Friday 11 November 2011

FRIDAY MORNING RAMBLE: A cup of tea and some lies down

In a lacklustre, blancmange campaign based on little more than partial promises, partial truths, partial privatisations, and will-he-won’t-he wetness about cups of tea or a lie (or two), it’s a struggle to find much worth reading about a campaign that’s doing everything to avoid the elephant in the room that is the promise of both Blue and Red Teams  to keep living beyond our means while bribing us with our own money.

So here in no particular order is just some of what I’ve read recently, or even not so recently, round the net—the stuff I thought you might enjoy too. Or at least appreciate:

  • “Political parties are trying to convince us there's a real choice for voters. But just how meaningful is this choice?..What should be apparent - but is never advertised - is just how much they agree on. An analysis of the policy and manifesto promises of the two major parties shows Labour and National are in virtual agreement on something like 99 per cent of the way society is run.”
    Left right rhetoric masks almost identical policies -  Bryce Edwards,  N Z   H E R A L D
  • “Well, if it’s frustrating to see major parties wrangle over spreadsheets it’s heartening to see someone try to unravel the narrative of each party’s campaign…”
    The story of this election – T H E   V I S I B L E   H A N D
    Fun with fiscal forecasting – T H E   V I S I B L E   H A N D
  • Raising benefits increase the rate of unmarried births, which increases dependence on welfare.
    Extending the IWTC to beneficiaries increases benefit payments. Evidence here:
    Raising benefits increases the rate of unmarried birth... – L I N D S A Y   M I T C H E L L
  • Bomber Bradbury wasn't exactly kind in his review of the LibertariaNZ's opening broadcast ad.
    So what?
    Get out of the way  - O F F S E T T I N G   B E H A V I O U R
  • There is now “credible proof” Iran is working on a nuclear bomb. We were all happy during both Gulf Wars that the Israelis had bombed Iraq’s nuclear reactor.  (Imagine Saddam with nukes? Even the primitive missiles he did fire would have had catastrophic effects.)
    So will we have reason to thank them again? Or will we instead face an Islamic supremacist with nukes, cheered on with commendable illogic from numb nuts like Jane Young?
     Time for a pre-emptive strike on Israel's itchy trigger – Jane Young, P U N D I T
    Are we paying attention to foreign threats? – Elan Journo,  V O I C E S    O F   R E A S O N
    Just-War Theory vs [Western] Self-Defence 
    -  Yaron Brook & Alex Epstein, T H E   J E R U S A L E M    C O N N E C T I O N
  • The EU’s problems stem from a destructive attempt by its leaders to save out-of-date institutions Bruno Waterfield on the EU crisis – S P I K E D   O N L I N E
  • Bryce Wilkinson takes the prior government to task for its decision to subsidize dodgy finance companies. “What was the justification for the failure to charge a fee commensurate with the anticipated losses? … There was none.” That New Zealand's Occupy-Wall-Street emulators haven't focused their attention on this debacle speaks to their economic illiteracy.
    Deposit guarantee redux – O F F S E T T I N G   B E H A V I O U R
  • Message to The Greens: Adding to the Spanish and Solyndra billion-dollar “Green Job’ debacles, yet another US Government-picked power company lies buried in the Green Graveyard, it’s resources wasted and its “green jobs” just another failed fantasy. So why would it be any different here?
    Another Government-Picked Power Company Buried in the Green Graveyard 
    – T H E   F O U N D R Y
  • I’ve said it many times before: I will take the Greens seriously when they bleat about water quality when they take Common Law methods for protecting water quality seriously
    Dams will damn our rivers – Russel Norman,  F R O G   B L O G , 2 0 1 1
    Dirty dairying and dodgy drafting -  N O T   P C , 2 0 0 8
  • Q: How do you eradicate possums? A: Give them to DoC to protect. Just like these snails.
    DoC staff 'upset' mishap killed rare snails - N Z H E R A L D

