Friday 27 June 2014

FRIDAY MORNING RAMBLE: Edition #4711

"Our lives begin to end the day we
become silent about things that matter."

- Martin Luther King, Jr

“I'm pretty sure I heard that the price to pay out all the red zone residents in ChCh 100% on land of their valuation (on land that could not have been insured for under the EQC provisions, and was made worthless by govt edit) was 24 million. That sounds like a bargain compared to the 36 million we threw into the sea at San Francisco.”
Red-Zone Promise 'Reckless' – Brownlee – STUFF

“When land use restrictions are wrong, it's hard for anything else to be right.”
When land rules are wrong, everything's wrong: episode 13 (or thereabouts) – Eric Crampton, OFFSETTING BEHAVIOUR

The stupidity is worldwide. “New South Wales Premier Mike Baird claims there is “a massive housing boom” underway in Western Sydney, explaining that he has “released” land sufficient for 6,600 new houses. Talk of a boom is decidedly relative.”
The Regulators White-Anting New Homes – Roger Franklin, QUADRANT

“Back in April, Shane Jones announced that he would be quitting Parliament to take up a position as a "Pacific Economic Ambassador", which the Herald noted had been "created by the National Government especially for him." Turns out: literally.
The Jones appointment – NO RIGHT TURN
The Jones appointment II – NO RIGHT TURN

“There's a confusion in our society that we'd
like to clear up. Disagreeing with someone and
being offended are two totally different things.”

- Stop Apologizing USA

June 1914 was not uneventful, nor was the war sparked by history’s most ill-fated assassination.
The Great War's Legacy, a Century On – Adam Allouba, LE QUEBECOIS LIBRE

These kids could work for the NSA. Or Chinese security.
Chinese Teens Have Found Remarkable High-Tech Ways To Cheat On Tests – BUSINESS INSIDER

Australian groupthink has still failed to register slowing Chinese growth, and its implications.
China’s Australia adjustment – MACROBUSINESS

“The only thing I can say for sure is that the science of CO2 is irrelevant to both Al Gore and Clive Palmer. Everything else is a paradox. We’re not being told everything.”
Colour me skeptical – the Gore and Palmer paradox – JO NOVA
Did Al Gore get played? – Sinclair Davidson, CATALLAXY FILES 
Disarray! Chaos! History! – TIM BLAIR’S BLOG

“Climate burnout is fast approaching.”
Like global temperature, ‘climate jobs’ seems to have peaked and are heading downward – WATTS UP WITH THAT

“Some segments of the Internet are abuzz with the claim by climate change skeptic Steven Goddard (Tony Heller) over at his Real Science blog that NASA/NOAA have been jiggering the numbers so that they can claim that warmest years in the continental United States occurred recently, not back in the 1930s. Folks, please watch out for confirmation bias.”
Did NASA/NOAA Dramatically Alter U.S. Temperatures After 2000? – Ronald Baily, HIT & RUN

"Vladimir Putin’s government has ‘engaged actively’ with green groups and protesters in a sophisticated operation aimed at maintaining Europe’s reliance on energy exports from Moscow, said Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen."
Putin has spy plot to halt fracking in UK – MAIL ONLINE

“Don't blame Putin for anti-fracking protests - UK and EU politicians have funded greens for years.”
Don’t blame Russia for the anti-fracking panic – SPIKED

“I have a question, directed to anyone who uses the term "illegals" to refer to people, where the illegality is not any act per se, but a human being as such.
Does the term apply in these other cases:
- illegal drivers who exceed the speed limit
- illegal drinkers who didn't wait their turn to be 21
- illegal homeowners who build an addition without a permit
- illegal employers who violate something in labor law
- illegal manufacturers who are not in full compliance with regulation
and the best for last...
- illegal earners who don't pay every penny of tax owed”

- Keith Weiner

“India's new Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just given … an object lesson in the art of good governance: never treat with an enemy whose sole purpose is to destroy you. This applies, of course, to militant Islamism.”
India's Government is Standing UP to the Green Bullies -- Why Can't Ours? – James Delingpole, BREITBART UK

BN-DI219_0619ic_G_20140619114229“Juan Williams: "This whole idea that we're now to Watergate and burning tapes ... I mean that ... you'd have to ... that's quite a leap for me."”
I.R.S.gate – SMALL DEAD ANIMALS

“A thorough indictment of Obama's Syria non-policy.”
The Consequences of Syria – Michael J. Totten, WORLD AFFAIRS
Operation Empty Chair – SMALL DEAD ANIMALS

“The middle of this long piece gives the goods on how Obama let Iran take over Iraq.”
What We Left Behind in Iraq – Dexter Filkins, NEW YORKER

Which weapons of mas destruction? Oh, those ones.
Saddam’s WMDs: The Left’s Iraq Lies Exposed – FRONT PAGE

“"It's like, we really need a Copernican revolution in development."
William Easterly on the Tyranny of Experts – Russ Roberts, ECON TALK

“It appears that they were traders.”
How Did This Ancient Civilization Avoid War for 2,000 Years? – iO9

Professor Richard Epstein assesses the impact of Thomas Piketty’s recent bestseller, Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century, on the inequality debate.

