Friday Morning Ramble, now with added GST

Several things that caught my eye this last while, and haven’t had a chance to post about…

“Too many local retailers focus on the GST issue when the underlying issue is rather more troublesome. New Zealand simply is not large enough to be able to achieve the economies of scale that foreign warehouses enjoy. Even if GST could be applied on foreign imports, today, with zero hassle-cost imposed, the foreign cost advantage is not likely to decline over time.”
Online GST revisited – Eric Crampton, OFFSETTING BEHAVIOUR  
GST Online – NOT PC

“In the large scheme of things economic, bugger all unless the costs imposed on entrepreneurs is counted. For starters it is a lawyer protection scheme…”
What exactly does the RMA achieve? – Gravedodger, NO MINISTER

“Need cannot be accurately measured by acceptance of aid.”
Raincoats for kids who already have them – LINDSAY MITCHELL

“Whenever I visit a place like Vietnam, it becomes apparent that the future belongs to the people in such booming, unconstrained economies.”
Communist Vietnam is more capitalist that the West – Kiwi Wit, THOUGHTS FROM 40^o SOUTH

“One could save ACC and the government a lot of money, and more importantly save many ‘victims’ from consolidating their victimhood…”
Dodgy industry of trauma counsellors – STEPHEN FRANKS.CO.NZ

Your government has been lying to you again…

“It’s probably easier to get into Fort Knox than it is to break into Britain’s chattering classes… There is, however, a shortcut to this top table of right-thinking folk. There’s one thing that acts as a passport into their world, allowing one to become at least a hanger-on, if not a full member.
”What is it? Hatred for Jeremy Clarkson.”
Hating Jeremy Clarkson: the moral glue of the pseudo-liberal elite – Brendan O’Neill, SPIKED

Well, well, the Herald’s new minority owner isn’t an anti-immigration flog like so many conservatives.

“Just when you think Obama’s absolutely awful foreign policy and pandering to radical Islam couldn’t possibly get any worse, he decides to remove both Iran and Hezbollah off the list of terror threats.”
Obama administration says Iran and Hezbollah no longer terror threats – Michael Cantrell, YOUNG CONS

“It is time to stop our green worship of the electric car. It costs us a fortune, cuts little CO2 and surprisingly kills almost twice the number of people compared with regular gasoline cars.”
Electric car benefits? Just myths. – Bjorn Lomborg, USA TODAY

“There are problems with oil, gas and coal, but their benefits for people—and the planet—are beyond dispute.”
Fossil Fuels Will Save the World (Really) – Matt Ridley, WALL STREET JOURNAL

“Congress tries to intimidate climate skeptics. Read John Allison's awesome reply.”
A Message from Cato’s Center for the Study of Science – CATO

Hockey Stick fraudster Michael Mann – Mr Hide-the-Decline – reckons he’s taking a stand for science. But science is not reciprocating.
The drawn-out Mann lawsuit: Science is not taking a stand for Michael Mann – WATTS UP WITH THAT

The German Solar Revolution…

Greece has finally announced the guts of it’s payback plan.
Greece Passes Law To Plunder Pension Funds – ZERO HEDGE

A bit of the history of the minimum wage you didn't know.
The eugenic effects of minimum wage laws – Paul Walker, ANTI DISMAL

“Incentives in the mixed economy: Give politicians control over business, and businesses will then "invest" in politicians.”
For Every Dollar Spent Influencing US Politics, Corporations Get $760 Back – AGAINST CRONY CAPITALISM

“Since the extraordinary easing cycle began in the wake of the Lehman collapse, the only game in town for stock investors has been the one being played so unremittingly by the central banks.” This is not a good thing.
Global M – Sean Corrigan, COBDEN CENTRE

“Earlier this month, McKinsey published a remarkable report on trends in global debt, and concludes that the world’s debt, rather than decreasing,  is in fact increasing worldwide.
”So much for deleveraging.”
Global Debt: A Scary Situation with Limited Solutions – Wesley Gray, ALPHA ARCHITECT

"Depression is just another name for capital destruction, and gold is the only form of capital that is immune to destruction. If you consolidate all balance sheets in a country (including that of the national treasury), then all liquid assets will be wiped out, with the sole exception of gold. Gold is the only [liquid] asset that is not duplicated as a liability in the balance sheet of someone else."
Blowing Up Modern Austrian Economics ... in a Good Way – Antal Fekete, DAILY BELL

“Even Piketty has partially disowned his grand 'r > g' theory of inequality in light of harsh academic critiques.”
The politically convenient but largely bogus Unified Economic Theory of Modern Liberalism – James Pethokoukis, THE WEEK
Piketty backtracks on his inequality thesis – ATLAS NETWORK
Why Thomas Piketty’s Revisions Don’t Fix His Book – Salim Furth, WALL STREET JOURNAL

“Capitalism is not a system advantaging the wealthy. It is a system of competition, innovation, and wealth creation which leads to win-win outcomes and flourishing for all.”
Capitalism Benefits Everyone – Jana Woiceshyn, CAPITALISM MAGAZINE

“What do parents owe children? And, in turn, what do they owe parents? The philosophical analysis is amazingly simple…”
The Rights and Obligations of Children – Robin Craig, SAVVY STREET

“Children and young people use 4-5 times the recommended amount of technology...”
10 Reasons Why Handheld Devices Should Be Banned for Children Under the Age of 12 – HUFFFINGTON POST

“Many children who don’t decode well, learn to read at high levels when they get interested in reading in areas of their own interest. Follow the child!”
Does white matter have anything to do with learning to read for meaning? – Stephen Krashen, SKRASHEN

