"[ T ]he substantive issues of the case [are] whether four blog posts Bradbury made on his site, 'The Daily Blog,' about O’Brien breached the Harmful Digital Communications Act. ... The details of the posts can still not be publicised. ... She [O'Brien] said she had never sought to 'prevent Martyn Bradbury from criticising my politics, opinions, or public work'." ~ STUFF: ' ‘Not a free speech…
" I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer." ~ Benjamin Franklin from his 1766…
" S ometimes both institutions and people pick up a firearm and blow both feet off. "Cambridge University has done so with its gross mismanagement of the Jason Arday affair . ... “The idea that historically disadvantaged groups are entitled to extra civil rights – coupled with social preferment – over and above those held/enjoyed by people considered their oppressors is inimical to the rule of…
"[ M ] ost people hold, explicitly or implicitly, that without regulation, markets could, and sometimes would, spin off into disastrous excesses of one form or another. "The operative image of economic regulation is that of a huge truck without steering or brakes. 'We have to have those instruments of control, or the truck will go careening off the side of a cliff.' "The truth is that government…
" T he source of income matters. A lot. "Children in households with the same low income suffer hardship disproportionately if their parent is on a benefit. ... "[The so called Ministry for Social Development] publishes a Child Poverty Report by Bryan Perry and has done so for many years ... The latest edition features a section on Children in 'working' and 'beneficiary' households. ... "For…
Paul Krugman : " He builds elaborate Keynesian models that treat consumer spending as the engine of prosperity, ignores the capital structure of the economy, and then acts surprised when manipulating aggregate demand produces distortions in real production. " P aul Krugman has spent three decades telling you that government spending cures recessions, that deficits don't matter when interest rates…
"What are the odds that the clueless young bro who created the biggest financial fiasco of the year is connected to the clueless young bro who created the biggest financial fiasco of the decade?" " I n the last few days, you may have heard about Leopold Aschenbrenner —the wonder kid hedge fund manager who lost tens of billions over the course of a few days. It’s the biggest financial fiasco of the…
" U niversities do not exist to promote 'marginalised voices.' They do not exist to promulgate social engineering experiments. "They do not exist to engage in social justice activism. "A university exists to expand the boundaries of human knowledge, to defend truth, and to create an ecosystem for intellectual enrichment. Once a university optimises the wrong variables, we end up with the…
“ N ew Zealand MPs are so keen to be seen to be 'doing something' about cyber-bullying that they are about to pass a poor piece of law that will do something terrible. If the Harmful Digital Communications Bill passes, MPs who feel sad because of a media story can have the publisher jailed.” ~ composite quote from 2015 from No Right Turn and Tim Watkin “[Given] that defamation would [otherwise]…
" T hose who claim our tax system is unfair and fosters inequality typically quote Scandinavian countries as operating superior tax systems. The interesting thing is the top 10% of taxpayers in New Zealand pay a bigger share of the tax burden than their equivalents in the Nordic countries, at over 45%. Our northern counterparts have their top 10% shouldering less than 40% - even as low as 35% - of…
" A dam Smith’s most famous sentence remains one of the clearest statements in all of social science: "'It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.' "The point is simple and profound. We do not rely on the kindness of strangers to put food on the table. We rely on their self-interest. "The butcher…
"[ W ]ho actually carries their share of New Zealand’s tax burden. [Let's see] how unfair and disproportionate New Zealand’s tax system is on higher earners. "The top 20 percent [of income earners] pay nearly two-thirds of all personal income tax. The top 10 percent pay more than the bottom 80 percent combined. And the top 1 percent contribute more [tax] than the entire bottom half of [income…
"Q: S ixty million American readers here fascinated by one thing—success. That is the aim of every American. Is there a recipe for it? "A: ... I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough, that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose.... "[N]atural feelings are never enough. You have got to marry those natural…
" A stra, a new model that OpenAI is testing internally, is amazing. No denying that: "But at the same time, a whole raft of people, some fairly prominent, are running around making a deeply flawed argument about the implications. ... "[One] tweet went so far as to claim that “ the species just crossed a one-way threshold ”; Elon Musk took it as evidence that we had reached The Singularity . "Each…
“ I feel that this country is being destroyed by its philosophy. Specifically, by its universities: the most dangerous thing in this country today are the universities, because they are teaching the kind of ideas that would necessarily have to lead to the destruction of this country.... "[T]oday, when all those institutions ... are preaching collectivism, mysticism, and above all altruism --…
" The Post reports : "The Labour Party is open to the idea of a frigate-less Defence Force, saying it’s yet to take a position on replacing the ageing Anzac-class fleet. "Next they will be open to an Army without guns! "O’Connor said Labour hadn’t completely ruled out upgrading the frigates, though it was worth considering the technological advancements – and steep cost. "'We will have to maintain…
" T here is a very brief window in which mostly American hyperscale data centres could massively expand renewable energy generation in New Zealand, at their own expense, to the country’s much broader benefit. "I worry, though, that the country will miss the opportunity. ... "Right now, hyperscale datacentres are willing to pay a high premium for immediacy. Grid connections in the US can take…
"Q: When you see the bad distribution of wealth, so few who have so much and so many who have nothing… did you ever have a moment of doubt about capitalism and whether Greed's a good idea to run on? "A: W ell, first of all tell me: do you know of any society that does NOT run on greed? Do you think Russia doesn't run on greed? You think China doesn't run on greed? "And what is greed? None of us is…
NEWS: 'Greens push for pause to big data centres consents, citing rising power prices.' " N et Zero and the deployment of wind and solar generation put far more upward pressure on power prices than AI data centres do. The NZ public have never had a say on whether NZ should pursue Net Zero or not. How about we have a referendum on this?" ~ Zaphodd BB "You'd think the Greens would want more data…
" F or three decades the Odysseus of New Zealand politics has navigated the turbulent seas of electoral fortune. ... "The party has [lately] been on a recruitment drive. Is this time different; are we seeing a party in transition or the beginning of another operatic calamity? ... "Movements like the New Zealand Party, Opportunities Party and United Future struggle once their leaders depart the…
" I f all that’s holding the United Kingdom back is the country’s mood, then the arrival of Andy Burnham as prime minister might improve its prospects. Briefly. If the remedy also requires some particle of coherence and clarity about what the government needs to do, the prognosis is grim. The contradictions and absurdities that he’s ventured so far are remarkable even by the standards of modern…
" T he wealth of nations is the work of the people, not of their governments. If they had no other maker of their wealth than their governments, all nations would be in misery. "Government represents an expense, a consumption of national wealth" ~ Juan Bautista Alberdi in his seminal 1854 book, Sistema económico y rentístico de la Confederación Argentina según su Constitución de 1853 ('Economic…
" W ealth inequality isn't proof that you're being robbed. It assumes successful people are partially your property and that their gains should have belonged to you. "Other people becoming productive doesn't make you poorer. It is precisely why ordinary people today live better than kings did centuries ago. "They don't owe you anything and aren't your property." ~ Rock Chartrand Content is…