“"Open immigration does not mean that anyone may enter the country at any location or in any manner he chooses; it is not unchecked or unmonitored immigration. Nor does it mean that anyone who immigrates … should be eligible for … citizenship—the proper requirements of which are a separate matter. Open immigration means that anyone is free to enter  … providing that he … passes an objective screening process, the purpose of which is to keep out criminals, enemies …  and people with certain kinds of contagious diseases. Such a policy is not only politically right; it is morally right.”
Immigration and Individual Rights – Craig Biddle, OBJECTIVE STRANDARD

“Glad to see a corporation respond to anti-capitalistic rhetoric.”
New York Times Columnist Couldn’t Have Expected Walmart’s Epic Response to Hit Piece – THE BLAZE

The continuing importance of Magna Carta.
The beginnings of England’s political success – Robert Henderson, LIBERTARIAN ALLIANCE

“Let me give you a tip on a clue to men's characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonourably; the man who respects it has earned it. Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil.” -  Ayn Rand
Chelsea Clinton, $10M Apartment, $3M Wedding, $600K Job: I Just Don't Care About Money – FOX NEWS

“How do so many Muslims keep misunderstanding Islam and concluding that it commands them to “fight those who do not believe in Allah” (Qur’an 9:29)?”
Islamic violence inexplicable — but for the Koran – THE PRODOS BLOG

Aiming to reduce per capita alcohol consumption in the belief that this will inevitably reduce heavy and harmful drinking ignores the vast and many differences between heavy drinkers and average drinkers.
Punishing the drinking majority – Christopher Snowdon, IEA

“In June 1930, U.S. President Herbert Hoover signed into law the infamous Smoot-Hawley Tariff, which took a recession and quickly made it a deep depression. Hoover also doubled the income tax in 1932 and imposed so many other costly measures on the economy that Franklin Roosevelt's running mate in the 1932 election accused him of "taking the country down the path to socialism." Did your teachers or textbook authors tell you Hoover was a practitioner of free markets and laissez faire? Ask them why they would promote such atrocious falsehoods.”
Great Myths of the Great Depression (PDF and Audio) – Lawrence Reed, F.E.E.

“Who has won the UK austerity debate?”
The economic recovery in the United Kingdom – Tyler Cowen, MARGINAL REVOLUTION

“I'm reading John Allison's The Financial Crisis, a free-market take on the collapse that precipitated the Great Recession.  He's been discussing the moral hazard of deposit insurance, a difficult topic for me.”
Regulatory failure – GRIM’S HALL

“The only thing that can be said about Janet Yellen’s simple-minded paint-by-the-numbers performance yesterday is that the Keynesian apotheosis is complete. American capitalism and all political life, too, is now ruled by a 12-member monetary politburo, which is essentially accountable to no one except its own misbegotten doctrine that prosperity flows from the end of a printing press.”
The Keynesian Apotheosis Is Here; But Blame The Final Destruction Of Sound Money On The Bushes – David Stockman, CONTRA CORNER

GDP down, but “markets” are up?
These fake rallies will end in tears – Detlev Schlicter, THE SCHLICTER FILES

“Forty years ago, during the week of June 15-22, 1974, the Austrian School of Economics was reborn during a conference in the small New England town of South Royalton, Vermont.”
The Rebirth of Austrian Economics – Richard Ebeling, HEARTLAND BLOG

So, what’s this Austrian economics stuff all about, and why do I talk about it so damned much?

“Ancient Athens's economy: With two exceptions, as free as contemporary Hong Kong or Singapore.”
Measuring institutional quality in ancient Athens – JOURNAL OF INSITITUTIONAL ECONOMICS

“I like the fact that this list includes "Quantum Mysticism" and ‘toxins.’”
10 Pseudo-Science Theories We'd Like to See Retired Forever – iO9

PLAYBOY: How would you describe your politics?
OLDMAN: I would say that I’m probably a libertarian if I had to put myself in any category. But you don’t come out and talk about these things, for obvious reasons.”
PLAYBOY INTERVIEW: Gary Oldman – PLAYBOY

“The Pope won't get it, but a few Catholics might.”
Dear Pope Francis: I Confess My Sin – Robert Tracinski, THE FEDERALIST

“First of all, the data backs up my point. I have facts out the waz. Your data are flawed, old, biased or incomplete. The people who collected your data are in prison for fraud or took funding from an evil billionaire who lives in a castle on a mountain where there is always lightning. My facts are bulletproof. They were gathered by humble grass roots researchers who love America and hate cancer.”
Why You Are Wrong – THE HUMOR COLUMNIST

“Onkar Ghate answers the nonsense about Ayn Rand and social security.”
The Myth about Ayn Rand and Social Security – Onkar Ghate, VOICES FOR REASON

“In 1962, in answer to the question "Will you tell us briefly, what is Objectivism?" Ayn Rand recorded a short, 8-minute introduction to her philosophy.”

An important guide to following that soccer competition, if you must. Readers are advised however that simply  cheering on their team is sufficient. Anything else is optional. [Click to enlarge.]

WorldCupFlowchart_NEW

“Simply put, engineers make things. But is finding that "new" invention a massive mental leap from point A to point B, or are there scores of unnoticed intermediate steps in between?”
Psychology researchers explore how engineers create: It's not so much 'eureka' moments as it's the sweat of one's brow – SCIENCE DAILY

“Exclusive interview with an invading army of architecture drones.”
Will Drones Soon Replace Architects? – ARCHITIZER

“Opening the Nest platform to outside developers will allow Google to move into the emerging market for connected, smart home devices. Experts expect that this so-called "Internet of Things" phenomenon will change the way people use technology in much the same way that smartphones have changed life since the introduction of Apple's iPhone seven years ago.”
Google announces new forays into smart homes at I/O – CBS NEWS

Bring on the Shipstones! “We’ve seen so many press releases over the years for  new battery technology that seems almost to good to be true. Here’s hoping this one isn’t one of those.”
New battery technology will be great – if it is viable – WATTS UP WITH THAT

