Friday Morning Ramble–13.05.16

 

“Everything is changing. People are
taking their comedians seriously
& the politicians as a joke.”
~Will Rogers.

National budgets room for corporate welfare, but none for tax cuts.
The Taxpayers’ Union is fuming after the government rules out tax cuts – RADIO LIVE
PETITION: Corporate welfare or tax cuts? – ACTION SPROUT

Auckland Council. It just keeps right on borrowing, right on getting further into debt – right on into an ever-lower credit rating, and ever-higher repayments. “Credit rating agencies have warned of a rating downgrade if its debt-to-revenue ratio approaches 270 per cent. Mayor Len Brown's latest budget forecasts a ratio of 265 per cent.”
Auckland Council looking at 'rainy day' reserve fund – HERALD
Len’s borrowing – KIWIBLOG, 2015
Monumental council debts – NOT PC, 2013
Let them eat monuments – NOT PC, 2013

“But whereas in 2000 average GDP per capita [in Auckland] is estimated to have been 24 per cent above that in the rest of New Zealand, by the year to March 2015, that margin had shrunk to only 12 per cent.”
"...the decline in Auckland’s GDP per capita" – CROAKING CASSANDRA

One Auckland mayoral candidate at least comes out with pledge, if not plan, to cut rates.
A detailed Mayoral plan – KIWIBLOG

That’s what the headline says. But … ‘'They are still controlling us.'
Manus Island: Asylum seekers and refugees no longer in detention, PNG authorities say – ABC NEWS

“’One of the questions repeatedly asked is why should New Zealanders care about this story, prompted by a massive leak of documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.’
”That largely remains unanswered…
Who cares about papers from Panama? – YOUR NZ

Occupations of persons from Panama Papers…

“This remains the single most important story of the Obama years.. . It is not just a scandal as in routine errors of misjudgement. It exposes everything that Obama has done in foreign policy as not just hollow and empty but as positively endangering the survival of the West.”
Idiots led by idiots – Steve Kates, LAW OF MARKETS

“Donald Trump would have had me dead.”
Immigrants Saved My Life – Doug French, FEE

Trump says his trade war would raise money wages? But it would drastically lower real wages – i.e., what you can buy with your money.
Study: Trump-style tariffs on all imports would cost the average U.S. household $6,000 per year – HOT AIR

Irony, 1:
Trumpeters argue that #NeverTrump people would be immoral to vote for the very people Trump supported and donated to for 20 years.

Irony, 2:
Donald Trump picks man he accused of a Federal crime to lead his transition team. – HUFFINGTON POST

Have the candidates found their next Treasury Secretary?
Chelsea Clinton’s Husband Closing Hedge Fund After Losing 90 Percent Of Its Money – DAILY CALLER

“Watching US politics is increasingly requiring the consumption of beer to lessen the urge to yell “you are the only global superpower and the shining city on the hill. Are you freaking kidding me America?” It is fortunate then that brewers are producing beer.”
Beer, Cheese and Whisky – Oh My! – Neil Miller, MALTHOUSE

“The elimination of classical liberal texts such as Mill's On Liberty and documents such as the study of the U.S. Constitution … results in an educated class with neither intellectual depth nor principled convictions based on the classical liberal tradition.”
Our Polarized Politics Are Tied to Flaws in Education – REAL CLEAR POLITICS

“The failure of conservatism and rise of Trumpism is a profound moment in American history. It has been a long time in the making. Here's how you can understand it, and grasp what is coming next...”
Trumpis & the Failure of Conservatism – Scott Powell, POWELL HISTORY

“How a 100-year-old secret agreement helped doom the Middle East.”
The Foul Legacy of Sykes-Picot – Daniel Pipes, MIDDLE EAST FORUM

