"Over recent decades, the world trading system has drifted into a distorted, sub-optimal equilibrium"

"[O]ver recent decades, the world trading system has drifted into a distorted, sub-optimal equilibrium, shaped by regulatory and political asymmetry, integration clubs and rule-based inertia. ...

"So, while tariffs fell, supply chains over-concentrated. The post-1990s decline in tariffs between different economic structures enabled deep global supply chains. This increased efficiency — but also vulnerability, dependency, and strategic exposure.

"In turn, non-tariff barriers [in the form of excessive internal regulation] rose, especially in the European Union. It seemed like a good idea at the time – for some people – but the reduction in market access for outsiders and entrenching of the local status quo was less transparent. ... the expansion of the European Union from 9 members in the 1980s to today’s 27 ... has privileged trade for insiders, whilst diminishing the relative position of external players. ... amounting to a reversal of the principle of mutual recognition [and] the foundation of liberal trade ... [along with] a deeper recalibration of the global trade order towards more explicit trading blocs (which crucially will need to deregulate internally to grow) ...

"This will not be painless. The transition out of a long-standing but sub-optimal equilibrium rarely is."

~ from the uncredited post 'Europe is in trouble – and it’s not just trade'

"The deal, it turned out, was somewhat less than advertised"

"On Thursday, the press pool was summoned at 10:48 A.M. for what Trump had billed as a “very big and exciting” announcement of a new trade deal between the U.S. and the U.K. …

“The deal, it turned out, was somewhat less than advertised—an agreement in principle, after years of talks, and with many details to be finalised. …

“Still, it was something, and Trump, with all the zeal of a used-car salesman, plumped for the agreement, though he admitted it wasn’t quite done yet. “In the coming weeks, we’ll have it all very conclusive,” he vowed. ….

“There are many words that come from Trump’s mouth, and few that he will not renounce when they are no longer convenient.“

from the article A Day in the Life of a Live-Streamed Donald Trump

"Trump's "big" trade deal is with the UK:- It's a framework not a deal - They're our 11th largest trading partner - They're only 3% of US trade (97% to go) - They *already* charge average tariffs of only 1% (limited upside)
    "It's a photo op, with little macroeconomic significance. ...   

"Overwhelmingly the most important news here -- in terms of macroeconomic impacts -- is that the US is retaining 10 percent tariffs on nearly everything. Do the numbers and it's obvious that any industry-specific tweaks are second order."

~ Justin Wolfers on the "major" UK-US Trade announcement

"Tariffs Aren’t Liberating": Your Tuesday Tariffs Ramble [UPDATED]

UPDATE: Some more great links here curated by Don Boudreaux, to help you put this calamity on context.

Since it's the topic of the day a historic turning point in human affairs, the least I can do is offer readers a ramble around the topic of tariffs and the destruction of tariff wars — basically, around the many writers reciting the multiplicity of ways in which the Trump Administration has fucked us.

"“Liberation Day”: That is what US President Donald Trump has called Wednesday, April 2, the day he announced huge swaths of taxes on imports worldwide. Despite the label, it was far from a day of liberation. By making imports to the US more expensive, the government is actively increasing the cost of living for American consumers.
    "The Trump administration has fallen for one of the most common misconceptions about trade—that it only benefits a country when it is the exporter. This could not be further from the truth. One of the greatest benefits of free trade lies with the importing country, where consumers gain access to a huge range of goods, crucially, at lower prices.
    "Whether it’s clothes, food, medical supplies, or mobile phones, access to the global market reduces the cost of living and increases consumer choice, often alleviating poverty in the process.
    "It comes down to a very simple principle. No one person could produce everything he or she consumes. No family or household could do so either. No city, town, or province could produce absolutely everything they consume. Equally, no country can produce everything it consumes, nor should it. Attempts to achieve autarky are acts of economic self-harm. Freedom to exchange across borders is win-win: it allows consumers to access a plethora of goods and services, improving welfare overall."

Tariffs Aren’t Liberating - Reem Ibrahim, FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION

"Tariffs are irrational both morally and practically.
    "Morally, tariffs are rights violations - they restrain or prohibit individuals from trading freely and voluntarily in their own self-interest with whomever - no matter where they reside geographically. ...
    "Practically, tariffs punish the individuals in the country which implements them. Trump even acknowledges the pain. But he mystically thinks this pain will be good and lead us to prosperity.
    "Tariffs raise prices, cause shortages, and decrease productivity. They destroy wealth, businesses, income, and jobs. This is well known in theory and practice. See the Smoot-Hawley Act and its role in making the Great Depression even worse.
    "Trump’s foreign policy is morally and practically irrational.
    "What is the moral and practical foreign policy solution?
    "Free trade."

          ~ Andy Clarkson

"The essence of capitalism's foreign policy is free trade—i.e., the abolition of trade barriers, of protective tariffs, of special privileges—the opening of the world's trade routes to free international exchange and competition among the private citizens of all countries dealing directly with one another."

The Roots of War - Ayn Rand, ARI CAMPUS

"Fundamental to the argument for high tariffs has been the argument that trade deficits reflect America being "exploited" or "taken advantage of." In this article of mine on, "Why Trade Deficits Don't Matter -- Unless Caused by Government," I explain the misguided economic reasoning behind this claim, and why the far better policy is free trade."
Trade Deficits Don’t Matter – Unless Caused by Government - Richard Ebeling, FUTURE OF FREEEDOM FOUNDATION

"Donald Trump is fond of saying that trade wars are easy to win. Among the litany of patently false Trumpisms, this may well prove one of the most disastrous. ...
    "Protective tariffs risk triggering a cycle of escalation that ends well for no one."

No One Wins a Trade War - William Bernstein, THE ATLANTIC

"America can’t be outcompeted because America does not produce or trade anything.
     "Nations do not compete with nations. Individual firms compete with individual firms abroad. Ford competes with Toyota. America does not compete with Japan. Nations are trading partners, not competitors."

Why America can't be outcompeted - Harry Binswanger, HARRY'S SUBSTACK

"“We are seeing a combination of true-believing mercantilism, shocking ignorance about how the global economy works, and shocking incompetence in the planning and execution of economic policy,” says Michael Strain."
Trump's aggressive push to roll back globalisation -FINANCIAL TIMES (paywall0

"Like the post-1945 British Labour governments, he wants to shelter domestic manufacturing and the working class behind tariffs while reducing overseas commitments. But the net result will be both economically damaging and geopolitically weakening. Americans will come to miss globalism and policing the world. They will belatedly realise that there is no portal through which the United States can return to the 1950s, much less the 1900s. And the principal beneficiary of Project Minecraft will not be Russia, but China. Call it Project Manchuria. ... 