“An artist is not paid for his labour but for his vision!”
- James Whistler

“So, you’ve probably seen a pair of Vibram FiveFingers toe shoes. You may even own a pair, or, like me, eight. And you may have also have heard that Vibram have settled a class action suit for $3.75m… If you bought a pair of FiveFingers after March 2009, you’re part of the class, and you may already have received notice. You can check the settlement website to see the eligibility criteria and file a claim. But before you do, here are a few things you should know.”
The Vibram Settlement -

“The concept ‘depression’ started out as a term used by psychiatry to designate a clinical syndrome or condition. In other words, it was supposed to describe the abnormal, the unusual, or the not-to-be-expected. Nowadays, however, everyone and his brother, his sister, her daughter, and first cousin are all depressed.”
Please, Let’s Stop Using the Word “Depression”! – DR MICHAEL HURD

“Both sex and masturbations lower blood pressure.” True story.
Masturbating is good for your health, improves eyesight – MALEMA

“To Wright's way of thinking, any building, if properly designed, could be a temple.”
The Triumph of Frank Lloyd Wright – SMITHSONIAN MAG

Solomon R Guggenheim Museum

Some Jaguars from ARTCURIAL's July 5th sale at the Le Mans Classic. So, which one’s your favourite?

“It seems as though the “craft brewing” industry has wasted many hours/days/weeks debating over exactly what craft beer is… We should really be trying to define the types of breweries and the liquid produced by the big multinationals.”
Don’t Define Craft Beer – Define Industrial Beer – Luke Nicholas, LUKE’S BEER

“Craft beer’s often over hopped, brilliant in it’s clarity and full of cheerful, artificial carbonation. It’s the Oaked Chardonnay of the age. Its a wake up call for the palette. It’s big, bold and totally awesome. But I do wonder if something else is happening, slowly following our dining preferences.”
Wild Beer - ow yer – Joel McFarlane, BREW NATION

[Hat tips Geek Press, Stephen Hicks, Archinect, OMGFactsSex, Econlib, Tamela Lewis, Marcus Chown, Jonathan Finegold, IPEA - Think Tank, Jim Matzger, Human Ability, Jnette Saxby, Robert Tracinski, Justin Templer, Hilton Wayne Holder', Mark Tammett, Greg Davis, Classic Cars magazine, Jeff Perren Novelist, Yaron Brook, Architizer', Lawrence Reed, David Knowles Art, FEE]

Thanks for reading,
Have a great weekend!
PC

Thursday 26 June 2014

The left has lost a generation

Left-wing activists struggling to understand why they fail to excite 18-30-year-olds – the “missing million” Hone and Laila’s New Alliance Party and #rockethevote are supposed to engage – might gain insight from a 2013 study by Ipsos Mori discussed on a recent BBC Radio 4 programme and by Yamir Ash at Spiked.  It seems that, Generation Y, which has endured more cotton-wool and in-school state indoctrination than any other, is rebelling. The left has lost Gen Y, says Ash.

According to the study, ‘Generation Y [18- to 30-year-olds] is more likely… to believe the role of the state should be more focused on providing opportunities and less on managing the risks individuals face. This suggests that Generation Y is a more individualist generation than the others, more concerned with personal independence and opportunity.’
    Putting aside the rather trite conclusion that views on welfare alone mark the difference between left and right, the findings of this survey do raise an important issue: the inability of the modern left to engage with Generation Y. While, in times past, being left-wing was bound up with ideas of opportunity and social mobility, the left’s present incarnations have patronised and alienated ambitious young people. Policies implying that young people are incapable of self sufficiency, and are in need of constant guidance, vigilance and support have suffocated a generation…

Smother kids with statist cotton wool and they rebel. That’s a hopeful sign.

    The portrayal of young people today as the ‘jilted generation’ in left-leaning media outlets has further reinforced the idea that today’s youth need to be looked after and nursed into a stable life through governmental paternalism. This runs entirely counter to the findings of the Ipsos Mori study. Its research reveals a generation with an enterprising spirit and a strong belief in its own capabilities.

Not sure Laila’s lefties are going to be able to entice them back, and more than the dullard Davids will. And despite the wall-to-wall greenism youngsters receive at school, it still doesn’t translate into overwhelming numbers for Russel Norman.

So if true, this is a hopeful sign. The job for non-statists, if they wish to capitalise, is themselves to be able to articulate the clear argument against the statist status quo into which Gen Y’s sullen rebellion can tune in.

Phone-hacking by media so 2006

When Rebekah Brooks, Andrew Coulson and their News International team were first accused of hacking private phones, way back in 2006, there was widespread outrage, uncontrolled outbreaks of snarling Murdoch-hatred, and a public inquiry used by British politicians and celebrities to further muzzle the British press.

The attempted muzzling continues. But now that former New International head Rebekah Brooks and most of her colleagues, with two exceptions,  have been cleared of all charges , it might be time to reflect after one of the most expensive trials in British legal history that even what she and her colleagues were alleged to have done, i.e., hacking the phones of hundreds of celebrities, politicians and crime victims, has been dwarfed by the revelations since of what GCHQ, the NSA and our own GCSB have got up to since.

Hacking hundreds of phones, hell! The governments’ buggers do that just to warm up. Phone calls, emails, metadata, whatever you’ve got, they’ll take it, tape it, store it, listen in and use it against you if they can. And they’re not doing in the hundreds; every phone call and email conversation on the planet, and every ISP and carrier who hosts them, is under surveillance and under the thumb of government buggers.

No need for anything as archaic as search warrants, these buggers have Presidential and Prime Ministerial backing to invade your private communications.

It makes the outrage over what little one newspaper organisation was alleged to have done look almost quaint by contrast.

Discounted free speech [updated]

jack thomson

A court case taken by anti-[redacted] zealots shows the absurdity in what they absurdly call smokefree legislation (the only legislation in which, ironically, the word “free” appears).1

A Porirua man has been convicted of obstructing bureaucrats and for displaying signs with the word [redacted] all around his [redacted] shop.

Jack Thomson is a [redacted]. He runs a [redacted] shop in Porirua, and was fined $250 for “obstructing a smokefree officer,” and $2025 for displaying [redacted] advertising. Thomson’s shop, “Discount [Redacted] Supplies,” breaks the Ministry of Health’s law banning [redacted] advertising, as did many of the posters covering the walls inside. Fearful, apparently, that the mere appearance of the word [redacted] might set people off in some way known only to themselves, men and women at the Ministry took on Mr Thomson’s shop as a project, making repeated visits until  Thomson eventually blanked out two letters in the word "[redacted]" on the front of his shop with stickers. Each sticker read, "This is a banned word."  But he refused to remove posters inside with the same word.

The absurdity, perhaps, is that anyone entering a [redacted] shop advertised as such by its signboard would be unsurprised to discover inside posters advertising [redacted].  The anti-[redacted] zealots however seem to think that banning words is their own reward – which for them, being just another manifestation of their power to control behaviour, it probably is.

How little we value free speech, and how easily we have accepted censorship, and control of what peaceful people choose to do.

How absurd.

[Pic by Stuff. Hat tip Julian D.]


1. Graham Edgeler tells me I am technically mistaken:

In legislation that is not smoking related, we also have:
Lower Hutt City (Free Ambulance Site) Act 1977
New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987
Wellington Free Ambulance Act 1941
And, adopting a broad meaning of legislation, there is also:
Electricity (China Free Trade Agreement) Regulations 2008

So there’s those. But of freedom, we have …

Labour’s malodorous Alternative Budget

The good news emerging from Labour’s alternative budget – and hold tight, there is some – is that, for political parties at least, promising to end debt and to cut taxes seems to be the new black.

Labour say they want to extinguish Bill English’s debt faster even than Bill English (down to 3.0% of GDP by the end of 2021). Fact is, they’d like be overspending by even more than Bill, so this is little more than election-speak – but they seem to think they need to say it, which is good. And they’re talking tax cuts too.  Sure, based on purple prose and over-expectation of tax revenues, and only in their second term, should they ever get one. But at least they’re talking about tax cuts. Even the Greens were talking about tax cuts, remember, which doesn’t happen often.

So that’s all promising, isn’t it. Parties may not really mean a word of it, but they’re seeing which way the electoral wind is blowing and let it blow their tongues around. May that particular wind keep blowing, and with increasing pressure.

But while the wind blows strong from one direction, several powerful odours still emanate from another, finding their place in Labour’s would-be election budget.

The first is an envy tax: a rise in the tax rate on trusts and top-income earners to 36%. Sure, less than the 39% rate imposed by Michael Cullen, but still higher than the Nats’s already high rate. Its primary role is not to bring in revenue; its mission is to bring in voters wanting to see “rich pricks” smacked. So this is just mainstream Labour.

The second bad smell is the very centrepiece of their economic policy: what they call an “economic upgrade.”  In a budgetary context, that “upgrade” consists of a higher taxes on employers1, higher taxes on employees2, higher taxes on property owners doing well3, industry subsidies, and government subsidised house-building.

If this sounds like incoherence rather than an “upgrade,” taxing the productive more heavily to subsidise those you wish would be more productive, then you’re probably reading more acutely than the Davids, who only add to this incoherence by still insisting (in the monetary policy part of their “upgrade”) that they’ll have the Reserve Bank lower real wages by devaluing the dollar.

Which means, going into this election, the Labour Party is promising higher taxes, lower wages, and several very nasty smells.


1, in the form of higher employer levies on Kiwisaver.
2. which is how, justifiably, wage earners will see Labour’s plan for compulsory super, something they voted down in large numbers not that long ago.
3. this is their fabled Capital Gains Tax, which smacks property owners, and has nowhere in the world either brought in the revenue the Davids are after, or stopped any housing bubble ever.

Wednesday 25 June 2014

ECONOMICS FOR REAL PEOPLE: “Freedom, the fundamental human right”

Our friends at the Auckland University Economics Group are all busy acing exams at the moment, but they’ve spotted a public event this Monday evening they reckon will be good.

Hi everyone,
    For those in Auckland after exams, a public presentation this coming Monday evening (30 June) at the University of Auckland Business School should interest you. 
    Tim Wilson, Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner, will be speaking on “Freedom, the fundamental human right.” Tim is a very controversial person in Australia so it promises to be very interesting. And maybe controversial.
    Who is Tim Wilson? According to his bio …

          He has extensive experience in public debate and has had many regular radio and television
     commitments, with both commercial and public broadcasters. The Australian newspaper recognised
    Tim as one of the ten emerging leaders of Australian society. He has written extensively for newspapers,
     journals and books....

For more information about this event and to register, please go to the event’s website
And check us out on the web, and join the debates, at our Facebook page.

QUOTE OF THEDAY: Which Inequalities Matter?

“Which inequalities matter is more interesting than
what's going on on any particular margin of inequality.”

