This will come as a big shocker to you: The U.S. Government has wasted tens of millions of dollars which were to be used for Iraqi reconstruction efforts.

Tens of millions of U.S. dollars have been wasted in Iraq reconstruction aid, some of it on an Olympic-size swimming pool ordered up by Iraqi officials for a police academy that has yet to be used, investigators say.

The quarterly audit by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, is the latest to paint a grim picture of waste, fraud and frustration in an Iraq war and reconstruction effort that has cost taxpayers more than $300 billion and left the region near civil war.

According the the article, Virginia Senator Jim Webb thinks our tax dollars should have been used for Hurricane Katrina reconstruction. My thought is that they already wasted more than enough of our tax dollars on waste, fraud and abuse (or at least for alcohol, sexual gratification and expensive designer bags at taxpayer expense) in Louisiana.

Using taxpayer dollars to build overseas swimming pools seems ludicrous to me. It gets worse, though. Pools require both water and electricity. The availabity of water and electricity in Iraq is still scarce and many Iraqi citizens have to do without for periods of time each day. One would think they could at least find less laughable ways to waste our tax dollars.

From US Libertarian Party

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Jane Galt on the confusion over mpg requirements for cars versus higher prices for petrol. Mandated standards really don’t seem as effective as prices and the market.

Environmental Economics on petrol taxes and public choice theory. Yes, the latter means that the former will always be subject to rent seeking but will that be better or worse than other methods?

Chris Edwards with another example of public choice theory: why would a businessman support raising the minimum wage? Because it would shaft his competitors?

Mark Perry: what’s the major difference between capitalism and socialism? Capitalism works.

Wat Tyler with the first of the 18 Doughty Street/Taxpayer’s Alliance videos. Would you believe that this is another exemplar of public choice theory?

Blognor Regis with a remembrance of a politician we could and did admire.

And finally, Christopher White tries to get a straight answer from the NUS and finds that less politics and more education might be useful.

From Adam Smith Institute

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

While Bill waited at the airport to board his plane, he noticed a computer scale offering to tell one’s weight and fortune. He dropped a quarter in the slot, and the computer screen displayed: “You weigh 195 pounds, you are married and you’re on your way to San Diego.”
Bill stood there dumbfounded. Another man put in a quarter and the computer read: “You weigh 184 pounds, you’re divorced, and you’re on your way to Chicago.” Bill said to the man, “Are you divorced and on our way to Chicago?” “Yes.” Replied the man.
Bill was amazed. He rushed to the men’s room, changed his clothes and put on dark glasses. He went to the machine again. The computer read: “You still weigh 195 pounds, you’re still married, but you just missed your plane to San Diego.”

From Adam Smith Institute

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

As announced it is Beswick in Manchester that has won the right to have the Supercasino. The Guardian points out:

The supercasino is to be built in Beswick, a poor area of east Manchester. (…) Bid organisers say it will regenerate the area, promising a £265m investment and 2,700 direct and indirect jobs in one of the most deprived parts of the country.

As one wag has already pointed out, perhaps John Prescott really was talking to Philip Anschutz about Wilberforce? However, one little thing that slightly worried me:

It will be based at Sportcity, close to the City of Manchester stadium - built for the Commonwealth Games and now used by Manchester City football club.

What is this? The same area that had the Commonwealth Games is still one of the most deprived areas of the country? You mean that having a few thousand sporting types visit for a few weeks does not in fact, despite a few hundred millions spent here and there, ensure lasting prosperity?

An interesting thought really, given that we’re currently likely to spend £20 billion or so (Wat Tyler’s possible underestimate) having a slightly larger number of sporting types come for a few weeks to East London. The justification being that it will regenerate one of the most deprived areas of the country and create lasting prosperity.

Anyone know how I can apply for the Stratford Supercasino licence that’ll be on offer sometime in, ooh, 2017?

From Adam Smith Institute

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

The American health care system is certainly better than most people elsewhere admit. The often-quoted drawback of the dynamic free market based American health system, which leads in most global health issues, is the high number of uninsured people: on average 16% or some forty-six million Americans. However a brilliant analysis published in the New York-based Commentary (subscription only) takes a closer look.

But the stark figure fails to convey the shifting face and varied make-up of the uninsured. On average, a family that loses its coverage (most likely through change of job, FH) will become insured again in about five months, and only one-sixth of the uninsured lack coverage for two years or more. In addition, about a fifth of the uninsured are not American citizens, and therefore could not benefit from most proposed reforms. Roughly a third of the uninsured are eligible for public-assistance (especially Medicaid) but have not signed up, while another fifth (many of them young adults, under thirty–five) earn more than $50,000 a year but choose not to buy coverage.

The article makes clear that being uninsured is by no means the same as being unable to access healthcare, because American hospitals are obliged to deliver all kind of acute care to uninsured people amounting to a $100 billion tab each year paid for by the public purse. And the article warns against the Democrats’ obsession with a European-style single payer healthcare system with universal coverage.

Instead it makes the case for George W Bush’s reform agenda, with health savings accounts and attractive tax incentives for everybody replacing the authoritarian WWII employer-based system of health insurance that still covers 180 million American families. By shifting the tax benefits for health insurance from employers to employees, the President seeks to address the main worries of the middle class: that the whole family looses health coverage with any job change. Portability of insurance must surely be at the core of a 21st Century American health system.

From Adam Smith Institute

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

As Hugo Chavez continues his apparent quest to become the heir apparent to Fidel Castro, Venezuelans who desire freedom and prosperity are starting to vote with their feet:
CARACAS, Venezuela — The line forms every day after dawn at the Spanish Consulate, hundreds of people seeking papers permitting them to abandon Venezuela for new lives […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

We are coming into the final stretch of the college basketball season and it seems a good time to make the following observation. The only category of education that presently has its accomplishments tested on a competitive basis (that being sports) is also the only category of education that is motivating and developing disadvantaged students to achieve their highest personal potential at what they are being taught. Does it surprise anyone that the only part…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

"I think we should take Iraq and Iran and combine them into one country and call it Irate. All the pissed off people live in one place and get it over with." - Denis Leary….

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

First off, a sincere apology for my notable lack of recent contributions. My absence has been caused by the more pressing and time-consuming task of keeping a humble roof over my head. I mean to address this dereliction of duty in future by cutting back on sleep. Anyway, on to juicier matters. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing up political careers. Especially in this country and especially now….

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

The good news from India keeps coming. This week, the international credit rating agency, Standard & Poors pronounced that the "Third World" nation had become so prosperous that the risk of lending money to the country had fallen significantly. New York-based Standard & Poor's said it upgraded India's sovereign rating to BBB-, the lowest investment grade rating, from BB+, the highest junk rating. The rating revision could help reduce India's borrowing costs on the global…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom