"Responsible"? They lie to you and assume you're too stupid to notice. [UPDATED]

UPDATE: Professor Robert MacCulloch: "It's a rigged budget ... so she can get a soundbite. ... Media got suckered." The promised return to surplus is a “phony” and “reverse-engineered” political exercise designed for election headlines rather than economic reality.

It's one of those rare occasions, this budget, when commentators have mostly taken the finance minister's own spin as a given and burrowed instead into the details. The result however is to ignore context, and to focus on the irrelevant to the exclusion of the important. That's why the finance minister is looking so goshdarned pleased: because her lies are going mostly unchallenged.

The finance minister tells you that this election-year budget contains "no sugar hits." That New Zealanders won't be bribed on election year with their own money.

That's a lie.

The small matter of a $450 million "emergency contingency fund" has been set aside "in a time-limited contingency" if the cork remains in the Straits of Hormuz -- betting, of course, as she does in her heroic forecasts, that the cork will at least be loosened, allowing a wee flutter when polls show it's needed. 

Yes folks, the true "emergency" being provisioned for is an election debacle. That's what the slush fund is for.

The finance minister also tells us repeatedly that she's being responsible.

That's why she's set aside "just over $1 billion" for unspecified "improvements" to KiwiRail. Which is of course a big win for Shane Jones and his friend Winston. This is their billion-dollar slush fund for the election, which is just over double the fund she's allowed for her own party.

Responsible?

It's also handing councils $400 million in “growth incentives” now while only walking slowly to bring council's rates under control. And this is only because the finance minister can't bring her own govt's costs sufficiently under control to allow the GST component of new housing to go to councils (the real growth incentive she was encouraged to enact).

Responsible?

As Michael Reddell observes (one of the few commentators to put his head under the bonnet with the proper focus, New Zealand remains among the advanced countries with the largest structural fiscal deficit -- which have got "materially worse" under this Government.

 

As the Taxpayers Union notes, "Despite branding this a 'responsible Budget,' Nicola Willis has today confirmed the Government will have borrowed more by 2029/30 than Treasury forecast just five months ago." Over a billion dollars more.

So have things got any better under this National finance minister rather than the last Labour liar? Has it hell.  Reddell again:

In the last full year Labour was responsible for core Crown operating expenses were 31.7% of GDP 

In 24/25 32.6% 

In 25/26 32.6% 

In 26/27 32.6%

Responsible, hell!

And of course, this Government went to the country promising "no new taxes." That's another long-term lie. 

The budget has announced three new taxes on banks and shareholders -- sorry, two "levies" and one "charge" -- that will of course immediately be passed on to customers -- "the Beehive can try to frame it as a levy on the big banks, but this new tax will be paid by savers and mortgage holders. It’s a sleight of hand."

So that's just yet more charges and "levies" to add to the other new taxes already whacking New Zealanders since the last election's promise of "no new taxes (Levy (n.) an officially imposed fee, tax, or penalty demanded by a government or organisation). The full list:

Road User Charges on Electric Vehicles (April 2024)
GST on Digital Platforms -- the "App" Tax (April 2024)
Trustee Tax Rate Increase to 39% (April 2024)

Offshore Online Casino Gambling Duty (July 2024) 

Increased ACC Levies on Electric Vehicles (2025)

Customs and Excise Goods Management Levies (April 2026)

Prudential Regulation Levy on Banks and Insurers (announced Budget 2026)

Company Shareholder Loan Integrity Rules (Budget 2026)

Thin-Capitalisation Changes for Foreign-Owned Banks (Budget 2026)

And finally, the promise of "returning to surplus" by 2029?

To use Michael Reddell's term, that's just vapourware:

Not only has the projected date for getting back to budget surplus (on the standard OBEGAL measure) kept being pushed back but the projected surpluses for 26/27 (the yearr today's Budget directly relates to) have worsened by more than 4% of GDP in 3 years (under both governments).

Responsible? They lie to you and assume you're too stupid to notice.

It's still true: "The best anti-poverty programme ever invented wasn’t a benefit, it was a job."

"With the help of all ... we can build a new life for the poor, a life of hope, a life of opportunity. And we can do it by remembering that the best anti-poverty programme is a job."

~ Ronald Reagan in his 1986 Radio Address to the Nation on Welfare Reform

"The best measure of our success is not how many people are on welfare, it’s how many people we help to get off of welfare and into a job. Because the best anti-poverty programme is a job."

~ Barack Obama from his 2014 State of the Union Address

"The best anti-poverty programme ever invented wasn’t a benefit, it was a job. Policies should make work easier to access than welfare — not the other way around."

~ Taxpayers Union 2026

Taxpayers Union: "Fatuous as a fart"

Cartoon by Nick Kim, from The Free Radical

The so-called Taxpayers Union/Free Speech Union folk should be doing good work. They oppose the theft of taxpayers (they say) and support free speech (they claim). But they repeatedly demonstrate that they ain't got an f'ing clue about the very thing(s) which they are allegedly set up to oppose or support.

Take for example their latest campaign: "[to] highlight the concerns of ratepayers and councils threatened by the Government’s proposed replacement to the Resource Management Act."

New Zealanders are rightly frustrated with the cumbersome Resource Management Act [they say], which restricts how we use our land and has fuelled a serious infrastructure and housing shortage [and so it has], but this proposed replacement will make the situation much worse [and so it will].

