“Economies are dynamic, complex systems. They are most strong and productive over time when they are free to adapt to new realities, circumstances and changing patterns of supply and demand. Was UK mining truly protected by overt government decisions to buy domestic coal in the late 1970s or early 1980s? Or was that protection merely insulating the industry from the competition of cheap natural gas, meaning that when the protection was withdrawn, the industry collapsed?”
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Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that a bus company acted unlawfully by failing to do more to enable a wheelchair user to board the bus. The claimant’s complaint was that a young woman and buggy had been occupying the designated area for wheelchairs. Many have focused on the court’s conclusion and celebrated the ruling as a blow for disability rights. But the true significance of the case is that who sits where on the bus could become an issue of law. The rule of law now extends to regulating issues of politeness. January 24th, 2017 | 10 comments - (Comments are closed)
 So now we know what Theresa May’s industrial strategy is going to be. It might even be Greg Clark’s. He’s in the report too. The strategy, alas, is one that proves the British state simply cannot learn from past mistakes. Indeed, it seems to consist of doubling down on those errors. The report shows plainly their inability to realise that our economic problems more often stem not from what government is doing, rather than what it isn’t. The solution, shouldn’t be to dream up more things to do, it should be to stop doing what’s causing the problems. January 23rd, 2017 | 27 comments - (Comments are closed)
But the kind of protectionism that Trump appears to crave creates even more – including the very people it is intended to help. Consumers pay more for goods. Less wealth is created. The arteries of exchange, of innovation, of prosperity, become choked. To her great credit, Theresa May grasps these truths – hence her refashioning of Brexit this week as a chance for Britain to turn its face to the world. To his great discredit, Donald Trump does not. (Although there are any number of CapX articles that could enlighten him.) In that farewell address, America’s first President expressed his faith “that the good sense of our countrymen will guard the public weal… and that, although we may be a little wrong now and then, we shall return to the right path with more avidity”. On many issues, Donald Trump has yet to choose his path. But on trade, it is crystal clear that he is going down the wrong one. January 21st, 2017 | 71 comments - (Comments are closed)
The Onion remains America’s Finest News Source™. Quoting today’s masterpiece in full, though you should click through for the picture:
January 20th, 2017 | 25 comments - (Comments are closed)
Iran is a country full of hot women forced to wear binbags on their heads by religious fascists. – Samizdata Uber driver of the day January 18th, 2017 | 26 comments - (Comments are closed)
By definition, a customs union is an agreement between countries to embrace tariff-free trade between members but impose common tariffs on goods imported from non-members. At an EU-level, this means a Common External Tariff (CET), a dizzying array of over 12,651 different taxes (and some quotas to boot) imposed on goods from the rest of the world. The long and short of it is that the EU is internally trade liberating but outwardly protectionist. January 15th, 2017 | 37 comments - (Comments are closed)
“I don’t even want to like the guy… Stop being such assholes, news media! You’re such douches you’re making people root for him.” Phrases like “I didn’t vote for him. But I’m starting to wish I had.” or “STOP MAKING ME WANT TO LIKE HIM.” are showing up all over the place. We’re even getting to “I’m not aboard the Trump Train yet. But I’ve got my ticket in hand and I’m standing on the platform.” or “I’m at the ticket counter for the Trump Train” As Larry’s comment suggests, there’s a reason for this: the MSM and their buddies in Hollywood have thrown so much bile and hate towards Trump when he’s done next to nothing that the rest of us are beginning to think he might be all right after all. The accusations come from the sneering classes who have failed to hide their disdain for us normal people and are so over the top, so deranged, that it seems like they are scared of him. Plus of course Americans tend to have a spot for the plucky underdog, and although it is hard to see a billionaire as a plucky underdog, the frothing left have managed to do just that. – Francis Turner, writing “I didn’t vote for him but…” January 14th, 2017 | 32 comments - (Comments are closed)
I would like there to be some kind of high earnings cap, quite honestly – British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, who apparently wants the rich to get poorer more than he wants the poor to get richer. January 10th, 2017 | 27 comments - (Comments are closed)
The idea that an economist is an expert even in Economics is a dubious one. I would like to see two control groups shadowing every team of ‘expert’ economists – one making random predictions, the other a group of astrologers. After five years we compare their predictions for accuracy. – Samizdata commenter Rob January 6th, 2017 | 28 comments - (Comments are closed)
The logical end-point in the reach of government is either state ownership of all private property, which is communism, or state control over what people do with their property, which is fascism. With communism discredited, the world is moving inexorably towards the latter. Every business is regulated in some way or other, and economic freedom is being progressively restricted with ever-tightening regulations. January 3rd, 2017 | 53 comments - (Comments are closed)
Though in other ways, we’re clearly in a new dark age. The fact that New York City is unable to conceive of building new bridges or subways or other infrastructure, and on the rare occasions when it tries to do so fails utterly, should tell us that. It’s like being a Roman in 500 AD and wondering at the giants of the past who built bridges and aqueducts, by then long lost technologies. I feel like I’m not just at the epicenter of capitalism here in Manhattan, but also at the epicenter of the cancer at the heart of it, to wit, the socialist destruction of the human will. – Perry Metzger, in a private discussion December 19th, 2016 | 26 comments - (Comments are closed)
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