This speech represents a significant milestone. The election is not yet over.
Waiting for Godot
Time for an update of the mortality of COVID 19. In the charts below, I show some selected countries and three statistics: the rate of testing for COVID 19, the cumulative number of confirmed cases and the case fatality rate.
Continue readingSummer sailing season underway
The 2020 US Presidential election
The enduring victory is with the Trump voters. It disappointed me that Trump did not win a second term. However, there is much to be pleased about the outcome for those of us who prefer freer markets and smaller Government. The election proved that there is no left wing majority vote in America. It was a relatively tiny number of votes by which Biden succeeded. There was no blue wave, no sweeping green new deal, no momentum, no feeling of a new direction, no change in the Senate numbers. This is not a new beginning as the changing of control of the White House usually signals. For evidence, see the internal infighting that has already broken out with ferocity within the Democrat party. They too know this was not a victory. Biden is to begin his Presidency in the weakest state that any presidency has ever started.
It is worth noting that Trump is challenging the election tally in some states and I expect he won’t give in easily. There is enough suspicion and doubt over the results to make the challenge interesting. How exactly did so many ballot papers get discovered in the middle of the night almost all of which had voted for Biden? In any event, there is enough public awareness about the potential fraud that electorate voting methods will have to be cleaned up and tightened for future elections. Another win for the Trump voters.
This election was not all about removing Trump. It was about the confirmation of the 2016 result. It was about Trump showing the way for the Republican party to capture votes – give the people a genuine alternative approach. Drain the swamp was a message that resonated. For decades, the Republican and Democrat parties looked like each other. Under Obama, that changed as he started dragging the Democrats left and it would have accelerated under a significant Biden victory. The voters put a stop to that. Ever increasing taxes, regulations, wealth redistribution, porous borders, constraints on personal liberties and critical race theory are not as popular as the extremists in the Democratic party thought. Get woke, go broke. The Democrats have just found out what a number of virtue signalling corporations discovered recently.
The socialist state is not coming to America yet. The significance of Donald Trump to American politics, and indeed to centre right parties around the world if they care to take note, will become better understood over time. He may not yet be gone, but his legacy has already begun.
I’m feeling more positive
I think the atrocious Andrews government in Victoria, Australia is on its last legs and I think Trump will be re-elected POTUS. What’s not to like?
Where to now?
“We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end.” George Orwell, 1984
The world’s most oppressive authoritarian regimes
When you think of an authoritarian governing regime, what countries spring to mind? Does Australia? It should now.
Take a closer look at this graphic to see the company we Australians are keeping. I included Japan to show where a more liberal country sits on this index. As the note explains, for sub-regions within a country, the most stringent sub-region is used. It is Victoria that is driving the Australian figure.
Modern Monetary Theory part 3 – underutilized resources
Continuing this critique of Modern Monetary Theory, I now come to the standard explanation of the MMTers as to why inflation will not break out when the Government prints money – they refer to the excess capacity in the economy. According to the theory, if an economy is suffering unemployment, then there is not enough demand to fully use the resources. Printing money is a costless way to increase demand, get the unemployed into work and increase wealth. Inflation will be a risk only if there is no excess capacity, no underutilized resources in the economy.
Continue readingBrutality and incompetence in Victoria
The State of Disaster declared by Premier Andrews will not have any effect on the COVID19 virus. Severity of lockdowns do not affect mortality outcomes, as many emerging studies of the northern hemisphere experience show. But Andrews’ suspension of democracy, the instant political disenfranchisement of the people, the social and economic catastrophe he has unleashed under the stamp of the heavy handed police state is not going unnoticed outside Victoria.
Two cases in point, first from Greg Sheridan.
and second from Jeffrey Tucker.
Modern Monetary Theory Part 2: inflationary experience
In Part 1 of my criticism of Modern Monetary Theory, I explained currency debasement was a fundamental part of it. In this Part 2, I will explain why the whataboutery that is used by the MMTers can be dismissed.
Whataboutery. A useful noun. It is frequently heard coming from MMTers when a critic of MMT says printing money will lead to inflation – but what about Japan? they say. Over the last 25 years, Japan’s money supply has more than doubled. Yet inflation has not broken out much at all. See?
Continue reading