"The president stands as much chance of reindustrialising the U.S. as you do of getting your frozen laptop to work by smashing the motherboard with a Minecraft hammer."

Trump’s Tariffs and the End of American Empire - Niall Ferguson, THE FREE PRESS

"So think of it as a world wide Brexit like the U.S. leaving the global economy.
    "A trade lawyer at a global law firm here in London told me their clients see Trump’s tariffs as “worse than Brexit” as they’re dealing with rapidly changing trade rules on a massive scale. It’s not just the tariffs that Trump has imposed, but the retaliation it will provoke."

‘How Ugly Is This Going to Be?’ - Graham Lanktree, POLITICO

"You will go to work in a hot, noisy, dirty factory for low wages. And you will like it. 

The quality of life your grandfather had is more than good enough for you!"

"It sounds so sensible: why not use protection and industrial policy to preserve manufacturing capacity “just in case” of, say, a war or a pandemic? And, to be sure, this is a better argument for some limited government intervention on trade and investment flows than wanting to tax imported bananas or revive manufacturing.
    "But even then it’s not the slam dunk some people imagine. Below is my chapter on this issue from Economics In One Virus, published in 2021. It’s just as true and relevant today."

Flaws in the "Just In Case," Self-Sufficiency Case for Protectionism - Ryan Bourne, WAR ON PRICES

"The populist story of the death of U.S. manufacturing is nonsense. Mr. Vance and his cohort maintain that increased free trade with countries such as China in 2000 or Mexico in 1994 killed American jobs. It’s true that the number of manufacturing jobs is lower than it was in 1970. But that’s because we can make so much more with fewer people. Blame technology, not trade.
    "Real hourly output per manufacturing employee has been on an upward trend since 1959. Real U.S. manufacturing value-added—the sector’s contribution to gross domestic product—reached its highest recorded level in 2022. Manufacturing output was close to its all-time high in 2022, and the U.S. remained the global leader in manufacturing value-added per worker.
    "Steel is one example. In 1980, one steelworker could produce 0.083 tons of steel in one hour. By 2018, one steelworker could produce 1.67 tons in an hour. This is a good thing. Wage and income data in the U.S. show the rising tide is lifting all boats—especially the smallest.
    "Americans don’t want their children to have to work punishing jobs in a steel mill, and it’s evident they don’t have to. Manufacturing jobs, as a share of total employment, have been on a downward trend since 1943—falling from 39% to under 25% by the end of 1970 and hitting 20% in 1980. This decline started long before Ronald Reagan ran for office, before China received Most Favored Nation status for outsourcing manufacturing, before Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement and before the World Trade Organization was created. The trends even started five years before the U.S. joined the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade."
Free Trade Didn’t Kill the Middle Class - Norbert J. Michel, WALL STREET JOURNAL

“The philosophy of protectionism is a philosophy of war.”
          ~ Ludwig von Mises

"“When it comes to steel, it’s fantastic for our industry,” said Jack Maskil [president of the United Steelworkers Local 2227 in Pittsburgh’s Mon Valley], “but what about everything else?” ...

    "On the one hand, they are thrilled that their industry will be a key beneficiary of the 25 percent tariff imposed on steel imports to the U.S. ...
    "But while the steelworkers are also hoping that tariffs will bring about a revival of manufacturing jobs, they also worry about their effect on the economy, and on their own purchasing power."

What Do American Steelworkers Think About Trump’s Tariffs? - Ethan Dodd, THE FREE PRESS

"President Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs risk domino effect across the globe as Chinese goods look for new markets."

The Rest of the World Is Bracing for a Flood of Cheap Chinese Goods - WALL STREET JOURNAL

"The proponents of protectionism say, “Free trade is fine in theory but it must be reciprocal. We cannot open our markets to foreign products if foreigners close their markets to us.” China, they argue, to use their favorite whipping boy, “keeps her vast internal market for the private domain of Chinese industry but then pushes her products into the U.S. market and complains when we try to prevent this unfair tactic.”
    "The argument sounds reasonable. It is, in fact, utter nonsense. Exports are the cost of trade, imports the return from trade, not the other way around."

In 1970, Milton Friedman Advocating Moving Unilaterally Toward Free Trade Rather Than Retaliating. We Still Haven’t Learned That Simple Lesson -Mark Perry, AEI

"This idea that Donald Trump is just playing hardball to negotiate tariff rates down on US exports is absolutely ridiculous. The % of tariffs applied to US-produced goods has declined consistently since WW2 and was nearly nothing...
    "UNTIL! Donald's first term, and now his second.
    "And yet I keep seeing so many MAGA supporters saying: 'We're already seeing countries backing down from their tariffs!'
    "You're literally winning a battle and losing the war at the same time ..."

~  Landon Walsh

"Then there’s Trump’s fascination with tariffs. The damage Trump has caused Ukraine and Nato pales by comparison to what his tariffs will do to America’s economy and the entire international economic system. If Trump had acted on April 1 instead of 2, he could quickly have said it was all an April Fool’s Day joke, thereby saving the global economy trillions of dollars of damage when markets started heading south. Unfortunately however, Trump is totally serious, a fact evident long before “Liberation Day.”
    "Here too, “experts” and anxious businesspeople steadfastly ignored Trump labelling “tariff” the dictionary’s most beautiful word. Tariffs, they said, will be targeted, carefully calibrated, and he’ll do deals quickly. It’s all a bargaining tactic, Treasury Secretary Bessent said in October, 2024: “escalate to de-escalate”. Even as global stock markets drop like rocks, experts are still rationalising what his “strategy” is.
    "Wrong again. Trump is more likely to win the Nobel Prize for literature than for peace."

I worked for Donald Trump. This is the key to understanding him: It’s not about America, and there’s no connection to the real world - John Bolton, TELEGRAPH (UK)

"Reminder: This policy was spearheaded and implemented by a man who thinks nobody says the word “groceries” these days because “it’s an old-fashioned word” and he somehow brought it back into the limelight.
    "Donald Trump is a motherfucking moron. Those who knew this and voted for him anyway because he gave them explicit license to be assholes deserve every last bit of pain his policies will cause them."

          ~ Stephen T. Stone

"In times of upheaval, those closest to power often find ways to turn disruption into wealth. Trump’s erratic tariff wars, billed as economic nationalism, upended markets, collapsed sectors, and triggered retaliatory shocks. But while farmers went bankrupt and consumers paid more, the market opened space for those with foresight—or insider access—to buy low and consolidate.
    "Geographer David Harvey calls this accumulation by dispossession: crisis used not to correct the system, but to extract from it. Devalue public assets. Destabilise protections. Create just enough chaos to buy cheap what others are forced to abandon. It’s not just policy failure—it’s extraction dressed as populism.
    "The con isn’t just psychological. It’s material. It’s not just about being lied to—it’s about being looted.
    "And that’s what makes this moment different—and more dangerous. The scam isn’t happening outside the system. It’s running through it."

The Confidence Game: How Trump’s Con Threatens More Than the Truth - James Greenberg, JAMES'S SUBSTACK

"The latest rumor, when I started drafting this column, was that President Trump will suspend the tariffs for a 90-day period, with the exception of those on China. Markets started going back up again.
    "But “the very latest information” doesn’t stay current for long these days. The new report—but don’t count on it—is that the 90-day pause is not real after all. That revision came out before this draft was finished. And markets again whipsawed.
    "The Trump administration has created a new monster—one of unpredictability and erratic behavior. We simply cannot predict with any degree of accuracy what will happen next. By the time you are reading this article, there will probably be some newer report about the tariffs or threat of tariffs, and then another report after that.
    "Even if the White House winds up instituting a pause on the proposed tariffs—or ultimately adopts much better economic policies—this seesawing may plunge the American and perhaps also the global economy into recession."

A Contagion of Uncertainty - Tyler Cowen, THE FREE PRESS

[WATCH] Singapore must be clear-eyed about dangers ahead: Singapore's Prime Minister Wong on implications of US tariffs:

"Donald Trump has demonstrated his profound misunderstanding of the basic economic principles of international trade for several years now, and perhaps reached a pinnacle when he told the New York Daily News in an interview last August that “we’re getting hosed by the Chinese — and that we’ve done it with our eyes wide shut.” ...
    "[Trump adviser] Peter Navarro, in his Wall Street Journal opinion piece earlier this week (see related post here) demonstrated his fundamental misunderstanding of international trade when he opened his op-ed with the following question: “Do trade deficits matter?” Just to ask the question is to admit one’s ignorance of trade theory, which has been pretty settled on this topic since Adam Smith taught us in 1776 that “Nothing…can be more absurd than this whole doctrine of the balance of trade. ..."

Trade Deficits Don’t Matter; Understanding Deficits Do: Protectionists' idea of a trade balance is completely backward -Mark Perry, FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION

Tariffs are a suicide bomb":

Trump's team said they based their "reciprocal tariff" calculation for each country based on the tariffs and impediments put on American imports by those countries. But no. It's even more irrational: "[Trump's chart] features an estimate of 'Tariffs Charged to the USA' by other countries that nobody could figure out, until a financial journalist realised it was just how much we export to that country, minus how much we import, divided by how much we import."

"Under a system of perfectly free commerce, each country naturally devotes its capital and labour to such employments as are most beneficial to each. This pursuit of individual advantage is admirably connected with the universal good of the whole. By stimulating industry, by regarding ingenuity, and by using most efficaciously the peculiar powers bestowed by nature, it distributes labour most effectively and most economically: while, by increasing the general mass of productions, it diffuses general benefit, and binds together by one common tie of interest and intercourse, the universal society of nations throughout the civilised world."
        ~ David Ricardo (1817)

"Why is today’s Trump so different from the Trump of his first term? .. ". Turns out, the answer is very simple" Back then he had people, and a Congress who would say "No." But now the yes men are in power.

What happened to Trump? Why has be become so pro-Russian? - Roman Sheremata, UKRAINE TODAY

Trump's tariffs policy came from his economic advisor Peter Navarro, who invented a fake expert in his books to justify it. "Peter Navarro liked to quote a guy named Ron Vara in his books. Those books are largely what led to Navarro becoming a top adviser to President Trump and helping to shape U.S. policy on China. Here’s the thing about Ron Vara, though: He doesn’t exist. ...

"Ron Vara is an anagram of Navarro."

Trump's China Muse Has an Imaginary Friend - Tom Bartlett, CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

 

Second-term Trump is who Trump always was. This is Trump without many adults in the room stopping him getting his way. This is Trump surronded by Yes Men in a cult. This is Trump. A freedom-hating, dictator-loving, trade-despising child who wants the power of a tryant. Someone who has no regard for facts and who will utter any lie he wishes - no matter how ridicolous it is. And his believers are expected to believe it. Under fear of discommunication from the cult.
This is what you asked for when you voted for Trump. This is what you got. I hope you are happy....

          ~ Dwayne Davies

"An often forgotten truth is that it is not just military warfare that can cause injury to innocent bystanders, the same inescapably happens in economic warfare initiated by governments, as well. But in the latter case the human “collateral damage” is a targetted victim. ...
    "Tariffs and counter-tariffs are tools of economic warfare that are said to be targeting the “aggressor” country. But the very nature of how tariffs and counter-tariffs work, results in the main targets being innocent bystanders in the countries concerned.
    "Once we disaggregate “nations” into their, respective, individual buyers and sellers, producers and consumers, we see that the most damage falls on the economic “non-combatants,” of whatever the original “dispute” may be about ..."

Trump’s Economic Warfare Targets Innocent Bystanders - Richard Ebeling, FUTURE OF FREEDOM FOUNDATION

"TikTok is a major bargaining chip in a grave geopolitical struggle. Given the data users have always sent to Beijing, it’s been a bargaining chip ever since it arrived on America’s digital shores. For Trump, though, it’s not exactly his chip to bargain with: Congress already determined the American course of action. The mystery is why nobody seems to mind Trump delaying its execution — or at least, why nobody is complaining publicly....

    "Trump’s motives here are not difficult to parse, and the bill in question is legitimately problematic. He’s popular on TikTok, and close to one of the company’s major investors. ...
    "As fallout continued from his tariff bombshell — including the legitimacy of his emergency authority to implement the new rates — barely anyone batted an eye at TikTok getting another dubious bailout."

Why Trump keeps saving TikTok - Emily Jashinsky, UNHERD

"Since my last essay on the crisis of democracy, the assaults on democratic checks and balances have escalated. Without agreement from Congress, Trump’s DOGE shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development with stunning speed. Although a federal court blocked further implementation, ruling that the action “likely violated the Constitution,” by then the agency had already been gutted and largely dismantled along with many other agenices. Then, in an alarming politicisation of the military high command, Trump fired the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, and the judge advocates general (the highest-ranking legal authorities) for the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
    "Pressing his claim to imperial power, Trump has moved to assert absolute control over all federal regulatory bodies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission. This not only hobbles their capacity to act independently in the public interest but opens the door to massive corruption. As DOGE seizes control of more and more of the government’s most sensitive and highly centralised stores of data, the conflicts of interest proliferate for its chief 'overseer,' Elon Musk, who over the years has received 'at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits.' And Just Security has documented an 'alarming' pattern of 'politicisation and weaponisation of the Department of Justice since Trump has retaken office.
    "The United States now faces the grave and imminent danger of its democracy decaying into a 'competitive authoritarianism'.”