Sounds good, right? Because -- hard as it it to believe it -- the government's proposed replacement to the RMA really is even worse than the original! And that ain't easy to do.

So, good on them for their organised opposition.

But -- and here's the problem -- they have absolutely no idea what's wrong with the proposed replacement.

Are they against the replacement because it makes property law even more amorphous and misunderstandable than it is now? Not a bit of it.

Are they opposed because it puts racism right at the centre of environmental and property law? No, no mention of that.

Are they raising their banners against it because if further immiserates property rights -- stripping away from you even more control over your own land, and giving that power to clipboard-wielding planners? No, not at all. 

Instead, it appears they're just outraged that those planners will no longer be employed by your local council, but instead by regional councils. And that's the extent of their stated opposition. See what I mean:

Not content with seizing water assets from local communities [they say], the Government is now proposing to grab planning powers from local councils and transfer them to fifteen unaccountable, undemocratic, so-called Regional Planning Committees. At this rate there won’t be much left for your council to do.

As if that would be a bad thing.

The Taxpayers Union/Free Speech Union folk need a lesson in the things they claim to be about. Because at the moment, their opposition is about as confused and as fatuous as a fart.

People are losing their minds #ThreeWaters

 

People are losing their minds -- and it's not just about the virus.

According to half the internet, several advocacy groups who should know better, and much of parliament (who never will), this morning we witnessed the central government nationalising local government's water assets.

"The great water theft is on," screams Davis Farrar's hyperbolic headline. National's Chris Luxon, spokesman on the local branch of government, hurls out a claim that transferring water assets from local to central is "tantamount to state-sanctioned theft of assets.” "Make no mistake," says the Taxpayers Union, "this is an asset grab."

An asset grab!

State-sanctioned theft!

Nationalisation!

There was a time when words meant something.

Since the National party is already a lost cause, I'll focus on the words of that last organisation, one representing (so they say) the interests of all those making forced contributions to all branches of government -- so that you might think they may realise the difference between what happened to (say) the British motor industry in the seventies, and what's happening now.

Because what happened then was nationalisation, i.e., state theft of privately-owned assets. And what's happening now is simply this: moving the management and water assets out of the hands of the country's 67 councils, to four large water entities that will be effectively controlled by central government and iwi. 

So it's not a state-sanctioned theft. And what difference does it really make if it's central government rather than local government who's making an expensive balls-up of things?

Oh, but it will lead to "higher water costs" and "inefficiencies" says the Taxpayers Union at its new protest website. Yet you could hardly say that water costs under current council management are in any meaningful way "constrained," and anyone under Watercare's care over the most recent period of undersupply could hardly vouch for them being efficient.

But it will lead to "unnecessary bureaucracy," says the Taxpayers Union. All bureaucracy is unnecessary; its' not clear to me that 67 council water entities is any less (or more) unnecessary than four? Hard to see this as a reason to be so opposed?

But councils will "lose their rights of control," says the Taxpayers Union, who argue that "decisions around selling assets, receiving dividends, and setting charges will [now] be made by unelected entities." So what? It's not clear that those who have actual rights, i.e., you and I (councils qua councils don't have rights), are any better served whether decisions about these things are put beyond us at local govt level, or beyond us at central govt level. In either case, we're not part of the bureaucratic management involved. So how is this new plan worth opposing so savagely?

It's not really clear from their protest website why they're so incensed enough to start a protest campaign -- one involving a dedicated website, a petition, TV commercials, for all of which they're asking for crowd-funded. It's very far from the Bolsheviks storming the Winter Palace. And like I say above, it's not even anything like the nationalisations that crippled post-war Britain.

Indeed, it's not nationalisation at all -- and in the way the minister is spinning off these 67 creaking and partially shambolic entities into just four, and partially transferring of control to various iwi, it could in the future lead to something more like the sort of privatisation that happened to water in Britain in the late eighties. And since I'm very much in favour of that sort of thing -- and have advocated before for iwi to have greater property rights recognised as a pathway to that sort of thing -- I find it hard, myself,  to understand why so many seem so opposed.

Perhaps they're losing their minds?

My favourite Govt ministers, ranked

Given that they're more meddlers than they are emancipators, here's my list of my favourite current  Government ministers -- based entirely on the Taxpayers Union's list of "how many cabinet papers each Minister had submitted to Cabinet or a Cabinet Committee since they were sworn in." The more papers submitted, the more they reveal themselves as those who most want to push and shove you around. (The number of times  their papers were ever read seriously is not recorded.)

Hat tip for the list goes to Dave Farrar who, for some reason, calls the most meddling ministers "productive"! Clearly, he and I operate on a very different standard of judgement.