“What is forgotten is that it was Stalin and the Soviet Union that were Hitler and Nazi Germany’s ally in starting this horrific war that took the lives of well over 50 million people, and set the stage, after the defeat of Hitler, for the nearly half-century enslavement of the eastern half of Europe under communist tyranny.
    “It is the fairy tale of Russian innocence and victimhood in starting and fighting the Second World War that is still used by the post-Soviet government of Vladimir Putin to justify a nostalgia for the “good old days” of Soviet power, and for the Russian president to say that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the ‘greatest geo-political tragedy of the twentieth century’.”
Setting the Record Straight: How Stalin Used Hitler to Start World War II – Richard Ebeling, FUTURE OF FREEDOM FOUNDATION

Sense-of-life versus totalitarianism,
The Anti-Nazi Teen Gang that Beat Up Hitler Youth and Danced to Jazz – MESSY NESSY CHIC

“For years Donald Heathfield, Tracey Foley and their two children lived the American dream. Then an FBI raid revealed the truth: they were agents of Putin’s Russia. Their sons tell their story.”
The day we discovered our parents were Russian spies – GUARDIAN

“I wrote a simple Android application to assist in debating climate . This is an alpha version, and will require that you install Dropbox on your phone. It answers commonly made false claims from climate alarmists.”
Climate Debate Application For Android – Steve Goddard, REAL CLIMATE SCIENCE

“If the Kenyan and U.S. governments are serious about protecting elephants and rhinos from extinction, they should allow ivory to be traded legally.”
Myth: Burning Ivory Discourages Poaching – PERC

“Who are the best players of the Blame Game in the world? Central Bankers first, politicians second.”
The Fall Guy is in Place for the Next Financial Crisis – Vinay Kolhatkar, SAVVY STREET

“The fudged economic gains from massive increases in government spending.”
Where is the growth dividend – Judith Sloan, THE AUSTRALIAN

If you like giving govt the power to regulate, then watch then regulate out of existence what you like.
US Government Declaring All Out War on Tiny House Living -

“Capitalism accomplished two things that changed the nature of motherhood forever.”
Capitalism Created Modern Motherhood – Steven Horwitz, FEE

Seven 15-20-minute lectures on foundational issues in entrepreneurship…
Entrepreneurship and Values — seven short lectures – STEPHEN HICKS

Short but fascinating discussion of how economies grow – indicating again (to me at least) that at ‘the frontier’ it’s primarily about ideas, behind the frontier it’s primarily about capital, but that growth in both is always important.
Capital Supply and American Prosperity – LUDWIG VON MISES

 

That question you always wanted to ask…
“Why do all old statues have such small penises?” – HOW TO TALK ABOUT ART HISTORY

“Post modernism leads to artifact repatriation based on the collectivist idea that countries own cultural artifacts. In contrast, ‘the underlying idea of a museum was a desire to understand the world, an ambition to tell a common story...the Enlightenment espoused the notion of a common civilisation of mankind--Voltaire saw man as being 'always what he is now.'...the museum as a place of shared experience." In other words, the idea of individualism that transcends cultures and groups.”
Holding on to the Past – WSJ

“…the human brain requires the diatonic scale as the basis of musical intelligibility"
Dancing with the Muses: A Historical Approach to Basic Concepts of Music – AMAZON

“Seven horizon-limiting mindsets thart amost everybody has picked up from their schooling…”
Seven Ways School Has Imprisoned Your Mind –Isaac Morehouse & Dan Sanchez, FEE

“Nested communities of multi-aged children in Montessori environments automatically create and expose children to a variety of social roles.”
Peer to Peer Learning – MONTESSORI GUIDE

Peer to Peer Learning from Montessori Guide on Vimeo.

 

The great Keith Jarrett talks about the art of creating music on the spot …

 

… and Wyton Marsalis, Gary Giddins, Stanley Crouch and Albert Murray explain why that’s so damned important!

 

 

[Hat tips, quips etc. Jim Rose, Mikayla Novak, MichiganCruzer , Michael Strong, Marsha Enright, Robert Tracinski, Property & Environment Research Center (PERC), Stephen Hicks, Jas Wong SY, Montessori Australia, RatesBusters Auckland, Michael Earley, Thomas Petersen, New Zealand Taxpayers' Union, Mises Institute]