How to Undo Trump’s Growing Dictatorship and the Damage it Is Inflicting - Larry Diamond, THE UNPOPULIST

"We have to realise that Trump is not joking about any of this. He’s not joking about invading Greenland, and he’s not joking about running for a third term. He’s as serious about all of this as he was about the tariffs. The evidence indicates that he will do it all, whatever he can get away with. ...
"While we prepare a mass movement—and Donald Trump crashing the economy with the world’s stupidest tariffs will help us a great deal—we need to fight everything. What that will specifically mean is that we have to fight a lot of losing battles. ...
"There are five reasons to fight early and often, no matter the odds of winning any one fight.
    1. It lays down a marker. ....
    2. It mobilises others to fight. ....
    3. It delays and exhausts the strongman. ...
    4. Sometimes you win. ...
    5. You find out what works and who fights. ...."

How to Fight Back - Robert Tracinski, TRACINSKI LETTER

"That was the point about Ardern...." [updated]

"That was the point about Ardern. She wasn’t just Prime Minister of New Zealand – and a popular one at her peak – she was a global pin-up for progressive values [and the opprobrium therefrom, deserved or underserved, from being so- Ed.]. She was the beacon of hope among those on the Left who had been destabilised by Donald Trump, Brexit and Boris Johnson. For many, she was seen as a breed apart among global leaders: one who was untouched by the fatal brew of ego, arrogance and self-interest which they saw as inbred into many male politicians.
    "Ardern’s undoing was in that she appeared to believe that herself. I don’t claim to be able to read her mind, but I would guess that her real reason for resigning ahead of New Zealand’s general election later this year was not primarily that she wanted to collect her daughter from playgroup every day, as she has intimated, but that she could no longer cope with her halo having slipped. When you have been built up into a living saint it must come as a shock to find yourself under attack for failing to address the same old problems which afflict less-progressive national leaders. Inflation, a stuttering economy and rising crime are hardly unique to New Zealand, but they showed that there was nothing magical about Ardern’s politics – the only difference is that in her case she lacked the toughness to weather serious adversity....
    "The danger now is that in resigning before what was beginning to look like an inevitable defeat at the polls, she will come to be seen by progressives as a political martyr, reinforcing their belief in her greatness, as a female leader who willingly gave up power to be with her family. The reality is that she failed in much that she tried to achieve, and the hero-worship which she enjoyed around the world made things worse by adding to her hubris."

~ Ross Clark, writing in the UK Telegraph

OTHER COMMENTARY:

"Surely no politician has burnt through more political capital in as fast a time as Jacinda Ardern. Winning her second election in a landslide in Oct 2020, she resigns in January 2023. There was simply no more political capital left in the tank.
"Was Ardern’s position left untenable due to a failed cabinet reshuffle that was rebuffed by her colleagues? And what will the change of leader mean for the flagship policies which Labour decides to continue to support in 2023?"
          'No Political Capital Left' - HOMEPADDOCK

"The progressive Left outside NZ love her, but that’s because they have literally no idea of her policies. [Any more than do the offshore right who criticise her ... - Ed.]
    "Her government was rabidly anti-immigration, right from the start. It depresses workers’ wages see. So NZ, which is structurally geared for immigration, is now desperately short of masses of key workers. Old school Socialist, not progressive at all.
    "Her government was rabidly centrist, [literally], though it took some time to become apparent. It started to recentralise things that have long been decentralised in NZ. Old school Socialist, not progressive at all. It tended to be badly done, and wildly unpopular — Kiwis aren’t really into centralisation.
    "Finally, and incredibly for a country used to non-unionised workplaces, Jacinda tried to return to central bargaining.
    "It’s hard to find a progressive policy.
    "Abortion was legalised, but no-one had been prosecuted under the old legislation, so that was an easy win. It literally changed nothing.
    "She tried to legalise marijuana, but her proposed system was like the Canadian one, bound by so many restrictions that the illegal trade would have continued...."

          ~ Chester Draws at Samizdata

"So credit to the PM for realising that despite having more time left than most world leaders, she was not going to realise her cherished goals for New Zealand.
    "What might send a shiver down the spine of some older and more time-limited world leaders (as well as her own successor) is that her problems – even if rhetorically more polished – are quite similar to their own.
    "And seem equally intractable.
    "Just run through a list of potential policy-reality clashes: ending relative poverty when statistically poor people show little desire to model your own sensible behaviour; reducing carbon consumption without confronting the truly enormous welfare costs; paying for more health and social welfare without robust long-term market-led productivity growth; building affordable houses without substantial environmental modification and painful disruption to ossified local practice; increasing opportunity and outcomes for indigenous people without creating privilege and double standards.
    "One can speculate that Ardern’s relative youthfulness and sense of greater opportunities to come has made it easier to choose the early transition to minor international celebrity over the responsibility of exercising authority – let alone the risk of losing it.
    "Whatever your political views, you have to feel sorry for her successor.... Barring an economic miracle, it will be hard ... to slip out from under the burden of Ardern’s policy indecision....
    "Meanwhile, the world’s leaders will be asking themselves if Jacinda has made a wise move in beating them to an early shower.
          'PM Makes NZ a World Leader' - POINT OF ORDER

"The rise of Saint Jacinda reflect[ed] the triumph of paternalism. Among our supposedly liberal elites it has become common sense that populations must be controlled for their own good; that a measure of how much a leader cares is how brutally she cracks down on ideas or behaviours she deems dangerous.
    "We almost certainly haven’t seen the last of Ardern. No doubt a plum job at the United Nations, the World Health Organisation or some other ghastly supranational body beckons. Nor have we seen the last of the elitist politics that she came to represent. It’s high time we had a reckoning with this ‘kindly’ authoritarianism."

