Monthly Archives: August 2015

Media lies and the parties of the left

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The parties of the left depend on lies to get elected, and even more so depend on the news gathering organisations to suppress any news that might harm the left. Here is Andrew Klavan making that point:

Here is the first rule of “mainstream” news coverage in America: Whenever the prejudices and illusions of left-wingers are confirmed by an individual incident, the incident is treated as representative; when those prejudices and illusions are contradicted, the incident is considered an aberration — and treating it as representative is deemed hateful.

You would think that everyone knew that, but not everyone does. You would think that everyone who does know that would discount any news source from the usual sources as tainted, but not everyone does that either. The left and the media are now as one. The media know the power they have and they are filled with those who are prepared to lie and distort every message they write and print to perpetuate the left in power.

Some positive news about the Chinese economy

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Here’s the story: China likely to drag the world into global recession, Citigroup says. Here’s how it begins:

China is sliding into recession and the leadership will not respond quickly enough with large-scale fiscal policies that could avoid a major slowdown and stimulate demand, Citigroup’s top economist Willem Buiter said.

The only thing to stop a Chinese recession, which the former external member of the Bank of England defines as 4 per cent growth on “the mendacious official data” for a year, is a consumption-oriented fiscal stimulus program funded by central government and monetised by the People’s Bank of China, Buiter said.

“Despite the economy crying out for it, the Chinese leadership is not ready for this,” said Buiter, the man who coined the term “Grexit” during the Greek debt crisis.

So what is positive about that, you might ask. If it is a deliberate decision not to reflate but to go through the adjustment that is obviously required, there will be about a year of mess, possibly not even that, and growth will resume on a stronger basis. It will also be a sign that the Chinese leadership understand how useless Keynesian economic theory is and are now biting the bullet and will endure the pain of the next twelve months. This is all speculation from both Mr Buiter and myself, but it will be interesting to see how things do unfold. If there really is a recession and no stimulus and the Chinese economy comes out of it in 2016-17 stronger than ever, we will be re-writing our textbooks without any doubt.

How to spot a climate crank at a 100 paces

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climate cult

There are some cults you spot right away, such as the Hari Krishnas who are found on the footpath everywhere. And then there are the cults that spring up in the most surprising places, like the cult of global warming. This is a guest post at Watt’s Up with That: The ‘Cult’ of Climate Change (née Global Warming). There are lots of such cults which are forms of supposedly settled science whose only value is that they provide a carte blanche to government cronyism. They also provide for their adherents a feeling that they are in the know, and even when they are a majority, a belief that they have special insight into the actual way things are unavailable to others. There is not a subject area in which they are not found. The article gives you a means to spot them when they are associated with climate absolutism. This is how the article begins:

This is the opinion of Nobel Prize Winning Physicist Dr. Ivar Giaever , Prof. Richard Lindzen, and many others. Climate change alarmism has a surprising number of attributes of a medieval or even ancient religion. Nevertheless, real religions have some pre-requisites, like a tradition spanning at least few generations. So the proper name for climate alarmism is a cult. And these are the telltale attributes.

Now go read the rest.

Tom Woods on Say’s Law

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This is a podcast of me talking to Tom Woods about Say’s Law. I think of it as the single most important economic issue of our time, because if we don’t finally work it out that Keynes got it completely wrong, we are going to create for ourselves a permanently lower standard of living and a widening underclass of the unemployed and under-employed. You cannot make an economy grow from the demand side. It is so rare to find someone who understands the point, making this an almost unique and quite exceptional place from which you can discover what the issues are and why they matter. Most of it is found in great detail in my Say’s Law and the Keynesian Revolution but there are some things I have discovered since, many of which are found in the Liberty Fund discussion on the Economics of John Stuart Mill for which I wrote the lead article. But the podcast gives a summary of everything that matters, which can only happen when the person asking the questions understands the issues himself.

My endless thanks to Tom Woods for doing this podcast and for recognising the importance of Say’s Law.

A republic of fools

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What is the superlative for moronic. There is more moronic, then there’s completely moronic and there are politicians on the right side of the political spectrum who start pushing for an Australian Republic when no one else is even mentioning it. That really is the final straw. And this is how it is going to have to be.

The problem has been from the start that Tony Abbott is too much of a nice guy for the office he holds. He doesn’t want others to be in fear of him, but to like and respect him. OK, but that’s not the advice Machiavelli gave and it’s not been a really good political technique either before or since. There’s not enough mongrel. Real deep down anger at stupidity, incompetence and treachery. So let us suppose the Libs hold Canning. Nothing will work unless they hold Canning. But then if they do, it is time for a cabinet re-shuffle in which there are two pieces of deadwood in particular who need to be put on the fire.

