SOME ECONOMICS

"The number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level in more than three years" -- and that's only part of the good news: "It turns out that since last May, when all of the president's tax cuts finally got implemented, the payroll survey finds 675,000 new jobs. Here's the kicker- that's the pessimistic survey; the one that tends to miss new start-ups because it's based on established businesses. The other one, the household survey, shows an increase since last spring's tax cut of almost 800,000 new jobs. Some "jobless recovery", huh?"

Globalization fights high taxes: "In a competitive global economy, the United States cannot continue to ignore the mounting costs of doing business at home. Other countries are liberalizing their economies, providing a more business-friendly environment. Ireland is a perfect example of a tax-friendly country. The government reduced its corporate tax rate from 16 percent to 12.5 percent in 2003, well below the EU average rate of 30 percent and lower than the 35 percent federal rate in the United States."

Marginal Revolution points out that the NY Times has started to talk some common sense about trying to impose international child labour standards: "It's appalling that Abakr, like tens of millions of other children abroad, is working instead of attending school. But prohibiting child labor wouldn't do him any good, for there's no school in the area for him to attend.... And that's the problem when Americans get on their high horses about child labor, without understanding the cruel third world economics that cause it."

Overlooked factor in oil hike: Falling dollar: "Gasoline and heating-oil prices in the US are at an all-time high and rising. But it may surprise Americans to learn that in Europe, they've essentially remained steady. Why the cost difference? Experts have a lot of good reasons to explain it, among them unrest in the Middle East, gas-guzzling cars, and greed among oil-producing nations. But there is another culprit that is being ignored and that is making the problem far, far worse in the US: the decline in the value of the dollar."

There is a rather depressing article here about the vast damage FDR's "New Deal" did to the American economy in the 1930s. What made the "Great" depression "great"? Why did it last so much longer than previous depressions? Mainly it was the anti-business economic interventions of FDR and his Congressional allies. FDR was of course a great admirer of his fellow Leftist economic bungler, Benito Mussolini.

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ELSEWHERE

More glories of socialized medicine: Sharon Brophy was just 34 when she died waiting for treatment in Campbelltown Hospital emergency department. The hospital's records say that Ms Brophy arrived at 1pm and was assessed by a triage nurse. However, another patient who arrived at 1pm says that Ms Brophy was already there. The same witness says that some time before 1.30pm Ms Brophy had approached the receptionist and said something like: "I feel really, really sick, can I please see a doctor?" When Ms Brophy was told she would have to wait longer, as emergency patients were being treated, she replied that she was going to be sick and went into the nearby toilet. By Mrs Madden's account, at 2pm a woman with a toddler walked into the waiting room from another part of the hospital and went into the toilet. "She came out and told the receptionist there was a woman collapsed in the toilet. That's when everybody came running out of emergency." Brigitte Ashford ... also heard Ms Brophy approach the receptionist for help. "She said, 'Please I feel really sick, I feel like I'm going to pass out, can I have somewhere to lie down.' She [the receptionist] just said, 'You wait your turn'."

If you have not seen it already, this letter from a soldier in the middle of the current Iraqi strife is a much-needed corrective to what the sensationalist media are telling us -- as is his earlier backgrounder on what is going on. Where do the mainstream media tell us: "Every day the Iraqi people stream out into the streets to cheer and wave at us as we drive by. When I'm on a foot patrol, walking among a crowd, countless people thank us -- repeatedly"?

It looks like Israel is beginning to use the Muslim horror of pigs to good advantage. Putting lard (pig fat) on buses could mean an end to bus bombings. "Though the pig is considered a defiled animal strictly forbidden in Jewish dietary laws, the Muslims forbid any contact with the animal. Any contact with the pig is punishable by denial of entry to paradise."

Carnival of the Vanities is up again with a big range of selected readiing

My recipe for today is an old Australian country recipe for rabbit pie. See here. As Mrs Beeton nearly said: "First catch your rabbit..."

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH

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The Left have always wanted more spent on welfare and made "Fascism" a swear-word. President Bush deposed a brutal Fascist dictator and sponsored a big expansion of welfare. But instead of being admired by the Left, he is hated with a passion. What does that tell you about the Left? It tells you that they have no principles at all: That everything they have ever claimed to stand for is fake.

Three more examples of Leftist dishonesty: They blame the 9/11 attacks on "poverty" in the Islamic world. Yet most of the attackers were Saudis and Saudi Arabia is one of the world's richest countries! They also say that they oppose racism yet support "affirmative action" -- which judges people by the colour of their skin! They say that they care about "the poor" but how often do you hear them calling for the one thing that would bring about a worldwide economic boom in poor countries -- the USA and the EU abandoning their agricultural protectionism? Leftists obviously care more about conservative farmers than they do about the poor!

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