          'Good Riddance to Saint Jacinda' - Tom Slater, SPIKED ONLINE

"When Jacinda allowed herself to be guided by her heart her decisions were politically faultless. It was only when she ignored her instincts and followed her head that the poor decisions began to multiply.
"She never appeared to grasp that announcing policy is not the same as implementing it. Press releases do not build houses. Speeches do not end poverty. In the end, it was Jacinda's constant failure to deliver that made it impossible for her to go on.
If you say 'Let's do this!,' then, Dear God, you have to do it!
          'Jacinda Resigns' - Chris Trotter, BOWALLEY ROAD

UK-NZ-Australia free-trade deal -- good for everyone, says Hannan

Daniel Hannan explains to the UK's House of Lords why the UK-NZ-Australia free-trade deal is not just better in "food miles," not just "better for Britons," but better all around for all.

Few things worked better historically to raise the UK to success than free commerce and free exchange, he points out. "We invented them." The biggest advantage of unhampered international markets, he says, is to allow prices to fall. That's good for everyone.

"When an iron lady was needed, Truss proved to be made of straw."

"Liz Truss’s stint as British prime minister is over, but she was right that the United Kingdom needs growth. Her downfall is tragic, because growth is the only path out of the country’s economic dilemma.... If anything, Truss’s proposed reforms were too mild....
    "The UK is at a post-Brexit crossroads. Will it become a free-trade, entrepreneurial, financial hub – a “Singapore on Thames”? Or does Brexit mean protecting and subsidising inefficient businesses and places even more than the European Union allows? Unfortunately, we now know the answer. Truss’s critics have no counterproposal that has any chance of reigniting growth. The stage is set for further high-tax, high-subsidy, over-regulated decline.
    "As sound as Truss’s plans were in economic-policy terms, her government’s handling of the messaging and the politics was spectacularly inept. That is an important lesson ... One obvious mistake was Truss’s announcement of a £60 billion ($68 billion) blowout to hold down gas prices. That is not a good way to launch a pro-growth revolution.
    "She then moved on to “tax cuts”... In announcing the policy [however], neither Truss nor her chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, explained the point of lowering tax rates.... [And] by starting with taxes and subsidies, Truss and Kwarteng guaranteed that nobody would pay attention to the most important parts of the plan: the essential pro-growth regulatory reforms that they had described in the 2012 book Britannia Unchained....
    "The lesson is that growth-minded policymakers should start with microeconomic reforms. Everyone can see that over-regulation and restrictions on housing and energy production are hobbling supply. Even climate-change activists are noticing that it is too difficult to get permits for windmills and transmission lines. Everyone can see that schools are awful and getting worse. Workers as well as business owners and managers can see that labour regulations are straitjacketing their workplaces. People can see in everyday experience how social-program disincentives lead some people not to work at all.
    "Patiently explaining these problems to voters can also make for good politics. We all long for simple mind-the-store competence in our governments. Fixing dysfunction is a visible achievement that works right away, with no short-run cost....
    "Truss’s critics seized on UK bond-market hiccups, though these were tiny compared to those of the 1980s. They also were largely attributable to the Bank of England raising rates, and to a pension risk regulation fiasco. [Previous posts ending here.] Nonetheless, Truss quickly gave in. By starting with an energy blowout to placate the left, she already encouraged her opponents to go in for the kill. When a shark is on your trail, you don’t offer it a foot and then assume that you’ll both get along. When an iron lady was needed, Truss proved to be made of straw....
    "For those of us who still understand that the only real solution lies in economic freedom and small, competent government, Truss’s downfall offers important lessons. We must heed them so that we don’t blow our chance if we get one."

          ~ John Cochrane, from his post 'Truss Tragedy'

"Two years after leaving the EU Britain has made almost none of the promised progress towards economic liberalisation...."

"Two years after leaving the EU Britain has made almost none of the promised progress towards economic liberalisation. While Brussels hasn’t been helpful, libertarian ministers in the Tory government have been both conquered by the bureaucracy of the civil service and even turned into high-spending statists. There has been no attempt to reduce the state’s suffocating dominance over the economy.
    "On current policies, the private sector is set to continue its long-term decline, with higher taxes and ever-increasing regulation. But it needn’t be so...."
          ~ Max Rangeley, from his post 'The UK and its Lost Opportunities'

‘But the European debate is conducted in a parallel world: Westminster does not understand the country, and Brussels does not understand Westminster…" #QotD

"But the European debate is conducted in a parallel world: Westminster does not understand the country, and Brussels does not understand Westminster. We continue to try to strip away illusions but it is an uphill struggle…"

~ A "Downing Street official," quoted in the article 'Is the EU about to offer a time-limited backstop?'
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"Boris Johnson is taking over the Conservative party like a gangster taking over a crime syndicate... Yet step back and you see a weak man posing as a tough guy." #QotD

"Boris Johnson is taking over the Conservative party like a gangster taking over a crime syndicate...
    "Don’t let ideological labels mystify you. 'Remainer,' 'Leaver,' 'no dealer' – these are just words to confuse the credulous and stop them seeing their country clearly. Power is the only word that need concern you. Power, rather than ideology, is what runs together resignations and sackings...
    "I have never believed the media wisdom that 'the thing about Boris is that he just wants to be loved.' As an old journalist once told me, the one thing everyone says about a public figure is invariably wrong. So it has proved with Johnson.
    "He does not want to be loved. He wants to dominate and to command: he wants to be obeyed...
    "Yet step back and you see a weak man posing as a tough guy. He has a nominal parliamentary majority of three and falling. He has become Tory party leader by making promises which are impossible to meet ..."
          ~ Nick Cohen, in his op-ed 'Boris is a weak man posing as a tough guy'

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"The descent of [UK] politics into a dinner theatre of dissemblers is complete. If the last year doesn't entirely discredit the notion of a professional ruling class, nothing will." #BrexitBetrayal #QotD

"It is almost three years since Britain voted to leave the European Union, and less than three weeks till it's supposed to happen. As of now, no one knows what, if anything, will actually occur on that day. However, one consequence of the last three years is clear: David Cameron, an open Remainer, was succeeded by Theresa May, a sotto voce Remainer reborn representing herself as a can-do Brexiteer. Instead, she has remade almost the entire UK political class in her own malign image. Almost every utterance from anybody in the Palace of Westminster now rings bogus: former Remainers silkily purport to be "delivering Brexit" by supporting a May deal that subverts it; hardcore Brexiteers of the Gove school turn out to be squishier-than-thou types; Jeremy Corbyn, a visceral Europhobe, pretends to be in favour of a second referendum to keep the sophisticates of the metropolitan media on side; and any number of run-of-the-mill MPs are hoping their colleagues will pass May's deal while they themselves vote against it to preserve deniability on charges of a sellout...    "Nothing is what it seems, although even that may not be what it seems. The descent of politics into a dinner theatre of dissemblers is complete. If the last year doesn't entirely discredit the notion of a professional ruling class, nothing will." 