It may actually be the case that at some time in the past I have said something positive about Hockey’s management of the economy. It’s possible. But let us sum up. Joe has never from the moment he kept Martin Parkinson at Treasury and then onwards got a thing right. Even Wayne Swan could talk about getting the deficit down. Parkinson probably even had the same people write his speeches as the ones that wrote Wayne’s. Kind of a private joke. Same empty lines. Same lack of action. Same vacuous ideas. You had your chance and it’s time to go.

And then of course there is Dr Proctologist, here shown discussing the latest examination of his favourite client. malcolm and scott This is the man who was to lead us into the digital age, missing in action on every front unless he can find some way to sandbag the Prime Minister. His two responsibilities: the ABC and the NBN. That is, the two largest single-issue failures of this government. You wouldn’t trust him.

There must just be something about wanting a republic that makes politicians into idiots. There was an identity thing, perhaps, but Australia is a quite distinct place on the globe. We know who we are and we are quite good at being us. The only reason you might want a republic would be because it would make the country more governable, more responsive to our political wishes. But that is not what it would do. And in fact, watching Obama ruin the United States, you would never want a republican system if you had an ounce of common sense. Cabinet governments work. If you want to make our political system work better, you should be thinking about how to reduce the power of the Senate, like not allowing it to reject money bills more than once or perhaps twice. The Senate has power without responsibility, the worst of all forms of political abuse. Who Jackie Lambie represents exactly is an unknown. That’s what you ought to be fixing, but no, these morons go for changing the superficial that will make us worse off, rather than doing something more difficult that would actually do us some good.

Obama has no idea what rent seeking is so Charles Koch has to tell him

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Here is something Obama will never understand:

It’s not going to help the country to be subsidizing uneconomical forms of energy — whether you call them ‘green,’ ‘renewable’ or whatever. In that case, the cure is worse than the disease. And there is a big debate on whether you have a real disease or something that’s not that serious. I recognize there is a big debate about that. But whatever it is, the cure is to do things in the marketplace, and to let individuals and companies innovate, to come up with alternatives that will deal with whatever the problem may be in an economical way so we don’t squander resources on uneconomic approaches.”

The man speaking was Charles Koch after he had been personally attacked by the President:

Obama said of those who try to thwart policies intended to boost clean energy: “That’s not the American way. That’s not progress. That’s not innovation. That’s rent seeking, and trying to protect old ways of doing business and standing in the way of the future.”

Obama continued: “I mean, think about this. Ordinarily, these are groups that tout themselves as champions of the free market. If you start talking to them about providing health care for folks who don’t have health insurance, they’re going crazy: ‘This is socialism, this is going to destroy America.’ But in this situation, they’re trying to undermine competition in the marketplace, and choke off consumer choice, and threaten an industry that’s churning out new jobs at a fast pace.”

To which the reply was:

“I don’t know whether he knows what that phrase means, but ‘rent seeking,’ of course, is, in economic terms, is getting the government to rig the system in your favor. And that’s exactly what these so-called ‘renewable energy’ proponents are doing.”

Actually he does know that Obama doesn’t know. There are, in fact, a lot of things Obama doesn’t know to go along with all the things he does know that aren’t true.

But it was only number 10 that actually made me laugh

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The ten funniest jokes from the Edinburgh Comedy Fringe Festival.

1. “I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It’s Hans free” — Darren Walsh.

2. “Kim Kardashian is saddled with a huge arse … but enough about Kanye West” — Stewart Francis.

3. “Surely every car is a people carrier?” – Adam Hess.

4. “What’s the difference between a hippo and a Zippo? One is really heavy, the other is a little lighter” — Masai Graham.

5. “If I could take just one thing to a desert island I probably wouldn’t go” — Dave Green.

6. “Jesus fed 5000 people with two fishes and a loaf of bread. That’s not a miracle. That’s tapas” — Mark Nelson.

7. “Red sky at night. Shepherd’s delight. Blue sky at night. Day” — Tom Parry.

Equal 8. “The first time I met my wife, I knew she was a keeper. She was wearing massive gloves” — Alun Cochrane.

Equal 8. “Clowns divorce. Custardy battle” — Simon Munnery.

10. “They’re always telling me to live my dreams. But I don’t want to be naked in an exam I haven’t revised for.” – Grace The Child.