Continuing the Campaign against Ignorance
In an earlier post I noted the unwillingness of Australian academics to engage with the best libertarian literature in the world, i.e. from the Cato Institute, the Ludwig von Mises Institute, the Independent Institute & the economics faculty at Chicago University and George Mason University. I gave the example of John Quiggin’s off-hand dismissal of libertarian ideas in an opinion piece. He responded in comments, with words to the effect that: (1) there are numerous practical problems with libertarian ideas; (2) it has already been debated to death; and (3) the public is not ready for it yet.
I have now searched through Quiggin’s (impressive) publications record and found his article engaging with public choice theory. So while I was wrong to say that Professor Quiggin is ignorant of the literature, he seems to have concluded that libertarianism has been “proved…[not] workable”. I find this an astoundingly inaccurate claim, given the sheer number of libertarian ideas that have been successfully adopted here and overseas (not to mention the libertarian Nobel Prize winners who have contributed to the mainstream body of thought).
On Racism and Barack Obama
The media is reporting Barack Obama’s win in the Democratic primaries as a “triumph” over racism. They are wrong.
Disassociating oneself from racism involves treating people as individuals, not as part of groups.
It’s ironic then, that the media is proclaiming the “first African-American” presidential candidate is within striking distance of the White House. If the media were not racist, and race was no longer an issue, there would be more focus upon Obama’s policies and his character. Looks would be totally ignored. If bigoted voters choose to make their decision based on race, then that would be their personal business. But the fact that the media is going along with such simple-minded thinking in their news reportage shows racism has not yet been eliminated.
Playing with LITO numbers
Wikipedia now shows the new income tax rates for 2008-09. The table shown in the article is the usual table used to show the neat simplicity of progressive income tax. For higher income bands you pay higher rates of tax.
The article also mentions the Low Income Tax Offset (LITO). LITO is a rather simple overlay calculation which can actually be expressed by simply modifying the tax table. However instead of modifying the tax table they retain the overlay calculation called LITO for reasons only really fully known to our political masters.
Over the fold I have a table showing the tax scales before and after applying the LITO. I made this table just for fun. Working out how tax rules effect tax outcomes is fun. Of course overlaying Family Tax Benefits Part A and Family Tax Benefits Part B depends on multiple variables besides personal income so I can’t show that in such a simple table. I don’t think I could handle that much fun right at the moment. And once we start to include the effects caused by the other “benefits” of the tax/welfare system the simplicity tends to dissipate somewhat (even as the level of fun continues to increase). Read more »
-
Recent Comments
Dom Vasta on Libertarians and elections (an… 
Shem Bennett on Libertarians and elections (an… 
'Nuke' Gray on Libertarians and elections (an… Dom Vasta on Libertarians and elections (an… 
TerjeP (say tay-a) on Libertarians and elections (an… TerjeP (say tay-a) on Libertarians and elections (an… 'Nuke' Gray on Libertarians and elections (an… Shem Bennett on Libertarians and elections (an… 
Brendan Halfweeg on The Santa Claus Governmen… 'Nuke' Gray on The unforgivable stupidity of …
Catallaxy Files- Not all recessions are caused by the Fed February 10, 2012More middle of the night blogging. My economics is classical. The almost perfect overlay of my own book can be found in a series of notes taken by Nicholas Kaldor at the LSE in 1927-29 from lectures delivered by the great American economist, Allyn Young. These notes were only published around a decade ago but [...]Steve Kates
- Where’s Romney? February 10, 2012It is quite extraordinary to watch the American political process up close. Now, I admit I have been busy and I don’t watch much of the television and do not read a lot of the press. But before I arrived the thing I did want to do was see more of Mitt Romney since from [...]Steve Kates
- Keeping tabs on the Climate Commission February 10, 2012Gosh, they’ve been flat out over at the Climate Commission. The last event was 9 November last year – in Alice Springs. We really are getting value for money from all those Climate Commissioners. Really educating the public on the intracies of climate change and computer modelling. But fear not, there are two upcoming events [...]Judith Sloan
- Not all recessions are caused by the Fed February 10, 2012
- inCISe
- More on PHI rebate means test February 10, 2012When I wrote in Incise yesterday, ‘Rebate should not be means tested,’ I did not expect events to move quite as quickly as they have. The government seems confident it has the numbers to get the means test through. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rob Oakshott and Andrew Wilkie have indeed swallowed the government’s nonsensical arguments, but it will be interestin […]Robert Carling
- Quiggin versus Carling and Kirchner February 9, 2012John Quiggin accuses Robert Carling and I of ‘an appalling breach of elementary standards of research’ for not acknowledging that Alberto Alesina’s work on the effectiveness of fiscal stimulus and consolidations is ‘highly controversial.’ In fact, we referenced Alesina’s work precisely because it has featured so prominently in public debate, including in the […]Stephen Kirchner
- Police going too far February 9, 2012According to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, police are lecturing parents for letting their children walk to the shops or catch a bus on their own, with senior police saying such incidents will be reported to the Department of Community Services (DOCs) if a child is considered at risk. But when is a child ‘at risk’? One mother was told it was inappr […]Sara Hudson
- More on PHI rebate means test February 10, 2012
- IPA news
- Let European dogs lie February 9, 2012Australians will be surprised to learn that, apparently, the federal government now has responsibility to help the city of...
- It's time to bring back the thrift February 9, 2012Ted Baillieu plans to shave 3600 jobs from Victoria's bloated public service. The state of Wisconsin in the US, with a...
- We'll huff, we'll puff, we'll blow the budget into surplus February 8, 2012Bill Clinton famously said, "It's the economy, stupid". So it is. Unsuccessful politicians might be inclined to argue,...
- Let European dogs lie February 9, 2012