          ~ Mark Steyn, from his latest Monday Notebook
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QotD: From an Open Letter to Theresa May

"The Remain Establishment to which you have fallen prey fails to grasp - or wilfully ignores - that Brexit represents a constitutional imperative, the compromise of which is not justified by an economic calculation. The Remain coup that you led last Friday is a travesty both in content and conduct. I don’t know if the counter-coup, flagged with the resignations of two Cabinet ministers, two party Vice-Chairmen and a number of others of honour, will succeed. I hope that it does because the fate of our country should not depend on rejection of the scurrilous Chequers proposal only because of further EU intransigence requiring additional concessions, beyond those that you already contemplate, reaching a point that even you cannot stomach what is required to make this dreadful proposal stick. Regardless, if what you propose is implemented, eventually it will be reversed. That means that your principal legacy will be to leave the country in a continuing quagmire of discord over the EU, poisoning both our present and our prospects for as long as what you have done is not undone...
    "My forebears have been part of the efforts to see off Buonoparte ... the Kaiser and Hitler. Some shed blood and were decorated for their courage and resolve... It would dishonour such as they, and betray all the generations, not to take the stand today that is our duty and obligation to support the outcome of the democratic process and defend the freedom of our country."
~ Paul Cuthbert-Brown, former Thatcher Cabinet official & MoD official, former member of Territorial Army and RAFVR, member of the Conservative Party

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QotD: "Nothing that happens here in the UK matters very much. Wherever the action is, it is no longer in London."

"Theresa May is no Iron Lady. But what really struck me [on my recent visit] was that when I first lived here in the 1970s, even then the UK was at the centre of things. Now, it seems, nothing that happens here matters very much. Wherever the action is, it is no longer in London."
~ Steven Kates, from his post 'It’s not just London Bridge that’s falling down'
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Brexit in Mt Eden

 

This Wednesday night over a beer is your opportunity to quiz a Brexit campaigner and ask them face to face: “Just what the hell were you thinking?!” Join the regular Liberty on the Rocks crew to hear from Andrew Bates, who many of you know, talking about the election that kicked off an unbelievable political year – and the ideas that fired up the Brexiteers.

Here’s the write-up from our friends at Auckland Liberty on the Rocks:

Liberty on the Rocks is a regular monthly happy hour for liberty-minded folks to meet others and build their knowledge and friendships over beers, food and great conversation.
    This month, fresh from Europe, Andrew Bates will speak on the recent Brexit referendum, the lead up and aftermath, and the ideas that were and are at stake.
    Come along and hear about Brexit from a liberty-loving Europhile who was campaigning to make it happen!
Andrew is a New Zealander who joined the Libertarianz party in 1998 and became a list candidate and Tertiary Education Deregulation Spokesman for the next two electoral cycles. He lead the campaign to make membership of the Auckland University Students' Association voluntary in1999, winning the referendum against the Students' Association funded campaign by 98 votes out of 12,000. The following year he increased the philosophical focus of the campaign and increased the margin to around 75%.Andrew moved to the UK in 2007 and became a naturalised British citizen in 2014. He has been learning Dutch and Polish, travels throughout Europe, works in the Netherlands, and flew back on weekends to campaign for the UK leaving the EU. Come along and find out why this Europe-lover hates the EU.
    Join us anytime between 6-9 PM at De Post in Mount Eden. Anyone is welcome! This is a very informal happy hour although we do bring in speakers for about 30-minutes each night and sometimes host activities/games. We are always welcoming to newcomers and anyone interested in the ideas of liberty, peace and voluntary interaction.

WHEN: This Wednesday evening, 1 March
TIME: From 6pm, speaker starts 6:30pm
WHERE: De Post Belgian Beer Cafe , Mt Eden Rd, Mt Eden Village

Why not join us?

Just bring along your toughest questions.

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Never let a good crisis go to waste–how the new PM just turned the UK away from warmism

 

So maybe May isn’t the total ho-hoper many Britons thought she might be.

While everyone was still agog over Brexit and admiring David Cameron’s parting jokes, she moved while their gaze was averted to enthrone Boris as Foreign Secretary, and to create one new department while peremptorily disestablishing another. We’ll get to that shortly, as the media and opponents will too, eventually.

As you’d expect, most of this morning’s headlines are because she’s appointed a buffoon to head abroad and bat for Britain. But how much worse is that than the usual awful office-holders, you wonder? To cite just one contemporary example, could he be any worse than John Fricky Kerry? Could anybody? At least he won’t be inflicting James Taylor on a mourning nation. And perhaps the worst you could say for Boris is that he’ll have instant name recognition whoever and wherever he visits, and how bad’s that for a diplomat needing to open doors?

A few have noted that the new department has Brexiteer David Davis at its head, given the job of peacefully exiting Europe—which at least tells Brexiteers the May Ministry is serious about what voters have told her, and establishes a department whose final mission will be to make itself unnecessary. (Let’s hope his first decision is to give certainty to EU citizens resident in Britain that their residencey remains permanent).

And the old department ready for the high jump? Very few have even bothered to mention it, so far, but this is really the biggest and most important surprise of all, not just because it was one of Cameron’s own love-children – both a symbol of his ministry’s all-encompassing wetness, and as a handbrake on energy use and production one of the many reasons for the country’s economic stagnation—but because it signals a major economy’s turn away from the warmist disease. It is the Department of Energy And Climate Change (DECC) and its disestablishment, says James Delingpole, drives a stake through the heart of a green vampire.

Established in 2008, DECC was a hangover from the Gordon Brown era of woeful misgovernance…
   Under the terms of the Climate Change Act – written by a green activist from Friends of the Earth called Bryony Worthington; endorsed by Cameron’s Conservative opposition and rejected by only five MPs – Britain is legally committed to more stringent “decarbonisation” targets than any other country in the world, at an annual cost of around £19 billion a year…
    Sure, DECC might have seemed on the face of it a nothing department which could safely be handed over to … losers, perverts and half wits….... [but] any department with the word “Energy” in the title – effectively puts the people who run it in charge of a goodly part of the economy…
    DECC’s final incumbent as Secretary of State was Amber Rudd – now promoted to Home Secretary. She seems to be a fervent [warmist]. But this does not appear to be a view shared by her boss Prime Minister Theresa May. Nor, perhaps even more importantly, by May’s right-hand man Nick Timothy who is an implacable opponent of the Climate Change Act….
   It’s true that the most significant benefit its closure will bring lies not so much in saved costs as in the likelihood of reduced regulation. In Britain, as in the rest of the world, green taxes and regulations have added a significant burden to economic growth, as well as having a distorting effect on energy markets.
    This is good news. Very good news. The agonised screeching of all the usual suspects in the Environmental movement will be enough to sustain many of us in lols for weeks and months to come.