So, here they, ranked in order, the laziest ministers in the current cabinet -- which, given what they could be doing if they were motivated, makes them my favourites (the number in brackets refers to the number of cabinet papers they've submitted). The top ten confirm themselves* as eminently re-electable:

1. Marama Davidson (0)
2. Phil Twyford (0)
3. Willie Jackson (1)
4. Priyanca Radhakrishnan (1)
5. Kiri Allan (1)
6. Aupito William Sio (2)
7. Kelvin Davis (3)
8. Jan Tinetti (5)
9. Dr Ayesha Verrall (6)
10. Jacinda Ardern (7)
11. Peeni Henare (7)
12. James Shaw (7)
13. Poto Williams (8)
14. Damien O'Connor (9)
15. Meka Whaitiri (10)
16. Stuart Nash (11)
17. Megan Woods (12)
18. Nanaia Mahuta (13)
19. Carmel Sepuloni (14)
20. David Clark (15)
21. Kris Faafoi (17)
22. Grant Robertson (20)
23. Michael Wood (23)
24. Andrew Little (23)
25. David Parker (31)
26. Chris Hipkins (41)

So it seems pretty clear: the most dangerous ministers in the current cabinet are the young and eager Wood and Hipkins, and the older, wiser and more devious Parker, Little, Faafoi and Robertson.

Whereas the ones doing what we want most, i.e., nothing, are heroes like Marama Davidson, Priyanca Radhakrishnan, Apuito William Sio, Kelvin Davis and Willie Jackson. Galt save them all.

* Please note that the virtue of all the top ten can't be completely confirmed. True, Phil Twyford has apparently been granted leave to care for his sick wife, but his previous bumbling and inertia does confirms him as one with a ministerial career to savour. Whereas, before her own illness, Kiri Allen was beginning to look like a small bundle of focussed energy, which was concerning. That said, as the only one in cabinet medically qualified to consult on Covid, Dr Ayesha Verrall's six papers on the subject suggest more measures should be considered about their employability than simply the number of papers they've written. But it's a start, right?

"If politicians can be bought for [these] amounts ... it’s the politicians who are wrong not the threshold." #QotD

“Politicians having to justify their work to supporters, members, and donors is healthy. Public funding would give a huge advantage to the established political parties. It professionalises politics and stamps on the grass roots.
    “The vast majority of donations made to political parties are small. That is a good thing. It means politicians and party bosses are accountable to many.”
    "If politicians can be bought for the amounts under the threshold for disclosure, it’s the politicians who are wrong not the threshold."

~ Taxpayers Union (italicised) and Ele Ludemann, from her post 'Honest People Keep Rules'
.

Pay it back, Winston

Some folk don’t forget. Like the Taxpayers Union, who ask, after this election’s latest mini-scandal:

But while we’re on the subject of [Winston Peters] repaying public funds – that $158,000 of taxpayers’ money NZ First illegally spent in the 2005 election, can we have that paid back too?

And if not, why not.

.

Twyford proposes ending city’s ring-fence [updated]

 

Very rarely do politicians deserve berating in the morning and praise in the afternoon. So take a bow Labour Party – in calling for the Goverment to abolish Auckland’s city limits, your housing spokesman Phil Twyford has kicked a major goal for your team:

Labour wants the Government to abolish Auckland's city limits to get people out of cars, caravans, garages and tents.
    Labour housing spokesman Phil Twyford said the urban growth boundary had to go because it has fuelled the housing crisis and people would not be forced into bad circumstances if the Government acted.
    "The Government should rule out any possibility of an urban growth boundary in Auckland Council's Unitary Plan if it is serious about fixing the housing crisis," Twyford said.
    "Over 25 years the urban growth boundary hasn't prevented sprawl, but it has helped drive land and housing costs through the roof. It has contributed to a housing crisis that has allowed speculators to feast off the misery of Generation Rent, and forced thousands of families to live in garages and campgrounds," Twyford said.
    "Labour's plan will free up the restrictive land use rules that stop the city growing up and out. It will stop land prices skyrocketing, and put the kibosh on landbankers and speculators."

All very true, and all of a piece with what Twyford said back in November: that the cause of this housing crisis is planning rules. (Yes, he’s been improving fast.) He has other thoughts as well, that

the Government use its upcoming National Policy Statement on housing and urban land use to … free up density rules to accelerate Auckland's ability to grow housing supply both out and up.

And…  

to use new methods of funding infrastructure so that Councils don't have to lump costs on all ratepayers and on developers, who are stuck paying high development contributions that they pass on to home buyers in a lump sum.

So, all good and thoughtful stuff!

Mind you, National’s housing spokesthings said much the same good things when they were in opposition, and we’ve seen how little they’ve done since. And Twyford’s preferred solution is still, somehow, commissioning the building of unprofitable state houses that will somehow show a profit pay for them.

And just freeing up the boundary in the new Plan isn’t going to immediately open up land anyway; not until the planners contempate the zoning for the newly “released” land.

So perhaps, in the interim, given this emergency we could resurrect the presumption that anyone with any site anywhere (both up and out) should have the automatic right to build at least one (or one more) house on any given site, provided only that rights to neighbour’s light and air and sunlight are protected.

And in the longer term, it’s to get rid altogether of the failed planning regime and the Resource Management Act that is their talisman, and repair to the common law it has long buried.

And in the meantime, at least, give thanks that one politician at least is prepared to contemplate solutions to his portfolio that might not seem to fit his ideological persuasion, but will actually help those he claims to represent.

[Hat tip Hugh Pavletich]

UPDATE: You can sign a petition here (from the Taxpayers Union) calling on the Government to adopt Labour’s policy on abolishing the Auckland Metropolitan Urban Limit. The more people who sign the petition, the more pressure on National to do the right thing and sign up to Labour’s policy:

ABOLISH URBAN LIMITS PETITION ... TAXPAYER UNION

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The Taniwha Tax: coming to a home near you

While some folk are desperate for affordable housing, council planners continue to demonstrate that’s the last thing on their agenda.  The latest loopiness being bedded in around Auckland Town is a Cultural Impact Assessment – appropriately called a CIA, because the process is akin to being reamed by officious goons.