“In my 20+ years of experience as a Montessori educator, I have found there is often a misunderstanding in the general population of just what discipline means.”
More Choices. Less Discipline. – MONTESSORI ROCKS

"The report highlights several areas where new findings from neuroscience are becoming misinterpreted by education, including brain-related ideas regarding early educational investment, brain plasticity, adolescent brain development, and learning disorders such as dyslexia and ADHD."
Study: Teachers Believe Brain Myths that Hamper Their Lessons – BIG THINK

“Contemporary Islam is not known for its engagement in the modern scientific project. But it is heir to a legendary ‘Golden Age’ of Arabic science, without which the western Enlightenment might never have happened. So what happened?
Why the Arabic World Turned Away from Science – Hillel Ofek
The greatest story (hardly) ever told – NOT PC

“Humanities academics everywhere are challenged to match this level of incomprehensible sociology-speak…”
Beat This! – TIM BLAIR

“Whose dystopia is more realistic -- Brave New World's or Nineteen Eighty-Four's? Huxley writes to Orwell.”
Letters of Note: 1984 v. Brave New World – LETTERS OF NOTE

“Even those not directly involved in the industry – and who have to pay for the music they use in movies, TV, or other creative endeavours – confirmed that they see musicians as the most commercially undervalued artists of the digital era.”
Paying Artists with “Exposure” Only Devalues Music Further – Gordon Platt, GOTHA MEDIA

“Of course some music managers and agents love streaming and piracy! Less revenue from recorded music means their artists must play more and more live shows to make up the difference.  I thought everyone knew this.”
Why Some Managers and Agents Love Streaming and Piracy – David Lowery, THE TRICHORDIST

“While cats ignore our music, they are highly responsive to “music” written especially for them.”
Cats Want Their Own Music – BLAZING CAT FUR

I can tell you first-hand that organising them is like trying to herd cats.
Are cats libertarians? – Rachel Cuncliffe, CAPX

“Time perception matters because it is the experience of time that roots us in our mental reality.”
Why Time Slows Down When We're Afraid, Speeds Up as We Age, and Gets Warped on Vacation – Maria Popova, BRAIN PICKINGS

“Enjoy it while you can, folks. Because like everything else pleasurable in the 21st century—smoking in a bar, complimenting a lady on her looks, drinking a bucket-size Coke—drunken sex is under attack from that new caste of killjoys who wouldn't recognize fun if it offered to buy them a drink.”
Is It Acceptable to Have Drunken Sex? – Brendan O’Neill, NEWSWEEK

“It may difficult to explain how remarkable Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel series is in the way it expressed concepts of liberty and self-determination to a libertarian who has never read him.”
How Terry Pratchett Made Me a Libertarian – Scott Shackford, REASON

Chuck Jones’s rules for writing the Road Runner cartoons…

Australian researchers offer hope for the future eradication of this devastating illness. As some youngsters say, “I fucking love science.”
New Alzheimer’s treatment fully restores memory function – SCIENCE ALERT

“From childhood, we're taught one central, non-controversial idea about morality: self-sacrifice is a virtue. It is universally accepted that serving the needs of others, rather than our own, is the essence of morality. To be ethical--it is believed--is to be altruistic. Questioning this belief is regarded as tantamount to questioning the self-evident…”
In Defense of Selfishness: Why the Code of Self-Sacrifice is Unjust and Destructive – Peter Schwartz, AMAZON

Clearly philosophically astute vandals.
'Kant is a moron': vandals critique the philosopher's home – TELEGRAPH
Kant Couldn’t – Peter Cresswell, SOLO HQ
Kant Didn’t – Peter Cresswell, SOLO HQ
Dagny Taggart Answers Kant – Peter Cresswell, SOLO

“In the face of never-ending gale-force hot-air wind of anti-Ayn-Rand books, newspaper articles, blog entries, videos, etc. that attempt to paint Ayn Rand as a miserable old grinch, this movie erects an inspiring response.”
Ayn Rand: In Her Own Words  - AMAZON

“Since AlterNet and others keep recycling the same lies & propaganda about Ayn Rand collecting Social Security, I guess that means it's time to recycle the rebuttal.”

““The impressive large-scale roofs designed for the Munich Olympics of 1972, combining lightness and strength, were a building challenge that many said could not be achieved.” - Jury's Citation on 2015 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, Frei Otto, who died on March 9th.
AD Classics: Munich Olympic Stadium / Frei Otto & Gunther Behnisch – ARCH DAILY

Pics by Wikimedia Commons

"We Don't Like Your House Either: The Architecture of Bruce Goff" is a 1984 BBC documentary now on YouTube. It is by the UK AA School of Architecture. It is wonderful to see and hear Bruce Goff talk about his work, and to see the film footage of his architecture.” [Hat tip Prairie Mod, Friends of Kebyar]

Just to make sure you get the right ones…

And finally…

Thanks for reading,
And have a great Friday!
PC

[Hat tips Jenesa Jeram, Saurabh Jha , Nicholas Wapshott, WSJ Think Tank , Don Watkins, ATHEISTPOWER/Kriz, Max Roser, Billare, Roddy Campbell , Michael R. Strain, Hank Azaria, Australian Centre for Montessori Studies, Montessori Australia, Maria Montessori Education Foundation, Justin Templer, The Ayn Rand Institute, Stephen Hicks, Jessica Milligan Stone, Vinay Kolhatkar, Bevan Webb, Paul McKeever, Michael van der Galien, Olivia Mary Pierson, Michael Neibel, Felix Mueller, Anoop Verma, Rune Kjær Svendsen, William N. Green', Geek Press]