We apologise…

May 10, 2012

From James Paterson

Australia has the world’s best paid public servants. But guess which state has the most? (Hint: it’s where Bob Brown once saw a comet called ‘Global Democracy’.)

Please accept our humble apologies. Last month we put Will Smith on the cover of the IPA Review, as part of our story on the top 20 pro-freedom films you must see. And then he goes and does this.

This great chart from The Atlantic this week tells you everything you need to know about the Euro. It turns out a monetary union with all countries starting with the letter ‘m’ would make more sense!

And if you think Europe really is undertaking radical austerity then you haven’t seen this graph from the National Review Online on Monday. If this is austerity I’d hate to see what the new French President has in mind!

Oxford University is a very serious institution. Which is of course why the penalty for joking about your ‘great rack’ is a four and a half hour inquisition.

How many trees is one dead tree worth? One Victorian council thinks the answer is 200. Native vegetation laws are an outrageous attack on property rights, which is why we were pleased to see at least one state government finally willing to do something about it. (Surprise, surprise, it’s not the state with the most public servants.)

What better way to celebrate Friedrich Hayek’s 113^th birthday than by looking at these amazing photographs showing how capitalism transformed East Germany?

If you’re anything like me you’ve wondered why young people are so enthralled with dystopian fiction like The Hunger Games (recently released on the big screen). This long piece in The New Yorker tries to explain. And Learn Liberty reveals the hidden libertarian themes of the recent box-office hit.

Here’s what else the IPA said this week:

Chris Berg, We can’t stop climate change – it’s time to adapt – The Drum
Alan Moran, Despite tough talk, spending is on agenda - Herald Sun
Alan Moran, The Rise of China is the Real End of History – Quadrant

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May 10, 2012 | Chris Berg

Ron Paul vs Paul Krugman

May 3, 2012

From John Roskam

This is GOLD. On Bloomberg TV on Monday, Ron Paul debates Paul Krugman on the point of government. It’s 13 minutes long.

Also out on Monday was the US Budget in pictures from the Heritage Foundation. What caught my eye was US Presidents and deficits back to Kennedy – check out Reagan versus Clinton. It will surprise you. (Meanwhile Clinton’s review of the new LBJ biography I’ve told you about from Sunday’s New York Times is here).

It won’t surprise you that McDonald’s is the world’s 4th largest employer. Here’s the top ten – it’s a fascinating snapshot of global power.

What happens when regulations collide? Who gets to live? Environmentally-protected baby salmon or environmentally-protected cormorants who gobble the baby salmon? These are the big issues Oregon is dealing with.

And who gets to drink wine from glasses at a Adelaide festival? No-one!

Thinking, Fast and Slow is a new book by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman that everybody is talking about. You don’t need to buy it. Just read this review in the Financial Times last year by William Easterly.

Easterly is a bit of a star himself. Here’s Virginia Postrel’s review of his ground-breaking book in the New York Times and here is Easterly turning Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech into PowerPoint. But that’s not as good as this all-time classic, the Gettysburg Address in PowerPoint.

Finally. What’s happening at the ABC??? First this a few weeks ago on the evils of government regulation of potatoes. Now this amazing interview on Radio National’s Books and Arts Daily on Tuesday with Richard Bean. He wrote the play The Heretic about a climate change sceptic (shock, horror). It’s a very entertaining 18 minute podcast.

Here’s what else the IPA said this week:

John Lloyd, Get used to a different way of working – The Age
Richard Allsop, Defend nannies to oppose the nanny state - Online Opinion
Julie Novak, Nudge nudge, wink wink, nanny soaks the poor to fatten the budget – The Australian
Chris Berg, Convergence Review is clever, subtle…and worrying – The Drum
Alan Moran, Rules distort energy market – The Australian
Chris Berg, Manufactured crisis – The Sunday Age
Tim Wilson, China’s stance could send climate policy up in smoke – The Australian
John Roskam, Banks to get a green sheen – The Australian Financial Review

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May 3, 2012 | Chris Berg

Paleo diet can send you to the big house

April 26, 2012

From John Roskam

Who do Nanny State taxes hit the hardest? The poor, of course.

Here is the IPA’s Julie Novak’s latest research on who pays the most Nanny State taxes and the press release.

On the subject of the IPA’s cutting edge research, in my column in the Australian Financial Review in January I said compulsory superannuation should be abolished. I got attacked for it. Funny then how a few weeks ago the person who invented compulsory superannuation came out and basically agreed with me!