If you thought trying to get a resource consent out of council is hard, and it is, just wait until you discover your site has been declared as needing a CIA—something that could see you needing to negotiate with up to nineteen different Maori tribes in order to gain consent to erect a carport, for reasons that are entirely “spiritual” in nature.

The provisions may affect the value of perhaps 18,000 properties [says the Taxpayers Union], and many more in time. It is a variable and unpredictable capital tax, collected when someone wants to change their property use. Such uncertainty diminishes prospects for economic growth [not to mention property rights] as it does not allow people to plan with confidence.

No wonder groups opposed are calling it a Taniwha Tax, on which the Taxpayers Union has released a briefing paper entitled The Taniwha Tax: Briefing paper on Auckland Council’s new Mana Whenua rules.

Here is the PR released with the paper:

The Taxpayers’ Union, with support from the Auckland Property Investors’ Association, Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance and Democracy Action today launched a briefing paper on Auckland Council’s new Mana Whenua Cultural Impact Assessment provisions. The paper, entitled The Taniwha Tax: Briefing paper on Auckland Council’s new Mana Whenua rules.
    We believe that every Auckland homeowner or potential homeowner needs to know how the new provisions affect them.
    Most affected property owners will not become aware of the provisions until they suddenly find there is a site on or near their land, or they are told they may need to get a Cultural Impact Assessment (CIA) when applying for resource consent. Worse, the Council isn’t even sure that some of the 3,600 sites deemed ‘of value’ even exist. It didn’t bother to check.
    The Briefing Paper quotes extensive criticisms of the provisions made on behalf of some of New Zealand’s largest corporates, including Vodafone, Spark, Chorus, Transpower, Vector, Watercare.
    If you thought that navigating RMA red tape was hard, these provisions could require you to negotiate with up to nineteen Mana Whenua groups in order to gain development consent, the rules mean that resource consents may be subject to expensive modifications, even if the reasons are entirely spiritual in nature.
    The Council has previously tried to dampen public concerns, claiming that not many Cultural Impact Assessments have been required so far. They ignore the cost and delay of applicants having to go to iwi groups to ask whether a CIA is required.

This reaming by a CIA—along with the approval of appropriate iwi (plural) –is required every time you propose a project anywhere near a site that appears in Auckland’s Proposed Unitary Plan as a purple blob.  There are a lot of blobs (and that only describes the planners):

As you can see, the place is swarming with them.  Most of these sites are unverified, and even the 7 or so iwi to whom you will have to write pleading for your project to proceed will often know no more about a site than you did before you started your project.

And if you think to yourself: “Huh, it’s only Auckland,” then guess what: if the Taniwha Tax makes it here, it’ll make it everywhere.

Councils continue to reject ‘stop-spending-so-goddamn-much plan’ [updated]

UPDATE: “Expecting governments to fight the deficit is like expecting the mafia to fight crime.”

Council parasites have their hands out again.

Until Sandra Lee’s 2002 “reform” of local government, which granted council’s a legal all-clear to do whatever the hell they like unless prohibited by law, most councils did their best to keep their spending under control. Since then, the shackles have been off.

Today, Local Government head Lawrence Yule released a “discussion paper” recognising “a significant shortfall between revenue and spending by councils.” In times of yore, this was called overspending. Now, it means councils considering more ‘”funding mechanisms.”

Yule argues “therefore” that councils should have “broader taxing powers” (including “local income tax, local expenditure tax, selective taxes, regional fuel taxes and transaction taxes), “co-funding” from central government, “user charges,” and – naturally – even more debt piled upon existing debt.

In other words, every means possible should be used by over-spending councils to put their hands further into your pockets.

Not included in Lawrence Yule’s report is the obvious response to the shortfall between revenue and spending: that councils should stop spending so goddamned much.

Sandra Lee, and every local government minister since who has refused to slap the shackles back on over-spending councils, have a hell of a lot to answer for.

POSTSCRIPT:  Taxpayers Union are quick out of the blocks with a response:

New Zealand’s average rates bill has doubled in the last 20 years, tracking at twice the rate of inflation. Instead of focusing on the quality of councils' spending decisions, this campaign is using ratepayer money on propaganda promoting new taxes.
    LGNZ is a taxpayer funded lobby group representing the interests of councils. Nowhere in the discussion paper do we see a disciplined analysis of why local government spending is out of control.
    This campaign is so blatant that LGNZ spin doctors are sending Mayors draft opinion pieces so local politicians can 'leverage local media' and promote these new taxes. The Taxpayers' Union has been forwarded some of the emails by elected officials who are concerned LGNZ is overstepping the mark.
    Responding to LGNZ President, Laurence Yule’s comments that “The goal is not to increase the overall tax burden for New Zealand, but rather to determine whether a different mix of funding options for local government might deliver better outcomes for the country,” Mr Williams says:

          “Mr Yule is telling the public that the goal isn’t to increase the overall tax burden, but today he released
            a report, not on ways to save money, but on ways to tax more."