Let other countries take inspiration from its axing.

Mr Key, are you watching?

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#Brexit: Too late, she cried!

 

I enjoy having my positions challenged intelligently. Swedish free-marketeer Johan Norberg argues that free-marketers like myself should not be so excited about Britain leaving the EU. “Brexit,” he argues, “is a dangerous blow to openness and free trade.”

Like me, he says,

I would prefer a system where countries automatically accept unrestricted imports of all goods that have passed the regulatory hurdles in the exporting country, but that's not an option that interests any E.U. country, including Britain. Unfortunately, their alternative to E.U. rules is not laissez-faire, but national rules, which would block much of the trade that goes on unhindered today.

Hmmm. So how do the EU rules work? One way, he says, is to smuggle in things governments would like to do while complaining about being made to do them by the monolith. Observe:

The E.U. only has the powers member states give it. Decisions are taken by consensus or a qualified majority. Every member—including Britain, until now—has a veto against new powers. So when states complain of the E.U.'s tyranny, it is often because they play a little game—they want X done, but don't know how to tell the voters, so they consent to X in Brussels and then go home and tell voters that they are now forced to do X. (This is also, obviously, one of the reasons why voters think that the E.U. is power grabbing and out of control.)…
    This is what was so strange about the Brexit campaign. Many complained about Brussels' red tape, but the regulations that hold Britain back the most are often made in London: Harsher financial regulation than in the rest of E.U. since the financial crisis, insane planning restrictions that block new housing, and a high minimum wage recently introduced by the Conservative government. Farmers complain about E.U. red tape, but many of the rules have in fact been introduced in Brussels by the British government, especially when it comes to environmental regulation.
    It is London, not Brussels, that bans British stores from being open longer than six hours on Sundays. Imagine how that would be mocked if it were a Brussels regulation. And that is indeed one of the major benefits of a federal structure with a common set of rules: Countries are less interested in regulation when those regulations emanate from others, and therefore are more likely to block or dilute them. National rules are not just often back-door protectionism, they are also more comprehensive and extensive.
    This is why Brexit can paradoxically make both the E.U. and Britain less free market at the same time. An important voice that often urged restraint in Brussels is now gone and diminished internationally, leaving the possibility for the E.U. to become more centralized. At the same time, Britain will implement all those rules back home, tailored to local demands and local lobbying. And that could very well be worse.

What people were voting for with Brexit, he argues, was not freedom but nationalism.

For obvious reasons, we libertarians heard mostly the arguments put forth by decent liberal Brexiteers. I certainly hope that their vision of an open and deregulated Britain will be realised, but sadly, those voices were drowned out by the nationalists…
    The message they gave was not about less E.U. intervention, but less E.U. blocking of British state intervention. Voters mostly heard that the E.U. had forced too much free trade on Britain. The mantra was "take back control." Eighty percent of the British who see social liberalism as a force for ill voted for Brexit, and 69 percent of those who see globalization as bad. Immigration was the number one issue for Brexit voters, according to the Ipsos MORI poll.
    No matter what you might have heard from happy liberal Brexiteers, voters think that they voted to keep immigrants out and to protect local industry, and expect such policies now….
    This is Trump, only in British English and full sentences.

Ouch.

Read the whole piece: Why Libertarians Should Be Wary of Brexit 'Victory'

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Friday Morning Ramble: Still only one big news story…

 

 

“Either fraternity is spontaneous, or it does
not exist. To decree it is to annihilate it.” 
~ Frederic Bastiat

“Boris claims this year’s Mal Meninga prize.”
NoBoJo – TIM BLAIR

“Whinging about democracy when it doesn't go your way, whilst embracing it otherwise, is beyond the pale, as are some of the hate filled attacks on older votes coming from those whose own identity politics is supposed to decry hate speech.  The truth being that the so-called liberal leftwing anti-hate, anti-violence activists are full of hate and quite happily embrace violence to get their "own way".  It's emotion laden petulance, of the kind you would have only seen from the fringes of the far-right and conspiracy theorists had the vote gone to Remain.
    “So what should happen now?”
Brexit: An opportunity that could be wrecked by politicians – LIBERTY SCOTT
Yes, this is a crisis: a brilliant crisis packed with possibility – Brendan O’Neill, SPIKED
The Future of the UK After Leaving The EU: Capitalism or Socialism? – Richard Ebeling, CAPMAG
In & Out backers must unite to build fraternity for liberty – Philip Booth, CITY AM

“With 187 of 650 MPs - fewer than one third of the House of Commons - in favour of Leave, how did anyone ever think voting Leave was a vote for a specific plan? And you suggest our voters were too uneducated to vote...”
"A plan was never on the ballot paper. We've got to determine that ourselves now." – Andrew Bates, FACEBOOK

First, Brexit means Brexit. The campaign was fought, the vote
was held, turnout was high, and the public gave their verdict.
There must be no attempts to remain inside the EU, no attempts
to rejoin it through the backdoor, and no second referendum. The
country voted to leave the European Union, and it is the duty
of the government and Parliament to make sure we do just that.
~ Theresa May, currently front-runner to be the next British Prime Minister

The referendum has revealed how closed-minded some have become—and how hypocritical those who talk loudest about “democracy.”
Brexit: this was a vote against bigotry, not for it – Brendan O’Neill, SPIKED
After Brexit: Academics need to get out more – Joanna Williams, SPIKED
After Brexit: The ugly scourge of ageism – Ella Whelan, SPIKED
Brexit a Victory for Xenophobia? Not So Fast. – Jerome Tuccille, REASON
What exactly is meant by "The People"? – Bernie Greene, FACEBOOK

Europeans and the commentariat are measuring their “need” for Britain by how much Britain exports to them and how little is sent in return. This, they say, means Britain needs them more than they need Britain. This shows they know as little about trade as Donald Trump.
Donald Trump's free-trade follies – Shikha Dalmia, THE WEEK
Reflections on free trade – Johnathan Pearce, SAMIZDATA
Trading in Fallacies – Steve Landsburg, THE BIG QUESTIONS
And the Winner Is…. – Steve Landsburg, THE BIG QUESTIONS

And a gentle reminder about the effect of the trade bloc on those its policies excludes…
The European Union is an ongoing disaster for Africa | Letters – GUARDIAN

“A pleasant side effect from Brexit has been a lack of focus on Australia’s election. Which is kind of nice….
    “I confess that I’m a cynic when it comes to politics. But it’s hard not be, on the evidence. From Rudd, to Gillard, to Abbott and Turnbull, it’s all been the same. Each one tinkers around the edges according to their ideologies but, in the meantime, the underlying structure of the economy continues to deteriorate.
    “Despite all the rhetoric, there is no long term plan for Australia’s economy. The only plan is for more debt to drive house prices higher and increase demand, which in turn encourages people to take on more debt.
    “It’s a model that works in the short term because it makes a lot of people believe they are getting wealthy. But in the long term it will fail. And when it does, it will do so spectacularly.”
Whoever Wins the Election on Saturday Will Inherit a Ticking Time Bomb – Greg Canavan, MONEY MORNING AUSTRALIA

What next for Britain? What about the European Economic Area (EEA), “which would provide many of the free trade and movement benefits of EU membership without being in the EU or beholden to most of its rules.”
Evolution not Revolution: The case for the EEA option – ADAM SMITH INSTITUTE

“Using migrants to push multiculturalism has been a disaster.”
How the elite weaponised immigration – Tim Black, SPIKED
Britain has not become racist overnight – Luke Gittos, SPIKED

“That was quick. With nearly 85% of the Brexit loss recovered in three days and the market now up for the quarter and the year, what’s not to like?” Well, perhaps the death of real price discovery – killed stone dead by central-bank manipulation.
Price Discovery, RIP – David Stockman, CONTRA CORNER
Brexit: From 'Project Fear'to 'Project Hysteria' – Phil Mullan, SPIKED
Brexit & economic growth: Is there any link? – Frank Shostak, COBDEN CENTRE

“And they worry the pound might crash? Pay attention to the euro.”
Civil Uprising Escalates As 8th EU Nation Threatens Referendum – ZERO HEDGE
MERKEL'S WORST NIGHTMARE: Germany calls for Referendum as 'people want to be free of EU – EXPRESS

“Recent analysis has argued that political events as diverse as the Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump can be explained by a ‘revolt’ of the world’s economic ‘losers.’  Before proceeding, it is important to keep in mind that all income groups in the world have seen gains in real income over the last few decades…”
Globalisation’s So-Called Winners and Losers – Chelsea Follett, CATO

“What’s on the menu when bishops gather for a Brexit breakfast at Lambeth Palace following Britain’s historic vote to leave the European Union? Egg on face. Mitres in sanctimonious sermon sauce. Burnt reputations on French toast. Honeyed Brussels rhetorical waffle. Side dish for guest invitee Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church—haggis with a dash of hogwash. Breakfast includes two archbishops’ specials: a Sentamu special—sausages stuffed with pious platitudes and a Welby special: Eton mess.
    “This is the most momentous decision in the recent history of the United Kingdom. And the bishops got it wrong.”
Rev Jules Gomes: Bishops choke on Brexit humble pie – Rev Jules Gomes, CONSERVATIVE WOMAN

Reminder: “The EU grew out of attempts that began in the 1950s to establish a free-trade zone among a number of western European countries.
    “But soon the free-trade idea was superseded by various interventionist programs for intergovernmental planning of agriculture and industry, and for a welfare-state social safety net.”
The European Union and the Interventionist State – Richard Ebeling, FEE

A bit rich of Geoffrey Palmer though to talk about the resentment of the political class however, as if membership and maintenance of it hadn't been his life's work. (Unbridling Power might be a fairer title for his legal doctrines in practice.) So, no wonder he wants to muddy the waters by talking about a phony 'inequality.'
The political elites foisted a new system on ordinary Brits. Little wonder they're grabbing it back – Geoffrey Palmer, SPINOFF

"Freedom granted only when it is known beforehand
that its effects will be beneficial is not freedom."
~ F.A. Hayek

“Dear sir, I have recently learned how voting works and I am APPALLED.”
Don’t rely on polls when you vote – YOUR NZ

“Not twice but three times he said that 'we' need to deal with poverty or more of this will happen.
“What an insult to the many thousands of parents who would be financially in the same boat as the killers were, but who still manage to make their children's safety and well-being paramount.
“Resorting to the poverty excuse is just facile.”
Lawyer blames Moko's death on "extreme poverty" – LINDSAY MITCHELL

“With the stroke of a pen, the number of people unemployed dropped by 12,000, while the number in the workforce has also dropped. But the changes are purely statistical, with not a single job being created or lost in the changes.”
NZ unemployment rate tumbles, and workforce shrinks, in recalculation – STUFF

 

“…and as long as the condition of the ‘working class’ is improving, we should not care so much about income inequality.”

 

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble…
The annual rate of growth in household borrowing is continuing to climb at rates last seen in 2008 – INTEREST.CO.NZ

“Cannabis prohibitionists have long cautioned that legalizing the plant will inevitably lead to increased use among teens, couching their restrictive beliefs in concern for the youth.”
After Legalizing Recreational Weed, Colorado Has Lowest Teen Use in the Country – Carey Wedler, FEE

“The man who reads nothing at all
is better educated than the man who
reads nothing but newspapers.”
~  Thomas Jefferson

How to visit an art gallery.
The Art of Interaction – Alexandra York, NEWSMAX

"A Companion to Ayn Rand lets the reader get a deeper insight into Rand’s philosophical ideas and her methods. Ayn Rand was a controversial and understudied thinker with an expansive body of work, and the Companion therefore is a rare triumph for a scholarly study."
Book Review: A Companion to Ayn Rand – Anoop Verma, FOR THE NEW INTELLECTUAL

“Concepts and Their Role in Knowledge offers scholarly analysis of key elements of Ayn Rand’s radically new approach to epistemology. The four essays, by contributors intimately familiar with this area of her work, discuss Rand’s theory of concepts—including its new account of abstraction and essence—and its central role in her epistemology; how that view leads to a distinctive conception of the justification of knowledge; her realist account of perceptual awareness and its role in the acquisition of knowledge; and finally, the implications of that theory for understanding the growth of scientific knowledge. The volume concludes with critical commentary on the essays by distinguished philosophers with differing philosophical viewpoints and the author’s responses to those commentaries.”
Concepts and Their Role in Knowledge: Reflections on Objectivist Epistemology – AMAZON

“No man can expect to be an innovator and,
simultaneously, expect to find a ready-made audience
sharing ... the values he has not yet produced.”
~ Ayn Rand

So. Maybe some Mozart at this point?

 

 

Excuse me while I go take something for my heart …

 

 

… no cure there; maybe this from Ed Kuepper …

 

 

[Hat tips Cafe Hayek, Samizdata, Famous-Quote.net, Ayn Rand Bot, Jim Rose]

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