This is from today’s Australian Financial Review on how everyone has been saying there should be transparency in superannuation. Ha! The IPA’s Louise Staley wrote a major report about greater transparency in superannuation TWO YEARS ago!

Ever stood in the rain at 2am waiting for a cab? This fascinating long article from next month’s Atlantic magazine explains why you should blame the government.

In North Carolina, your Paleo diet could send you to jail. Reason Magazine explains.

We’ve got two videos about America for you today. You’ll LOVE this serious one. And this is your Thursday afternoon bludge – the best Obama-eats-dogs gags on the internet.

Last Sunday was the 50^th anniversary of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring – this is from the Washington Times last week on why we shouldn’t be celebrating.

Fitting then, that a few days later, the man who invented the ‘Gaia theory’ should admit that he (and Al Gore…and Tim Flannery) was actually a climate alarmist. And just for a laugh, here is the IPA Review’s cover story on Tim from June 2011.

Even if you’ve missed out on seeing James Delingpole (his events have completely sold out), you can still read about what he thinks of Australia – it’s not pretty.

Talking about not pretty, as Dan Hannan explains in this great blog post, it doesn’t matter who wins the French election. And I bet you didn’t know that 4 out of the 10 candidates were Trotskyists!

And I reckon this is really funny. From the BBC yesterday – the Euro crisis as a soap opera.

It’s not quite a soap opera for the Ex-PM of Iceland who was found guilty this week of not meeting with his cabinet during the GFC (in like, a real court and everything).

Here’s what else the IPA said this week:

Tim Wilson, Baby boomers retire on a reverse inheritance – The Australian
Chris Berg, Reward welfare a recipe for entitlement culture - The Drum
James Paterson, Should the media censor Anders Behring Breivik? – The Sydney Morning Herald

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April 26, 2012 | Chris Berg

Monkeys high on American stimulus

April 19, 2012

From John Roskam

New Greens leader Christine Milne said the other day she wants to ‘decarbonise’ the Australian economy by 2050.

Before that she’ll have to deal with some of the other big issues the Greens have put on the legislative agenda of the Commonwealth Parliament. Like:

banning junk food ads on the internet
taxing plastic bags
and (my favourite) the Special Broadcasting Service Amendment (Natural Program Breaks and Disruptive Advertising) Bill 2012. It’s nice the Greens don’t want our viewing pleasure of SBS shows like Food Safari and My Mum Talks to Aliens to be interrupted

At least the Greens don’t want to feed cocaine to monkeys (well, not to my knowledge). That’s what happened under Obama’s stimulus package. Here’s the story. And here’s the just-released cocaine-eating monkey election campaign ad. Go to the bottom – the ad’s 30 seconds.

These ads on billboards in Melbourne were pretty funny too – scroll to the middle of the story to see them. But you guessed it…they’ve been taken down after people didn’t see the humour in laughing at hungover stockbrokers.

This next item is no laughing matter. It’s an amazing 17 minutes of radio. It’s from the ABC Rural’s Bush Telegraph radio program three weeks ago. It’s about how Fidel Castro…sorry…the WA government has command and control of potato farming in the state. Listen and be shocked this still happens in Australia in 2012. Credit to the ABC for the story. Farm Weekly gives the incredible background.

This cartoon won the Pulitzer Prize on Monday. I don’t know why. Mark Steyn doesn’t either.

And we’ve told you about the 4^th volume of Robert Caro’s biography of LBJ out next month. There’s this fascinating 5800 word piece about Caro from The New York Times Magazine last week.

What happened to ManBearPig? is recent IPA visitor to Australia, Dan Hannan’s latest blog post. It’s a classic and he talks about fellow IPA guest James Delingpole. If you’d like to come to James’ IPA events in Australia next week – sorry – they’re all booked out.

The Heretic, a play about a climate sceptic who doesn’t have horns will also probably be booked out even before it opens in Melbourne. Here’s a review in The Telegraph of the London season. Even The Guardian didn’t completely hate it.

And our friends at the ABC’s Q&A have asked us to invite you to their climate change program on April 26 in Sydney – no, seriously. Click here for details.

And the Australian Taxpayer’s Alliance is launching in Sydney on May 1. RSVP here. There’s a $30 discount if you use the top secret code – IPA.

Here’s what else the IPA said this week: