ECONOMICS AGAIN

"The Antitrust Paradox" continues: "Specifically, Judge Bork explained that the overzealous application of the antitrust laws and the resulting intervention into otherwise free markets did not maximize consumer welfare by ensuring lower prices, as is the purpose of antitrust policy. Instead, such an approach achieved the opposite effect by sacrificing potential consumer savings in order to level the playing field between admittedly unevenly matched competitors. In other words, the economic reality of antitrust enforcement is to prevent consumers from reaping the benefits of lower prices ..."

Globalization: "Why Globalization Works is one of the best books within the huge literature on globalisation. Martin Wolf, the chief economics commentator of the Financial Times and avid free marketer, sets out to demolish the arguments of the 'anti-globalisation' campaigners. He has several advantages over the anti-globalisation campaigners. Perhaps most important is his belief, stated at the beginning of the book, that ideas matter. He is fully immersed in the literature on globalisation, from technical economic texts to anti-globalisation tracts, and even quotes Marx and Lenin. He also has an excellent empirical grasp of the world economy, a quality authors on globalisation frequently lack".

Crazy: Borrowing to put off cutbacks: "Conservative activists vowed Thursday to sue the state if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proceeds next week with his $920 million, 20-year borrowing plan to pay off part of one year's pension obligations. Attorneys for the Pacific Legal Foundation said Schwarzenegger's widely expected move would violate a state constitutional ban on governments borrowing more than $300,000 without a popular vote. The foundation represents a Fullerton taxpayers group aiming to derail the idea..... This, said Thom Babcock, an Orange County business owner and president of the Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpayers, is "the Enronization of California. They're borrowing money to pay daily debts. It's not for a single purpose, to build freeways, hospitals or bridges. It's borrowing to pay daily bills."

Globalization gives prosperity AND peace: "Critics of globalization forget that free trade fosters prosperity and know almost nothing about its most important benefit-its tendency to prevent war. Quantitative studies have shown that trade fosters peace both directly, by reducing the risk of military conflict, and indirectly, by promoting prosperity and democracy." [And it is poor nations that desperately need it]

U.S. poverty is mostly among illegal immigrants: "Many middle-class families achieved large income gains in the 1990s and -- despite the recession and halting recovery -- have kept those gains... The increase in poverty in recent decades stems mainly from immigration. Until our leaders acknowledge the connection between immigration and poverty, we'll be hamstrung in dealing with either. Let's examine the Census numbers. They certainly don't indicate that, over any reasonable period, middle-class living standards have stagnated. Mostly, the middle class is getting richer"

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ELSEWHERE

Mark Steyn has a very complimentary article about Australian Prime Minister John Howard. I liked this line: "Howard's a more consequential figure in world affairs these days than Chirac". Steyn has however fallen for the Leftist slur that Howard is short. He is not. He is 5'10" tall. Steyn does however rightly mock the Leftist spin that the Iraq war was not an issue in the election. The promise by the Left to get the troops out by Christmas was all over the papers. Can you imagine the Left NOT making a big issue out of Iraq? One generally overlooked factor in Howard's appeal is his characteristic humility -- a big contrast with Leftist arrogance. See here for instance.

How times change: "Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned terrorist attacks in Iraq and around the world will increase if George W Bush is not re-elected in next month's presidential poll. The Russian leader's comments are a tacit endorsement of his American counterpart. Mr Putin says the terrorist attacks in Iraq are aimed personally at President George W Bush. He says international terrorist groups want to cause maximum damage to the American President's campaign for re-election and prevent him from winning the November 2 poll".

Why Kerry is bad for Israel: "So why am I still exercised about John Kerry? It's the ramifications of his foreign policy in general, especially his fixation on the United Nations as the arbiter of international legitimacy, proctor of that "global test." Save for the U.S. veto in the Security Council, Israel loses every struggle at the U.N. against lopsided majorities. In the General Assembly and the Human Rights Commission, Muslim states trade their votes to protect aggressors and tyrannies from censure in exchange for libels against the Jewish state. The body's bloated and dishonest bureaucracies are no better, as evidenced most recently by the head of the U.N. Palestine refugee organization, who defended having Hamas militants on his staff. I've searched to find one time when Kerry - even candidate Kerry - criticized a U.N. action or statement against Israel. I've come up empty"

Social Security. Lying Leftists again: "First, the NY Times ran a Bush quote from an event the reporter did not attend, then within hours of the piece running, the Kerry campaign managed to put an ad together and have the press releases done and all the media reporting on it. "New Kerry Ad Exposes Bush's January Surprise - Social Security Privatization...." There's only one problem. The reporter in question, Ron Suskind, did not attend the event he got the quote from. Further, it was not televised, it was a private event and there were no transcripts available. Yet he reports the quote as fact.... For their part, the Bush campaign is denying the quote and some even claimed Suskind made the quote up from whole cloth. In the end, it is of little use, the media is running wild with the story, facts be damned". More here.

In case you have not seen it already, the email about Iraq that George Soros first posted and then deleted is still up here. Clearly, George saw that he had lost the argument.

There's nothing new under the sun. Further to my lightbulb story yesterday, a reader tells me: "Queensland had a light globe changing organisation over a decade ago. It was called Many Hands and was operated by Adrian Collings, a former postmaster from Fernvale. It was started primarily to service high rise rental properties on the Gold Coast but also serviced pensioners, handicapped and anyone else who required it".

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

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That power only, not principles, is what matters to Leftists is perfectly shown by the Kerry campaign. They have put up a man whose policies seem to be 99% the same as George Bush's even though they have previously disagreed violently with those policies. "Whatever it takes" is their rule.

Leftism is for most Leftists a desire to sound good rather than a desire to do good

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