- Eric Crampton, 'Nerd Pride'

Lincoln


Lincoln the Railsplitter, Norman Rockwell, 1965

I’ve been more than disappointed over the years by the attitude taken by too many libertarians to Abraham Lincoln. Too ready, especially, to accept shoddy revisionist scholarship peddled by neo-confederate cranks – leading to the tragic spectacle of so-called lovers of liberty denigrating  a president who defended rights, while they themselves defend the alleged “rights” of a slave state.

Worse:

In the face of widespread popular support for Lincoln (note, for example, the success of the 2012 Steven Spielberg film about him) and his perennially high reputation among academics, certain libertarians and conservatives have promoted the view that Lincoln was a totalitarian who paved the way for out-of-control government in the 20th century.Those critics are wrong. Contrary to their volumes of misinformation and smears—criticisms that are historically inaccurate and morally unjust—Lincoln, despite his flaws, was a heroic defender of liberty and of the essential principles of America’s founding.
    Getting Lincoln right matters. It matters that we know what motivated Lincoln—and what motivated his Confederate enemies. It matters that we [even in New Zealand] understand the core principles on which America was founded—and the ways in which Lincoln expanded the application of those principles. It matters that modern advocates of liberty properly understand and articulate Lincoln’s legacy—rather than leave his legacy to be distorted by anti-government libertarians (and their allies among conservatives), leviathan-supporting “progressives,” and racist neo-Confederates.

Given the shocking state of libertarian Lincoln scholarship then, I was very happy on receiving my latest copy of The Objective Standard to see the cover story is a thorough debunking of their claims against the president forced to confront head on the toxic mixture of freedom and slavery which the founders unfortunately bequeathed America. It is the best debunking of the claims against him I’ve read.

The author, Alexander Marriot, addresses and dismisses each of the major claims made by the likes of Thomas DiLorenzo, Ron Paul, Murray Rothbard, Walter Williams, and sundry other folk who should know better, including claims…

Tuesday 24 June 2014

'Atom in the Universe’

Time to share a friend’s favourite poem, by the late, great physicist Richard Feynman:

"I, a universe of atoms, an atom in the universe." - Richard P. Feynman

'Atom in the Universe’

...I stand at the seashore, alone, and start to think.

There are the rushing waves, mountains of molecules
Each stupidly minding its own business
Trillions apart, yet forming white surf in unison

Ages on ages, before any eyes could see
Year after year, thunderously pounding the shore as now
For whom, for what?
On a dead planet, with no life to entertain

Never at rest, tortured by energy
Wasted prodigiously by the sun, poured into space
A mite makes the sea roar

Deep in the sea, all molecules repeat the patterns
Of one another till complex new ones are formed
They make others like themselves
And a new dance starts

Growing in size and complexity
Living things, masses of atoms, DNA, protein
Dancing a pattern ever more intricate

Out of the cradle onto the dry land
Here it is standing
Atoms with consciousness, matter with curiosity
Stands at the sea, wonders at wondering

I, a universe of atoms
An atom in the universe

     - Richard P. Feynman

More roading doesn’t mean more traffic jams

Public transport advocates repeatedly claim that building more roads only makes more and busier roads. Russel Norman, for example, invokes the story of his road-building brother in Queensland, who reckons building more roads just gets you to the next traffic jam faster. And Public Transport Blog  of course has a stack of posts on this alleged phenomenon, called “induced demand,” in which more road building is alleged to encourage so many new motorists on to the road that congestion can never be wiped out.

Not true, however, as Randal O’Toole argues in this guest post…

Debunking the Induced-Demand Myth

“Building bigger roads actually makes traffic worse,” asserts Wired magazine. “The reason you’re stuck in traffic isn’t all these jerks around you who don’t know how to drive,” says writer Adam Mann; “it’s just the road that you’re all driving on.” If only we had fewer roads, he implies, we would have less congestion. This “roads-induce-demand” claim is as wrong as Wired’s previous claim that Tennessee fiscal conservatives were increasing Nashville congestion by banning bus-rapid transit, when actually they were preventing congestion by banning the conversion of general lanes to dedicated bus lanes.

imageIn support of the induced-demand claim, Mann cites research by economists Matthew Turner of the University of Toronto and Gilles Duranton of the University of Pennsylvania. “We found that there’s this perfect one-to-one relationship,” Mann quotes Turner as saying. Mann describes this relationship as, “If a city had increased its road capacity by 10 percent between 1980 and 1990, then the amount of driving in that city went up by 10 percent. If the amount of roads in the same city then went up by 11 percent between 1990 and 2000, the total number of miles driven also went up by 11 percent. It’s like the two figures were moving in perfect lockstep, changing at the same exact rate.” If this were true, then building more roads doesn’t make traffic worse, as the Wired headline claims; it just won’t make it any better.

However, this is simply not true. Nor is it what Duranton & Turner’s paper actually said. The paper compared daily kilometres of interstate highway driving with lane kilometres of interstates in the urbanized portions of 228 metropolitan areas. In the average metropolitan area, it found that between 1983 and 1993 lane miles grew by 32 percent while driving grew by 77 percent. Between 1993 and 2003, lane miles grew by 18 percent, and driving grew by 46 percent.

That’s hardly a “perfect one-to-one relationship.”

Public transport is for other people [updated]

They want you to spend $3 billion adding a tunnel to their system (above), but they won’t use the system themselves.

Staff at the agency that runs and promotes public transport in Auckland, complete with ads on the back of buses crowing how much faster buses are than cars, are refusing to use public transport themselves between their office right beside the downtown Britomart rail and bus terminal and their office right beside the Henderson rail and bus terminal.

They’re refusing to use public transport because, they say, public transport is too slow. About which, of course, they’re right.

