SOME ECONOMICS

The high cost of cheap labour: "This study is one of the first to estimate the total impact of illegal immigration on the federal budget. Most previous studies have focused on the state and local level and have examined only costs or tax payments, but not both. Based on Census Bureau data, this study finds that, when all taxes paid (direct and indirect) and all costs are considered, illegal households created a net fiscal deficit at the federal level of more than $10 billion in 2002. We also estimate that, if there was an amnesty for illegal aliens, the net fiscal deficit would grow to nearly $29 billion".

Dumb European politicians: "Of 384 studied members of the European Parliament, only 12 appear to favor free trade for Europe on a consistent basis. The Swedish representatives appear to be the most free market, the French appear to be the most protectionist".

The Wal-Martization of America: "We are witnessing the in-your-wallet effect of globalization, the impact of the Wal-Martization of several key product areas, and the final joining of the Internet with traditional stores--the merger of clicks and bricks. The effect of globalization on the supply chain is now widely understood. Retailers shop the world for bargains in everything from sneakers to t-shirts to high-end jewelry, and are forced by competition to pass along the savings to consumers.... And Wal-Mart is now a major player in food retailing. Food sales now account for over 25 percent of the chain's almost $300 billion in sales, up from 14 percent in 1997. To consumers' cheers, many supermarkets have had to reduce costs and prices in order to remain competitive."

*****************************

ELSEWHERE

Soviet Britain: "Mental health campaigners today condemned government proposals to detain people with untreatable mental disorders for care which would not alleviate their symptoms. A revised draft mental health bill, published today, would enable psychiatrists to force people with severe personality disorders to undergo "clinically appropriate" care which would not need to improve their mental condition".

An article here explains why many humble people vote Democrat by saying that Leftists are like pimps who deceive prostitutes into believing that they care.

The crime wave that wasn't: "Last year, the governor of Alabama proposed and then overwhelmingly lost a bitter referendum to increase taxes and boost revenue.... The governor and his cronies often warned that failure to pass his tax increase would lead to the early release of many criminals. Voters were told that a cost of rejection would be a crime wave of unprecedented proportions.... And the prison system did give early parole to many of its convicts. But that often mentioned crime wave never happened.... That the promised crime wave turned out to be illusory underscores the fact that many who were incarcerated posed little danger to society in the first place".

The new EU police: "Under Article 8 of the Treaty of Amsterdam, members of the new federal 'Europol' are "immune from legal process of any kind for acts performed... in the exercise of their official functions." Thus, no Europol officer can be charged or brought to trial for false imprisonment, violence against a suspect, the destruction or seizure of private property , or harassment of any individual. Europol has been given powers to operate anywhere within the Eurozone, including Britain, with complete impunity. They have the power of summary arrest and extradition, in spite of existing British laws, which specifically prohibit such action. Under the power of international treaty, British law is superseded."

A good comment from a Muslim: "We cannot redeem our extremist youths, who commit all these heinous crimes, without confronting the Sheikhs who thought it ennobling to re-invent themselves as revolutionary ideologues, sending other people's sons and daughters to certain death, while sending their own children to European and American schools and colleges".

Conservative movies! "Fed up with what they say is the radical left's domination of Hollywood, a group of conservative filmmakers will debut their newest films in a festival this weekend in Dallas. The film festival, scheduled Sept. 10-12, is the brainchild of Jim Hubbard, a law school graduate who felt conservatives have sat on the sidelines too long while liberals dominate moviemaking."

There is a good site here that enables you to read most of the famous documents of conservatism online.

The world now has its first billionaire blogger. He made his money in IT but his knowledge and understanding of politics and economics needs work. Oh well! Nobody can be good at everything. The commenters on his blog seem to be doing a reasonable job of filling him in on what he misses.

The Usurer has a part-time job doing doorknocking for a survey research firm and remarks that ordinary people in his experience are not at all the "sheeple" that Leftists seem to imagine. He finds that ordinary people do think things out with some care and come to fairly reasonable conclusions from the information they have. I agree. Unlike other academics, I have always done a lot of my own doorknocking rather than thinking I was too grand for that so I have a far better idea than most about what actually goes on out there.

Amusing. I have just found that Captain Clueless has given up blogging. Here is his reason: "But nearly every article I write draws anywhere from 5 to 50 letters containing corrections, disagreements, comments about things I "left out" because "I didn't know", or other forms of kibitzing." I am not surprised. I myself noticed lots of things he was overlooking on the rare occasions that I read his posts. My own experience of blogging is very different. I gets lots of "Thank you" emails (all of which I appreciate) but very little criticism. I think my most persistent critic is a certain Straussian who nonetheless often circulates to others particular posts of mine that he considers particularly good. With enemies like that, who needs friends? (just joking).

North Western Winds notes my comments on the often un-Christian behaviour of Christians and says that such behaviour does not reflect on Christianity. I wonder would he argue that the vicious behaviour of Communists does not reflect on Communism? But I in any case agree that the teachings of Christ are in no way damaged by those who do not follow them. I think Communists ARE following their teachings -- particularly if Lenin is taken as the teacher.

Two new postings just up on SOCIALIZED MEDICINE

For more postings, see GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH and EDUCATION WATCH. Mirror sites here, here, here and here

New rubric below.

**************************

Anti-Americanism is in epidemic proportions in France and Germany but most people don't realize that it is in epidemic proportions in South Korea too. And what do those three countries have in common? They were liberated by America. And what is probably the most pro-American country in the world? Poland. They liberated themselves. Ego defeats rationality all the time.

The conflict between conservatives and Leftists is not usually a conflict between realists and idealists. Mostly it is a conflict between realists and big egos who will say anything to win applause

Comments? Email me here. If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Page is here or here.

********************************