Friday 3 June 2016

Friday Morning Ramble–03.06.16

 

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“Tobacco excise tax has doubled since 2010 meaning that smokers pay more than three times the health costs of smoking. Over the same period the rate of smoking has only reduced from 16.3% to 15.0%. Meanwhile politicians keep the healthier alternatives such as e-cigarettes illegal.”
What Budet 2106 means for smokers – TAXPAYERS’ UNION

And cigarettes are about to get uglier.
Happy World Smokefree Day: Excise, plain packaging, but no e-cigs – Jenesa Jeram, THE SANDPIT

Mind you, his reasons are good ones.
Labour MP Damien O'Connor won't endorse Greens' deal – HERALD

Sydney’s controversial "lockout laws" have killed off Sydney's night-time economy – and now they’re slouching towards NZ’s major cities.
Sydney's lockout ‘laughing stock' – BBC NEWS

Crucial information.
Auckland's best winter cocktail bars – STUFF

“A cultural movement is the necessary
precondition of a political movement.”

~ Ayn Rand

“The core assumption of the anti-Brexit economists is that leaving would erect damaging barriers to trade; the pro-Brexit side must take on and demolish these arguments. The good news is that it’s quite easy to do so.”
Brexit will make us richer. That's why Leave could still win – Alister Heath, TELEGRAPH

“Why Jeremy Corbyn is wrong about renationalisation of British railways in one graph.”
Passenger Services: Journey Growth

“Does Hillary Clinton’s plan for the economy make her a more qualified president than Donald Trump, who will likely create plans spontaneously? No, it makes them equally dangerous as both assume they have the ability to do what countless officials over the centuries have never managed to do — predict the future.”
Trump and Hillary Don't Know How to Fix the Economy – Justin Murray, MISES DAILY

"Sanders was asked by Univision’s Leon Krauze to explain how socialism has failed the governments of Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela. Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, refused to comment, instead saying he was focused on his own presidential campaign in the U.S."
Sanders Pressed by Univision Reporter to Address Socialism’s Failures in Latin America – THE BLAZE

One simple insight shafts the stinking edifice.
Meet the 26-year-old who’s taking on Thomas Piketty’s ominous warnings about inequality – WASHINGTON POST

“The biggest threat that any country faces is not from immigrants, but from bad political and cultural ideas. A wall across the border can reduce the flow of immigrants, but it will do nothing to stop bad ideas.”
On Immigration and Ideas – Marvin Adams, FOR NEW INTELLECTUALS

“It's raw. It's confronting. And it's not going away… Human rights should not depend on birthplace. It’s that simple."
Must a Moral Nation Have Limitless Immigration? – Vinay Kolhatkar, SAVVY STREET

“Keynesian economics enjoys universal approval among the political classes. But the whole Keynsian project must be abandoned if we desire economic prosperity.”
Keynes Must Die – Lew Rockwell, MISES DAILY

“Uber has led to fewer car crashes, fewer deaths, fewer assaults, fewer arrests...and more car theft.”
Ride sharing, vehicle accidents, and crime – MARGINAL REVOLUTION

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But, but … “I thought climate change was happening now, not in 2050 and 2070”?
Cities that climate change will hit first – UTOPIA - YOU ARE STANDING IN IT

Chief scientific adviser to Britain’s Department of Energy and Climate Change from 2009-2014: “If you ask what is the optimal amount of wind and solar to add in then the answer is going to be almost zero.”
UK Energy Chief: Green Energy Is A Joke, Use Nuclear And Clean Coal – DAILY CALLER

“A South African court just legalised rhino horn trade. How will this affect the rhino population?”
South Africa Just Lifted Its Ban on the Rhino Horn Trade – NATIONAL GEOGAPHIC

If this doesn’t impress you, nothing ever will.

MaxRoser

“Which one?”
Janet Yellen: We didn't see the financial crisis coming – W.E. FORUM

Banks are in the midst of an existential crisis, poor lambs.
What Is a Bank? A series exploring the existential crisis facing banks in 2016 – WSJ

Central banks & governments have for years tried to boost housing prices to artificially high levels.
How America Lost Its Mojo – Derek Thompson, ATLANTIC

“The Great Enrichment of the past two centuries has one primary source: the liberation of ordinary people to pursue their dreams of economic betterment.”
How the West (and the Rest) Got Rich – Deirdre McCloskey, WSJ

A list to kick-start your serious economics education.
12 Articles Every Aspiring Economist Should Read – Steven Horwitz, FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION

The next multi-national could start anywhere (HP 1939 Top Left (TL), Apple 1976 (TR), Amazon 1994 (BL), Google 1998)…

Apple2

Marilyn Monroe was born this week 90 years ago. Ayn Rand wrote a heartfelt posthumous tribute to the actress when she died. In this tribute Rand explains, who, she thought, were the real killers of Monroe.
Through Your Most Grievous Fault – Ayn Rand, AYN RAND CAMPUS

And hardly mentioned, but 100 years ago this week the Royal Navy’s most devastating battle ever occurred off the coast at Jutland. There is a reason there is a Trafalgar Square in London, but only a no-exit Jutland St.

“In a remarkably interesting new paper, “Concepts and implications of altruism bias and pathological altruism,” in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Oakland University systems engineer Barbara Oakley argues that intentions to help people all too often hurt them. Unintended harm is the outcome of she what calls pathological altruism. She defines pathological altruism “as behavior in which attempts to promote the welfare of another, or others, results instead in harm that an external observer would conclude was reasonably foreseeable.” In her study Oakley explores the psychological and evolutionary underpinnings of empathy and altruism and how they can go wrong. It turns out that pathological altruism is a pervasive problem affecting public policy."
Pathological Altruism: The Road to Hell Really Is Often Paved With Good Intentions Argues New Study – REASON.COM

“There is no contradiction between upholding the Non-Initiation of Force Principle (NIFP) and advocating for a monopoly government.”
An Objectivist Refutation of Anarcho-Capitalism (Market Anarchy) – Eric Macintosh, OBJECTIVISM FOR INTELLECTUALS

More hot-button issues …
To YB: In Europe the incidence of rape is rising; would you please address that issue? « Podcast...
To YB: What is your view of Muslim migration into Europe? « Featured Podcast « Peikoff

Free speech in a nutshell:

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Not a Romantic work of art itself, but a theory of Apollonian Romanticism in music.”
Can We Be Objective About Musical Emotion? – M. Zachary Johnson, PR LOG

Louis Armstrong and his All Stars turn a State Department date into a dance party.

 

[Hat tips etc. Anoop Verma‎, Lewis Holden ‏, Rudolf E. Havenstein, Max Roser, Quent Cordair, Vala Afshar, Noah Smith, Atheist Republic, Nicola Young, Louise Lamontagne, Tom Burroughes, James Dalton, Rani ShriVidya, Rust Watkins, Dust-to-Digital, Mike Renzulli]

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