So instead, their bosses are having you pay $122,000 over six months for a private “shuttle.”

Same story for staff at Auckland Council, for whom their public-transport-promoting overlords have provided a shuttle between their central and Takapuna offices.

It adds lustre to the famous survey in which ninety-five percent of folk surveyed thought other people should use public transport.

Story with audio here.

UPDATE: Public Transport Blog comments.

Monday 23 June 2014

Stand for Something

Embedded image permalink

Colin Craig and his party met over the weekend.

After many months of public hand wringing Craig finally announced in which seat in he will be standing. And after many weeks of publicly insisting National throw him an electoral deal,  whinging he and his party deserved it, he is now saying “what they do is up to them…. all those things are helpful but it's not something we're asking for.” Well, not now. Not this week.

Craig and his deputy, former head of Social Welfare Christine Rankin, famous for being as generous spending taxpayer money on herself and her staff as Grant Dalton, launched their campaign with the slogan ‘Stand for Something.’

It sounds like a plea to his members.

These are the four things they’ve decided to stand for. If you don’t like them, they have others. (I’ve reviewed their first policy last and their last policy first; since the party leader is religious, he’ll understand.)

Friday 20 June 2014

The Biggest Reason Your Government Sucks

Guest post from Laissez faire Books  

Secret donors. Wasteful construction projects. Back room deals with special interests. Tax breaks for select groups. And rampant corruption.

If you think I'm describing to you all the problems of our government and opposition ... think again. No, this is what's currently going on in Brazil right now. And it's all because of the World Cup.

But what's going on in Brazil is a great example of why you're stuck with the terrible government you currently have. Let me explain.

A New MoBIE Dick

Guest post by Peter Osborne

I see the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MoBIE) has appointed a new Registrar of Building Practitioner Licensing.

His name is Paul Hobbs and he’s no slouch. Hell no! He planted his trotters in the Department of Business, Innovation and Employment six years ago. More recently he sat his curly tail in Weathertight Services Group as National Manager. And previously he oinked himself a key role in the Canterbury earthquake recovery work for the Building System Performance team, within MoBIE. I am sure this will not be his last posting but that is no longer of any consequence as his snout is now, well and truly, in the trough. We taxpayers must be grateful that someone who has no intention of producing anything in his working career is nonetheless there, to keep us who do produce, in line.

How fortunate that Christchurch has an army of such people, there to unsure that its stagnation continues, unmolested by the real property owners who just want to get on with things.

Thursday 19 June 2014

Turning Piketty Right Side Up

In all the criticism and commentary on Frenchman Thomas Piketty’s criticism of ‘Capital in the 21st Century,’ one very important thing has until now not been pointed out.

Piketty’s simple formula sets capital against wages and general prosperity, suggesting that as capital rises in value then wages will miss out. Yet, as should be obvious to any student of capital, it is capital that pays wages and raises general prosperity.

Thus, Piketty comes at his subject from the wrong side up. In this guest post, George Reisman turns him right side up.

Turning Piketty Right Side Up

Thomas Piketty, a neo-Marxist French professor, has written a near-700-page book, published by Harvard University Press. His book is titled Capital in the Twenty-First Century, in honor of Karl Marx’s nineteenth century Das Capital. It has been greeted with fervent applause from the left-wing intellectual establishment and has been on The New York Times’s and Amazon.com’s best-seller lists.

While his book is ostensibly devoted to the study of capital and its rate of return, Piketty comes to his subject apparently without having read a single page of Ludwig von Mises or Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, the two leading theorists of the subject. There is not a single reference to either of these men in his book.

There are, however, seventy references to Karl Marx.

How do you know a politician is lying?

“It's not the lying that bothers me, it's the fact that
people think I'm stupid enough to believe them that does.”
- Anonymous

How do you know  a politician is lying? Their lips are moving.

But was Cunliffe lying when he replied “no,” “definitely not” and “never” to questions whether he’d known, met or helped party donor Donghua Liu? Probably not.

The petard on which he’s being justifiably hung however is of his own making, and doubly so:

Wednesday 18 June 2014

Don’t call them liberals, but don’t call them progressives either

Guest post by Brian Micklethewait

I strongly agree with Americans Dan Klein and Kevin Frei that “liberal” and “liberalism” are words that should never be relinquished to those who don’t believe in liberty. They have started something called Liberalism Unrelinquished. Good for them.

We the undersigned affirm the original arc of liberalism, and the intention not to relinquish the term liberal to the trends, semantic and institutional, toward the governmentalization of social affairs.

Little Jimmy Scott, 1925-2014: He wanted all of it

Just heard the news that singer Jimmy Scott, “the jazz vocalist with "more pain and prettiness in his voice than any singer anywhere",” has died.

"He sang like no one else," said saxophonist Dexter Gordon. "Ahead of the beat. Behind the beat. In a haunting high-pitched voice that was neither male nor female but both at the same time." …
    Kallmann syndrome, a condition that halted Jimmy's hormonal growth, left him with an alto voice that remained unchanged.
    "Some thought he was a woman in drag," said Gordon. "He caught hell for being different – not just as a singer, but as a person on the planet. Yet I never saw him anything but positive, cheerful and ready to roll to the next gig with a smile on his face. Jimmy Scott was one brave motherfucker."

I first heard him through his haunting voice on Lou Reed’s songs and shows. I saw him several times in London singing this, with Lou …

… and this.

A favourite of, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Betty Carter, Marvin Gaye, Nancy Wilson and many more, this, for Lionel Hampton’s band, was his first big hit, way back in 1950:

The Truth about Savings and Consumption

Time to squelch again the popular myth that consumption drives the economy.

