t face what Natasha Hausdorff faces below (and […]
“This is a circus”: The unmitigated bullying from Piers Morgan
A hugely important document for NZ to learn from.
07 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, health economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA
The Whitehouse recently released a document titled: Make America Healthy Again. The health trends listed are stark – and the needed solutions are clear (even if is going to be like doing an Aircraft Carrier doing a u-turn in the Suez Canal). In many of the crisis stats NZ is not far behind. These are […]
A hugely important document for NZ to learn from.
The Unlikely Irish Contributions During D-Day
06 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, war and peace Tags: D-Day, World War II
(First published in 2019) Ireland remained neutral throughout World War II, but that is not to say there was no contribution from the Irish during the war. Many young Irish men did join the British army and also partook in Operation Overlord, more commonly known as D-Day. However, this blog is not about any of […]
The Unlikely Irish Contributions During D-Day
A New IEA Report and the Iberian Blackout End Dreams of an ‘Energy Transition’
06 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming
What it does mean is that whatever one believes about the science of the climate, the fact is that mandates and subsidies can’t change the physics of energy systems. Systems that can deliver reliable power at the scales necessary for robust growth remain anchored in precisely the fuels the transitionists want to abandon.
A New IEA Report and the Iberian Blackout End Dreams of an ‘Energy Transition’
How America Built the World’s Most Successful Market for Generic Drugs
06 Jun 2025 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, health economics, industrial organisation Tags: drug lags
The United States has some of the lowest prices in the world for most drugs. The U.S. generic drug market is competitive and robust—but its success is not accidental. It is the result of a series of deliberate, well-designed policy interventions. The 1984 Hatch-Waxman Act allowed generic drug manufacturers to bypass costly safety and efficacy […]
How America Built the World’s Most Successful Market for Generic Drugs
Milton Friedman’s Weird Abolition List
06 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in liberalism, libertarianism, Milton Friedman
An excerpt from Chapter 5 of *Unbeatable*
Milton Friedman’s Weird Abolition List
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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