RELATED POSTS:

• LGNZ’s Alternative Funding Mechanisms Can Get Stuffed – NOT PC, April, 2014
• And the country’s most indebted council is … - NOT PC, June, 2014
• When will they withdraw council’s “powers of general competence”? – NOT PC, August, 2013

Friday Morning Ramble: Dirty Edition

Dirty politics? A whole book illustrates the thesis by its own methods. Folk comment.
NZ POLITICS DAILY: August 14 2014 – Bryce Edwards, NBR
I’ve either been hacked or spied on – David Farrar, KIWIBLOG
Dirty Politics – David Farrar, KIWIBLOG

Irony?
Hell Pizza boss calls in police over stolen emails – HERALD
Slater, Greens plan complaints after Hager revelations – OTAGO DAILY TIMES

No, no other bloggers do it.
The Left blogosphere is as pure as the driven snow – LINDSAY MITCHELL
Prentice irritated by Labour links – YOUR NZ
Left wing bloggers defend their own work – RADIO NZ [Audio: 5:12]

Unfashionable, I know, but some folk are still studying policies.
Small party priorities post election – YOUR NZ

“Last Saturday I called the other leaders in the TV3 minor party leaders debate communistic. This might seem an exaggeration but it is not.”
Whose land is it anyway? – Jamie Whyte, SCOOP

“"The leaders of NZ First, the Greens, the Conservatives and Mana-Internet have all rejected the institution of private property in favour of the collectivist ideas that prevailed in 20^th century fascist and communist countries. And, since Labour also supports a ban on the sale of privately owned land to foreigners, they seem to have rejected private property too.
"This should be the big story of this election.”
The political assault on private property gathers pace – Jamie Whyte, ACT

Ya think?
11 year permit process ‘too long’ – HOME PADDOCK

“It’s about the cultural brainwashing programme that has turned every New Zealand teacher into a propaganda parrot for primitivism.
Preparing the Parrots: A Training College Graduate on the Cultural Corruption of Teachers – John Ansell, TREATYGATE

No, not every New Zealand teacher …
Applications Now Open For Ami 3-6 Diploma Course, Auckland 2015-2017 – MARIA MONTESSORI EDUCATION FOUNDATION

Once upon a time, businesses trued to build a reputation, a brand, their name, over many years. These days, they drop them all at the drop of a hat.
Bright Spark - Telecom changes name – NZ HERALD
The Assault on Integrity – OBJECTIVIST NEWSLETTER, 1963

“Queens Wharf state house seems like revenge of the artocracy, but secrecy means we know nothing about it.”
Free us from danger of plonked art – Brian Rudman, NZ HERALD

“Are we getting killed by the virus we spread?”
Modern art was CIA 'weapon' – INDEPENDENT (UK)

An important - and revolting – truth.
What Happens When Libertarian Fantasies Become Reality? – Daniel Mitchell, TOWN HALL

Greenpeace founder speaks truth. “Dispute facts, if you can.”

“If so-called “global warming” — driven by rising levels of carbon dioxide — is truly the planetary menace that the warmists claim it is, it should not be so easy to find abundant evidence that things are going in totally the opposite direction.”
The Big Chill – Deroy Murdock, NATIONAL REVIEW

Nice people, environmentalists. “Mike “The Health Ranger” Adams, founder and director of the popular health news tabloid website Natural News, recently posted an article calling for the death of scientists, journalists anybody else who has written favourably about the technology of genetic engineering.”
Policy Digest: Environmental Issues – Amanda Maxham, VOICES FOR REASON
Ecoterrorists Call for Murder of Food Scientists and Their Supporters – RATIONAL BEACON

"The achievement of the electricity entrepreneurs is one of America’s greatest success stories.”
Property Rights and the Crisis of the Electric Grid – OBJECTIVE STANDARD

“A degree appears to raise earnings in the sex industry just as it does in the wider labour market.”
The education premium for prostitutes – Tyler Cowen, MARGINAL REVOLUTION

Land of the Free?
Ferguson Unrest Raises Concerns about Militarized Police – RATIONAL BEACON

Not a sentence I thought I’d ever read. “Egypt is pretty much a news oasis in the Middle East at the moment.”
Because You Need It: A Foreign Policy News Sandwich – Amy Peikoff, NEWS SANDWICH

What cease-fire means to Hamas:

“Inequality is dampening economic growth.” Discuss.
S&P’s Fundamentally Flawed Inequality Report – Scott Winship, E21
S&P economists and inequality – John Cochrane, THE GRUMPY ECONOMIST

McCloskey H264 from Institute of Economic Affairs on Vimeo.