Fact is:

Consumption is the final, not the efficient, cause of production. The efficient cause is savings, which can be said to represent the opposite of consumption: they represent unconsumed goods. Consumption is the end of production, and a dead end, as far as the productive process is concerned. The worker who produces so little that he consumes everything he earns, carries his own weight economically, but contributes nothing to future production. The worker who has a modest savings account, and the millionaire who invests a fortune (and all the men in between), are those who finance the future. The man who consumes without producing is a parasite, whether he is a welfare recipient or a rich playboy.

Tuesday 17 June 2014

The world now produces more farmed fish than beef

Map of the world's aquaculture production in 2011

You know, years ago when this blog first started, we had a discussion about property rights in fish, large and small, and talked about property rights as a way both to save the oceans, and to de-politicise them.

Have you stopped beating your wife?

An inquiry into tragedy has ended up in farce.

The recommendations of Owen Glenn’s inquiry into child abuse and domestic violence range from the banal (NZ courts are dysfunctional, who knew!) to the farcical (let’s just presume everyone is guilty until they presume otherwise). In that, they are no different to the outcome of the government inquiries this one was intended to mirror. But this one was supposed to be different.

Yes, we all know NZ courts are time-consuming, elephantine and dysfunctional. But reversing the presumption of innocence is not a recipe to fix that: it’s a recipe for lynch-mob injustice. It would turn the loaded question, “Have you stopped beating your wife,” into the way ‘justice’ was done.

Straight from elephantine justice to kangaroo courts in one simple hop.

There was nothing wrong with the inquiry’s intent.

Monday 16 June 2014

Piss Off, Grant.

It’s starting to look as if Grant Dalton is well-named, because he’s after another one. A grant. A handout. A reach-around from taxpayer to pocket -- the pocket being his and his colleagues, the lever to extract the dosh being the fear “we” may not have another America’s Cup challenge.

Without an immediate cash injection the syndicate are, in the words of boss Grant Dalton, "gone by the end of the month."

And if Mr Dalton is looking nowhere else than the dwindling resources of the taxpayer for that injection (and the statement is made in the context of approaching the government yet again with a begging bowl), then it should be.

Because his America’s Cup programme is looking increasing like it’s just welfare for well-fed sailors.

If he and his colleagues want to run another challenge, then I suggest they approach a few of those businessmen and women who can be heard saying the America’s Cup would be “good for the economy.” People like Marine Industry Association boss Peter Busfield. If people like Mr Busfield think it would be good for the their economy, then let them either front up, or shut up. Put your hand in your own pocket, Peter, and keep it out of ours.

What would John M. Keynes say about John N. Key?

“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they
are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled
by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any
intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist…”

-John Maynard Keynes

If you’ve ever wondered what ails your Prime Minister economically – extreme economic micro-management; picking winners losers; borrow-and-spend; emissions trading scams; the institutionalisation of cronyism; the idea that a nationwide network of bike paths would revitalise the local economy – then consider that Keynes was right in that quote above.

If so, then it’s no surprise to discover that the defunct economist from whom John Key has plucked his nostrums (I almost said “thinking,” but that would be unfair) is Paul Samuelson, whose best-selling Economics textook has (dis)graced more classrooms than there are dollars in the national debt.

As the Jesuits might have said, show me the boy’s economics textbook, and I will show you the economic policies of the man.

Glasgow School of Art -- Charles Rennie Mackintosh


Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art of (designed 1906-7; completed 1909) was one of the twentieth Century's first true architectural masterpieces. Mackintosh designed it at the age of just twenty-eight.
That's a model (above) of the completed building, and a glimpse of the West facade (below).

I was devastated to discover over the weekend that the masterpiece by architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, his Glasgow School of Art, was destroyed by fire last week. 

Restoration is Definite for Glasgow School of Art

The shell remains, but rooms are ravaged – and the architectural heart of the school, the library, is no more.

      

There is talk of restoration, but it’s hard to see what there is left to restore.

Devastating.

12 Types of Procrastinators

There are many kinds of procrastinator. Which one are you?

Me, I’m a bunch of these: a Panicker, a Perpetuator, a Gamer and (mostly) a Sidetracker. But not a cleaner. The windows are always safe around me when I’m working.

[Hat tip Noodle Food]

Friday 13 June 2014

Friday Morning Ramble: Stormy Weather

How have you enjoyed the storms? No damage, I hope?

What happened to those mayoral election promises?
Big rates rises tipped for Auckland – WIRELESS

We get light rail, and downtown rail tunnels, because Baptist-and-bootlegger coalitions are enabled by ignorant voters.
Baptists, Bootleggers, and Public Squalor: Light Rail Isn't a Good Public Investment – Art Carden, ECON LOG

Next target for public transport campaigners: Park-and-ride stations, which are “subverting the sustainability goal of transit.” And you thought public transport was about helping folk travel around the city?
The Case for Tearing Down Park-and-Ride Lots – CITY LAB

Do local scientists spend more time filling our grant forms than doing science?
Tragedy of the AntiCommons: reviewer veto edition – Eric Crampton, OFFSETTING BEHAVIOUR

The product of London planners: a Proverty Creation Programme. Here’s what you can rent in North London  for just 737 pounds per month.
Studio flat 737 pounds per month – THE INDEPENDENT

Message for planners:
Shoe box apartments are no affordability cure – MACROBUSINESS AUSTRALIA