Central Banks around the world have been printing paper money since 1971.  But
although this money costs next to nothing to print (or juggle in the back of
computers) it is supplied at its full face value and interest is charged. This is
debt money and they will want it repaid at some stage.
This week Greece and Italy found out about the downside of
debt. Two Prime Ministers gone. Their replacements will fare no better.
This is no way to run the world.
We have more scientists alive today than have ever lived before but almost
none of them is thinking about a scientific basis for economics. If we understood
and taught what is true about economics rather than trying to explain away
the effects of paper money printing and applying Keynesian solutions, which is
just to print more paper money, we might have a chance of solving the problem.
But the trouble is that there is too much power and profit for the money
printers and they cannot allow the system to stop. After all if you could print
up unlimited money at will you might also find it hard to stop.
We must look after ourselves as best we can. The system can only be changed after
it has been completely broken. We must watch and wait while the big bust continues.”

               - Phil at NZ’s Foundation for Economic Growth

“Just reflecting that ACT began under two
ex-Labour MPs - Douglas and Prebble.
And ACT will probably end under two
ex-National MPs - Brash and Banks.”

                                     - Lindsay Mitchell, Reflecting on the story of ACT

  • I hate to be the bearer of good news just as the Occupy Wall Street movement is gathering steam, but protesters can stop worrying about rising inequality and go home. New evidence suggests that the super-rich got hit by the recession much harder than the rest of the 99 percent.
    Don’t Mind the Gap – R E A S O N
  • Fewer folk care enough about the election even to bother standing this year.
    Candidates locked in for election – N Z   H E R A L D
  • Sorry folks, the US is "not a Christian nation"
    -We are not a Christian nation -  D I S C O V E R   M A G A Z I N E 
  • Ronald Bailey: New data on global temperature trends sheds light on Climategate
    The End of Climategate? -  R E A S O N
  • #OccupyWallStreet protesters can stop worrying about rising inequality and go home
    Don’t mind the gap -  T H E   D A I L Y
  • Why economic inequality in a capitalist system is something good, not something to be condemned.
    In Praise of Capitalist Inequality – Paul Hsieh, W E   S T A N D   F I R M
  • Frank Furedi: churchmen love the Occupy movement; it's a blank slate for shallow moral gestures
    Why church officials worship these protesters –  S P I K E D
  • This 1941 essay from Rand is remarkable, but the mature Rand would change the wording, especially the word faith.
    Ayn Rand’s Open Letter To Occupiers and Statists -   T H E   V I N C E N T O N   P O S T
  • Great house rules by which to abide:
    House Rules -   T H E     A R C H I T E C T U R E   B L O G

“Man is a being with free will; therefore, each man is potentially
good or evil, and it's up to him and only him (through
his reasoning mind) to decide which he wants to be.”

                                - Ayn Rand 1946 ~Personal notes on The Strike [later Atlas Shrugged]

  • "Tired of random and suspicious quotes from Thomas Jefferson and others being used to prove every possible position? Me too. Here are some common bogus quotes and some tips on the use of historical quotes and how to spot fakes."
    The Curse of the Internet: Fake Historical Quotes 
    - A L E X A N D E R   M A R R I O T ‘ S   W I T  &   W I S D O M
  • Latino immigration to America has slowed to a trickle since 2008, but is this as good for America as conservatives would have you believe?
    Decreasing Immigration is Bad for America – M O T H E R   O F   E X I L E S
  • "Determinism is the doctrine behind the criticism commonly levied against innovators that "if not him, somebody else would have done it". How did Thomas Edison and James Watt respond to their critics?”
    Watt and Edison Contra Determinism – W I T   L A B

More to come.
Tune in later.

2 comments:

Richard McGrath said...

I used a quote from the Bryce Edwards article last night in Featherston, and suggested at one point that the Labour candidate be allowed to speak on behalf of the absent National MP, as their views would be interchangeable.

Dave Mann said...

Peter... your opening paragraph just has to be the most spot-on description of our poor benighted country that I have read during this election campaign. Although, to be totally accurate, its even worse than this: its not even OUR money - its being borrowed from fuck knows which overseas organisations to finance this gigantic con game.