“Monetary central planning is failing to achieve Keynesian “escape velocity” because it has deeply impaired the engines of capitalist enterprise.”
The Financialization Of American Business: How Cheap Debt Fuels The Bubble, Not Growth – David Stockman, ZERO HEDGE

“Abenomics–the “new economic policy” in Japan is failing badly. It is a policy of inflation targeting, quantitative easing, government spending and higher taxes. Initially, it seemed to work in that the Japanese stock market rose significantly. However more recent reports find the real economy still stagnating and shrinking."
Insanonomics Failing in Japan – Mark Thornton, CIRCLE BASTIAT

“Irving Fisher fell victim to what I've called "GDP fetishism."
Great Moments in Economic Estimation – David Henderson, ECON LOG

Isn’t it wrong to relocate company headquarters to countries with lower corporate taxes?
Professor Steven Pressman’s Moral Inversion on “Tax Inversion” – Michael LaFerrara, PRINCIPLED PERSPECTIVES

“Ancient-seeming ruins from Olympics past … Greece has struggled to generate revenue from the venues.”
Ten years on, Athens 2004 gives Greece little to cheer – ARCHINECT

Fascinating.
More Evidence Undermines the "Out of Africa" Theory of Human Evolution – io9

The product is the best there is. And the dividend isn’t bad.
Renaissance Brewing - Back a Kiwi Business on Snowball Effect – SNOWBALL EFFECT

“Robin Williams was one of many comedians who made people laugh while simultaneously struggling with a personal darkness. Are comics more prone to depression - and if so, why?”
Robin Williams and the link between comedy and depression – BBC

The practical value of philosophy: Stephen Hicks discusses its role in the wars of the twentieth century:

Jaguar has released pics of their new lightweight E-Type project. Wipe up that dribble, readers.

[Hat tip Voices for Reason, Steve Wrathall, Mark Tammett, Hilton Wayne Holder, Anoop Verma, Architizer, Gena Davidovich, Stephen Hicks, Alex Epstein, Jeff Perren Novelist, ElderOfZiyon, Heartland Institute, Jamie Baywood]

Thanks for reading.
Have a great weekend.
PC
PS: Make mine a Renaissance Stonecutter Scotch Ale, thanks.

We’re Finally Free of the Taxman’s Shackles!

Well, we’re free of his shackles for the rest of the year anyway, because for the entirety of the year to date we have all been working for no-one but him. Because today is Tax Freedom Day, and the Taxpayers Union is celebrating!

Congratulations New Zealand, as at 10.04am today you are working for yourself. However, the fact the Government accounts for all the money earned until today means it is unlikely New Zealanders will be celebrating. The government has effectively sucked up all of our earnings for the first 154 days of the year.
    OECD figures put the current burden of government in New Zealand as 42.2% of GDP… At 42.2% this year, the burden of government is even larger than when National took office in 2008. While core government expenditure has gone down, the wider crown portfolio and particularly local government has exploded.

And some idiots still confuse the National Party of being in favour of smaller government! Government spending by this measure is higher even than in South Korea, Switzerland and Australia. Tax Freedom day this year fell on 21 April in South Korea, 2 May in Switzerland and 11 May in Australia.

So they’ve had several more weeks of Tax Freedom this year than you or I.  The lucky, lucky, luck, lucky bastards.

Tax Freedom Day is a day for New Zealanders to consider the egregious amount of tax foisted upon us by successive governments. … We want to keep working to make sure next year’s Tax Freedom Day is earlier. Help us do it, by joining, or supporting, the Taxpayers’ Union.

Here’s The Beatles:

Friday Morning Ramble: The sandwich-making edition

Tweet of the week:

Runner up:

Nanny’s sense-of-humour bypass continues.
Concern 'end of school year' pranks have gone too far – NEWSTALK ZB

The Wall Street Journal likes NZ’s privatisations, failing however to spot that we haven’t had any.
Privatization Raises Billions in Australia, New Zealand – Gillian Tan, WALL STREET JOURNAL

Great idea!
NZ Taxpayers' Union offers prize to Aucklander with the largest percentage rates increase – TAXPAYERS UNION

Price-fixing,  infrastructure failure, monopolistic clusterfuck--thank goodness government can step in to sort it out. Oh, wait…
Broadband blow-up: Chorus talks 'default event' – NZ HERALD

“Not much of one it would appear.”
What is the case for paid maternity leave? – Paul Walker, ANTI DISMAL

“There have been many ponderous academic writings and dour editorials in the mainstream media lamenting that most people born poor cannot rise in … society anymore. Meanwhile, many poor immigrants arrive here from various parts of Asia, and rise on up the ladder anyway.
The race-hustlers among us – Thomas Sowell, WASHINGTON TIMES

A present from a whistleblower.
My Christmas Present to Christchurch: Twelve Days of Leaks – EQC TRUTHS

The living wage is now being touted as “the level of income necessary to participate in society.” This has more than trivial implications.
Implications of living wage – LINDSAY MITCHELL

“Personal liberty is the purpose of government
--to protect liberty, not to run your personal life.”
- Ron Paul

British website campaign against 50mg drinking limit address all the arguments.
Why 50mg is wrong – 80MG UK

“The market is fine for some things, people will say, but other activities are too important to be left to the market. Or too complicated.”
Privatize Everything – John Stossel, REASON

Not even six months in, and Tony Abbott’s Government already has a budget deficit for this financial year of about $45 billion, a 50 per cent increase on the official estimate during the election. Yes, they’re blaming Labor. Yes, they propose cuts to window-dressing quangoes. “Of course, much of this could be just theatre. There is still no economic narrative coming from the new Government beyond ‘open for business’ and ‘blame Labor’.”
Joe’s huge Budget black hole – MACROBUSINESS

“Government policies are preventing Europe from enjoying the social and economic benefits of immigration.”
How Government Intervention Stifles Immigrants in Europe – Matthew Feeney, REASON

Leonard Peikoff & Yaron Brook, always ahead of the curve. “Topics in this week's @Peikoff podcast include: age-of-consent laws, entrepreneurship, and more…”
Episode 294 – LEONARD PEIKOFF SHOW

Journalists treat politics as a sport, but it’s really a conflict of ideologies with real impact on people.
The Political Debate We Need to Have – Bruce Thornton, DEFINING IDEAS

Q: Why does the NSA listen in to Americans, world leaders and the Pope?
A: Because, in secret, they can.
End runs around the Constitution: The NSA destroys more liberty than it preserves – Andrew Napolitano, FOX NEWS

“Why not just make the MI5 chief the automatic editor-in-chief of all newspapers?” asks Glenn Greenwald.
Spy agency chiefs defend surveillance – GUARDIAN

“The White House says the intelligence community kept them in the dark on the wiretapping of foreign leaders. That's ridiculous.”
Obama's Lame Eavesdropping Excuse – John Prados, HISTORY NEWS NETWORK

Something to think about: “Probably the best news from the Virginia election,” says Robert Tracinski, “is that the Libertarians didn't get the 10 percent of the vote that they needed to ensure automatic inclusion on the ballot. My suggestion is that the Libertarians need to follow Ron Paul's lead and become a faction within the Republican Party—or for those who liked McAuliffe better than Cuccinelli, a faction within the Democratic Party.”
The Real Election Contest – Robert Tracinski, REAL CLEAR POLITICS

Why don’t Marxists care about those millions of dead?
The Left is trying to rehabilitate Karl Marx. Let’s remind them of the millions who died in his name. – Glenn Reynolds, INSTAPUNDIT

“The data doesn’t matter. We’re not basing our recommendations
on the data. We’re basing them on the climate models.”
- Prof. Chris Folland,
Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research

“Climate model projections falsified at 90-95% confidence levels over past 35 years…”
Observations Now Inconsistent with Climate Model Predictions for 25-35 Years; 'Basically, the models don't work' – Patrick Michaels & Chip Knappenberger,  THE HOCKEY SCHTICK

What’s “the one key difference between real scientists and science abusers. Science abusers treat science as an infallible authority to be blindly obeyed by the public. Real scientists treat science as a method to be carefully explained to the public.”
The Church Of Climate Scientology: How Climate Science Became A Religion – Alex Epstein, FORBES

Here’s what evil human’s 12 parts per million CO² contribution to the atmosphere is doing to the climate…
State Of The Climate Report – CACA

Al Bore is now stranded on an Arctic ice floe of shrinking credibility.
Al Gore Still Stranded – Charles Battig, AMERICAN THINKER

“Data released from one of the largest green energy companies, RWE npower renewables, shows that some large scale industrial wind farms are producing enough electricity only to make a few cups of tea at a time.”
A Token Gesture To The Folly Of Green Madness - CACA

“Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the
industrialised civilizations collapse?
Isn’t it our responsibility to bring that about?”
- Maurice Strong,
founder of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

A lot of people have been saying that the failed launch of ObamaCare provides lessons about the failure of big government. Let’s get more specific about what those lessons are.
Ten Lessons of ObamaCare – Robert Tracinski, REAL CLEAR MARKETS

American's are schizophrenic about the lessons of ObamaCare failure
Uh, Duh ... and the Shocking Truth about Obamacare - GEORGE REISMAN’S BLOG
Are Americans Looney Tunes? – OBJECTIVIST INDIVIDUALIST

Obama’s Healthcare.Gov guru has all the material necessary for another challenging press conference:

From the Check-Your-Premises Department” “Economics doesn’t justify greed--it fosters & encourages the cultivation of cooperation.”
That Cold-Hearted Discipline: Good economics teaches cooperation and the limits of politics, not greed – F.E.E.

The central bankers’ central bank is 1o0. Economists debate why it still exists.
The Fed at 100 – Gerald O’Driscoll, Lawrence White, Scott Sumner, Jerry Jordan, CATO UNBOUND

“You could even say they are on the way to assuming the role of a ‘Politburo.’”
Central Banks: The True Centers of Political Power – Thorstein Polleit, MISES DAILY

“The incoming Fed Chair is all central planner
Janet Yellen's Fed Has The Makings Of A Potential Disaster – Keith Weiner, FORBES

Well, no one noticed his hand in the air at the time…
Fed's Bullard: Bubbles Are "Blindingly Obvious" – ZERO HEDGE

“We’re at the fourth bubble inflated by the Fed in this century…Now, I think, we have the greatest, mother of all bubbles. There’s no one in the stock market today except drugged up day-traders and robots…This is utterly irrational.”
Stockman: Brace for the mother of all bubbles – MARKET SANITY

This will assuredly end badly.
Prime Minister Abe Calls for Wage-Price Spiral to Create "Virtuous Circle"; Shame Shame – MISH’S TREND ANALYSIS

Want to keep companies honest, make the markets work more efficiently and encourage investors to diversify? Let insiders buy and sell.
Learning to Love Insider Trading – Don Boudreaux, WALL STREET JOURNAL

"I'm buying coz everyone is talking about it..."
Before The Break: Twitter vs FaceBook vs LinkedIn In One Chart – ZERO HEDGE

Surprise, surprise. Another one for the Broken Windows file.
Cash for Clunkers a near-total failure – Steve Eggleston, HOT AIR

“Krugman said in 1997 that Internet would not contribute to employment.
In 2002 he said we needed a housing bubble. In 2012 he argued for an
alien invasion to boost the economy. He also won a Nobel prize.”
- paraphrased from @ScrewedbyState

The basic problem with a centrally dictated education curriculum: when the bureaucrats  make a big mistake, they make it for everybody.
Federal Bureaucrats Declare 'Hunger Games' More Complex Than 'The Grapes of Wrath': The Common Core's absurd new reading guidelines – Elaine Greteman, NEW REPUBLIC

Turns out Descartes was wrong. “A guy with schizophrenia describes how he discriminates between hallucinations and true perceptions." [Hat tip Paul Hsieh]
Schizophrenia, Understanding Delusion, and Buddhist Philosophy – REDDIT

Surprise! Yet another of the founders of 'deconstruction' turns out to have been a truly horrible, immoral human being.
Paul de Man's Many Secrets – Tom Bartlett, THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

“We all know the rhetorical question, ‘Isn’t everyone selfish?’”
Investment and Prudence – Tibor Machan, TIBOR’S SPACE

There are certain burning questions that need answering.
Are people more moral in the morning than in the afternoon? – IMPROBABLE RESEARCH

“Spending money on food, only to throw it away, may be a waste of money. But it is also an indication of something good…”
Now the good news: we waste food – Rob Lyons, SPIKED

Can you correlate the human environment and a lack of freedom? 10 more data points.
The World's 10 Most Polluted Places – SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

Transatlantic weirdness.
30 Non-Americans On The American Norms They Find Weird – THOUGHT CATALOG
Non-British people...What is the weirdest thing about the UK that British people don't realise is weird? – REDDIT

From back when Brits still had a stiff upper lip.

Meanwhile, a Bucharest newspaper's new campaign to encourage today’s Brit tourists out to Romania…

“We in the petrolhead community who also believe in free markets find ourselves in something of a bind… If Australians want locally-built cars, let them be bought voluntarily rather than be paid for through our taxes… Ideological purity [however] is sometimes overruled by sentimental attachment.”
Capitalism Compromised – TIM BLAIR

"The alternative to mutual plunder is the mutual recognition of and respect for individual rights."
America Descends into Mutual Plunder (but Doesn’t Have To) – Ari Armstrong, OBJECTIVE STANDARD

Some people still insist that hunter-gatherers of the Stone Age had much better, more comfortable lives than do people in the industrialised world today.  This is bollocks.
Yes, Even if a Hunter-Gatherer Survived Beyond Age 5, It was Unlikely for Him to Reach Age 60 – Stuart Hayashi, FACEBOOK

This week is the 100th anniversary of the death of Alfred Russel Wallace-co-discoverer with Charles Darwin of natural selection, and a remarkable polymath.
Remembering Alfred Russel Wallace – Craig Leisher, THE NATURE CONSERVANCY

It’s not rocket science.
Early Childhood Educators Hold Key to Children's Communication Skills – SCIENCE DAILY

No, I don’t know what that means either. But I’m not an urban progressive.
How to turn an urban progressive into a libertarian: Regulate the kohlrabi from his CSA – WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“This isn't a question on whether or not you eat unhealthy food, it's a
question of whether we own the government or the government owns us.”
- John Yowan

And just in time for the uni summer holidays!
Enjoy free multimedia courses on many topics within Objectivism at ARI Campus! – AYN RAND CAMPUS

Ayn Rand Myth #217: Ayn Rand was a materialist.
Ayn Rand the Materialist: Resurrecting An Old Smear – Don Watkins, LAISSEZ FAIRE

The fatal conceit of urban planning.
Randal O’Toole on Urban Planning – Randal O’Toole, LIBERTARIANISM.ORG

This is on time you can’t blame the architects. Well, not completely.
This Brutalist Apartment Building Encapsulates the Story of Apartheid – THE ATLANTIC

Remember those fantasy golf courses from a few years back? Somebody built them.
12 Unusually Placed Sports Venues – WORLD GEOGRAPHY

Maybe just for tennis.
Sports Decision Review System: Hawk-Eye or Human Eye? – SCIENCE DAILY

A Nanjing family is about to unveil the $164 million Sifang Art Museum and architecture park, a design fantasyland featuring buildings by world-renowned architects including David Adjaye, Steven Holl and Wang Shu. Form definitely not following function.
For Architecture's Sake – WALL STREET JOURNAL

There’s no insulter like a classical music insulter.
21 of the best insults in classical music – CLASSIC FM (UK)

With or without a cocktail.
Why You Should Always Have Sex On A First Date – ELITE DAILY

Let me leave you with two of Dave Mcartney’s last few unrecorded songs, still stuck in my head after last Saturday night’s tribute show.

[Hat tips Tom Newton Dunn, Andrew Bolt, Garett Jones, TakingHayekSeriously, Tom Nelson, Fiona Hanley, Patrick Moore, Gillian Tan, JWSpry , Ban Collectivism, Jordan Williams, Screwed by State, Glenn Greenwald, Timothy P Carney, Tamela Lewis, Michael Shermer, Catotheyounger, David Buik, John Yowan, ☷♔☰, The IHS, TheObjectiveStandard, I Love Fossil Fuels, F Bastiat, Ayn Rand Center, On Liberty Street]

Thanks for reading,
and have a great weekend.
PC