“Similarly, this wasn’t about any one issue, though Brat’s opposition to Cantor on immigration helped energize some fanatical supporters, which is important in a contest where the overall vote total is not very big. But this is less about two candidates with opposing principles than it is about candidates with opposing attitudes toward the very concept of ‘principle.’”
Why We Fired Eric Cantor – Robert Tracinski, THE FEDERALIST
The Ayn Rand Factor: Who is David Brat?- VOICES OF REASON

“Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is seeking an alliance among "like-minded" nations to thwart efforts to introduce carbon pricing and American President Barack Obama's move to push climate change through global forums like G20.”
Tony Abbott to 'Forge Alliance' to Counter Obama's Efforts to Push Climate Change on Top – INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES

Well at least the CIA has a sense of humour.
The CIA has joined Twitter with the best first tweet possible – THE VERGE

“The fall of Mosul to the radical, extremist Islamic States of Iraq and Syria is a set of historical indictments.”
The Fall of Mosul and the False Promises of Modern History – Juan Cole, HISTORY NEWS NETWORK
It's Probably Nothing – SMALL DEAD ANIMALS

Fascinating new book by former Australian Prime Minister (and Ayn Rand admirer), in which he argues Australia’s alliance with the U.S. “is now a liability, and a potentially dangerous one at that… The net result, Fraser argues, is that: ‘We have significantly diminished our capacity to act as a separate sovereign nation.’”
Book review: Dangerous Allies by Malcolm Fraser – THE CONVERSATION

“I see the value of bearing and raising children within the stability and support of a family — particularly in less wealthy cultures where women don’t have the resources or capacity to raise and support a child on their own… [but this] — and the abuse, neglect, and ostracism suffered by these children detailed in the article — is a painful reminder of the evil of stigmatizing children born out of wedlock.”
The Sins of the Father? No Thanks! – Diana Hsieh, NOODLE FOOD

image

This should be self-explanatory to anyone interested.
ANNOUNCING STUDY GROUP ON INDUCTIVE METHOD OF THINKING, ITS FOUNDATION – Rohin Gupta, FACEBOOK

“Malt, sewage, pilau rice. The world's most exciting cities - by smell.”
Your favourite city smellscapes in pictures – NEW SCIENTIST

“Programming quality is inversely proportional to regulatory meddling.”
TV’s Third Golden Age – B.K. Marcus, THE FREEMAN

“Hipster tattoos as a form of socially legitimised self-harm." Discuss.
Sleeve tattoos are now a hipster habit – and the permanence of mine pains me – GUARDIAN

Don’t run. Life’s worth it. 
Rik Mayall had heart attack after morning run, says wife – TELEGRAPH

Beer writer of the year hopeful shamelessly milks a fad. [WARNING: MAY CONTAIN BEER]
Darkest Days: Real Vampires Don’t Sparkle -

Impish brewer wonders why 2,750,400 people just drink cold beer?
Seven Reasons Most People Drink Beer – LUKE’S BEER

“From Ancient Greece to quantum mechanics, or what a Chinese room and a cat have to do with infinity.”
Six Famous Thought Experiments, Animated in 60 Seconds Each - BRAIN PICKINGS

“I don't like country music, but I don't mean to
denigrate those who do. And for the people who
like country music, denigrate means 'put down.’”

- Bob Newhart


The climatic lietmotif for the week…

In honour of Rik Mayall and Henry V

And for those who haven’t seen it for a week…

[Hat tips Hugh Pavletich, Prodos, Stephen Hicks, Paul McKeever, Lyn Bishop, Malcolm Fraser, Matthew Mitchell]

Thanks for reading,
Have a great weekend!
PC

Thursday 12 June 2014

QUOTE OF THE DAY: On David Brat

“I do not know David Brat and had never heard of him before he won the primary [against poster child for term limits, Eric Cantor].  I have looked at his Vita.  However, I am bothered by seeing him called a free market economist and a Randian.  Apparently one of the major issues distinguishing him from Mr. Cantor is Mr. Brat’s opposition to immigrants and immigration reform.  I cannot understand how someone can be a free market economist and opposed to immigration reform. Our immigration laws are a major limitation on free exchange, and anyone who really favours free markets must be in favour of major reforms, including allowing those who are here illegally to legalize their status.”
- Paul H.Rubin, TRUTH ON THE MARKET

It apparently starts with Ayn Rand [updated]

To say Paul Krugman has jumped the shark would be to confuse this one shark for several dozen earlier varieties.

Krugman’s latest is that a) we’re all gonna die (You now, crop failures; ice caps falling on us; polar bears taking their revenge; all that sort of thing), and b) anyone who denies we’re all gonna die has been deluded by Ayn Rand.

He writes this for America’s paper of record. Not as satire, but as serious analysis.

James Delingpole is excited for this new turn in the former Nobel-Prize winner’s career. See:

I'm personally very excited for Professor Krugman too because I think it could mark the beginning of a successful new career as an amateur pop psychologist. Next week, he could maybe tell us why racism is caused by listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd; then, in a subsequent column, which I especially look forward to reading, he could explain why all the firm breasts and heaving buttocks in Game of Thrones are responsible for the worst outbreak of sexism in Western history.
   
What's certain is that Krugman badly needs a career change. He trained, I believe, as an economist but what's palpably clear when reading his article is that he doesn't really understand his subject at all.
   
Let me give you some examples of what I mean…

You can, if you care to, read on.

UPDATE: From the other direction, Reason magazine decided they might ridicule Rand for liking cats.  For liking cats! Timothy Sanderfur fires back on cats, objective value, and more. Read: ‘Ayn Rand believed in the objective value of cats? How silly!...oh wait, she was right.’