eye2thelongrun
Brent Wheeler has used economic analysis to drive successful investment and governance in the public and private sector for the last 29 years. Typically with an ........ eye2thelongrun
Thomas Sowell - a handful of quotes
11th November 2018
"I never cease to be amazed at how often people throw around the lofty phrase 'social justice' without the slightest effort to define it. It cannot be defined because it is an attitude masquerading as a principle. "
“There was a time when we honored those who created the prosperity and the freedom that we enjoy. Today we honor the complainers and sue the creators. Perhaps that is inevitable in an era when we no longer count our blessings, but instead count all our unfulfilled wishes.”
"Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.
It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.
Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good."
Thomas Sowell is an American economist and social theorist who is currently Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
In 1968, he earned his doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago.
Sowell has served on the faculties of several universities, including Cornell University and University of California, Los Angeles. He has also worked for think tanks such as the Urban Institute. Since 1980, he has worked at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He writes from a libertarian conservative perspective, advocating supply-side economics. Sowell has written more than thirty books (a number of which have been reprinted in revised editions), and his work has been widely anthologized. He is a National Humanities Medal recipient for innovative scholarship which incorporated history, economics and political science.
Costs of banning plastic bags - Hospital beds or turtles
11th October 2018
Are turtles lives more important than peoples?
The implied reason for banning plastic bags is due to their polluting nature in the marine environment. The assumption seems to be that marine animals turning up dead with plastic in their stomachs in other places, means that the same thing must be occurring in NZ.
The Sound of NO hands clapping... the idiocy of intolerance as man bites dog
8th October 2018
Clapping has been replaced with "jazz hands" at an English university student union amid fears the noise of applause could trigger anxiety among some students.
Whooping is also discouraged at Manchester University student union events on the basis that the loud noise may be a problem for those with sensory issues.
The use of "jazz hands" - where students wave their hands in the air - is the British Sign Language (BSL) expression for applause and is deemed a more inclusive gesture.
At the union's first meeting of the year, Sara Khan, who is Manchester University's liberation and access officer, argued that traditional applause was not sufficiently "accessible". The union resolved to ban clapping in favour of "jazz hands", and urged "student groups and societies to do the same".
The students' union also plans to make "BSL clapping" part of inclusion training for new students.
Manchester University's liberation and access officer, argued that traditional applause was not sufficiently "accessible".
The union noted that "loud noises, including whooping and traditional applause, could pose an issue for students with disabilities, such as those with anxiety or sensory issues". Jazz hands should be favoured at debates, panels and talks as well as at meetings of the student senate, it said.
"Jazz hands" were adopted by the National Union of Students (NUS)in 2015 on the basis that clapping "triggers anxiety". Delegates at last year's NUS conference said that students who whoop, cheer and clap should face "consequences".
Audience members were repeatedly warned that they must cease whooping to express support for a speaker because it had a "serious impact" on the accessibility of the conference for students with disabilities.
Put your hands together for Manchester University: Jazz hands will replace offensive clapping at eventshttps://t.co/gqOHGmtjFZpic.twitter.com/HevEImyGTX
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) October 3, 2018
Critics of the move say that such behaviour is typical of an over-sensitive "snowflake generation" of students who are quick to take offence. Last year it emerged that Oxford University's equality and diversity unit had issued guidance to students advising them that those who avoided making eye contact with their peers could be guilty of racism.
The University of Glasgow started issuing "trigger warnings" for theology students studying the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, whereby students would be told in advance that they may see distressing images and would be given the opportunity to leave the room.
Earlier this year, If-, Rudyard Kipling's poem of paternal advice, was scrubbed off a Manchester University building by university students who claimed he was a racist on the basis that the poem was a tribute to Leander Starr Jameson, the British colonial statesman who led the Jameson Raid against the South African Republic in 1895-1896.
Student leaders at the university declared that Kipling stood "for the opposite of liberation, empowerment, and human rights".
The poem, which had been painted on the wall of the students' union building by an artist, was removed by students in a bid to reclaim history on behalf of those who had been oppressed by "the likes of Kipling".
A union spokesman said the hand gesture referred to as "jazz hands" was "designed to support those with disabilities and / or sensory conditions to participate in events".
They added: "Students' unions strive to make their events welcoming to all of their students by acknowledging their experiences and responding to their needs."
A spokesman for Manchester University said: "We consider this a matter for the Students' Union".
The Telegraph, London
Retirement Drama Queens – Misleading in Drag
18th September 2018
Yesterday sees an analyst who should know better decrying the fact that “10% of people are relying on inheritance for their retirement”. The implication? How shocking….. bludging off hard working Mum and Dad. Something must be done. Immediately. Preferably by the government. That means you Jacinda……..
Unnoticed goes “90% of people NOT reliant on inheritance for retirement”….. Implication? Wow…. That many? So other arrangements – pension schemes. Work, saving, investments, assets, insurance – you name it – feature in some plan for the future for 90% of people. Perhaps we are responsible, know at least roughly what we are doing….. don’t need drama and the tax payer is not necessarily going to suffer. Better yet…. The government can get on with trying to perform its core role of setting sensible basic ground rules so people can help themselves doing what they are best at – ensuring their own wellbeing.
And the “alarmists” ? Go to drama school or Post Grad Attention Seeking class.
Perverse Incentives
29th August 2018
There is some hope when we get people posting observations like this one on the Homepaddock blog: