Somewhat over a week ago I did a posting here about maths. What use, I asked, is it? I always knew there were plenty of good answers, but the quantity and quality of what the Samizdata commentariat came up with amazed and delighted me, as it did a number of those same commenters. Someone even suggested we have other postings here about what use other educationally controversial things are, like poetry, Latin, and so on…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

I'm not generally proud to be British. It strikes me as absurd either to claim some sort of credit for an accident of birth, or to assume that the culture one is brought up in is ipso facto the best available to anyone. Nation is usually alien. I've said it before and I'll say it again: when someone says "we", I feel like a "them". However, I must say I get great pleasure from the…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

…or you just might find yourself supporting the American Socialist Party:
For years the masses have told you that if you snooze you lose. You never believed them. You held your head high and slept in whenever you wanted to, always without fear of loss. Well, dear friends, the times have changed. The ingenious sages at […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Today is E-Day. The day on which we all help to save Gaia by turning off unnecessary and unused gadetry to save electricity. There is some amusement. At the time of writing the collective effect of urging people to save electricity has been to raise consumption by 1%.

Another example of eco-not very sensibleness. 

Remembering Bill Buckley: some bad ideas along the way and some very good ones.

Explaining Cameron’s change: there’s a public upchuck at the machinations of politicians. 

Not all that much of a surprise when they’re making suggestions as inane as this. 

Or the staff are spending so much time altering Wikipedia that whole departmental systems get banned from the site. 

And finally, how many obsolete skills do you possess? 

From Adam Smith Institute

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

In today’s New York Times, Daniel Leonhardt examines the logic behind the Democratic candidates’ NAFTA-bashing as they campaign in Ohio:
The first problem with what the candidates have been saying is that Ohio’s troubles haven’t really been caused by trade agreements. When Nafta took effect on Jan. 1, 1994, Ohio had 990,000 manufacturing jobs. Two […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Bars in Minnesota are finding interesting and creative ways to get around the state smoking ban:
What started as a quirky idea to get around the statewide smoking ban appears to be spreading like wildfire.
Dozens of bars are expected to stage “theater nights” this weekend in which patrons are dubbed actors. The law, which went into […]

From The Liberty Papers

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

48. "A university or college education is a public good that society should pay for."

There’s truth in the first part of this. Most of us prefer a society with educated people in it, and benefit from it. Educated people can provide services for us, and create the jobs and wealth for the future. They often also add a certain civility which enhances the lives of others.

But they already have access to the rewards of their own education. The main beneficiary of education is the recipient, directly and in measurable ways. The university or college graduate has access to a greater range of fulfilling career opportunities, and has access to much better paying jobs than their uneducated or untrained counterpart. Those who pay towards their education make one of life’s very best investments – it repays them many times over in money as well as opportunity.

Someone has to pay for tertiary education. Lecturers have to be paid, buildings and facilities maintained. If this is paid out of taxation, it means that taxpayers in general pay for it, rather than just the beneficiaries of it. It means that the person who leaves school to become a casual labourer is paying higher taxes so that someone who is already better intellectually endowed will have access to better jobs and a higher income for life.

UK university education used to be "free". No tuition was charged and students were given a living allowance to support them. It was a luxury product that could only be given to one in twenty of the age group. Now students have to support themselves with the help of loans, and contribute to the costs of their education. It is much less of a luxury, and one that nearly half the age group can have access to. Education is indeed a good, and should be as widely available as possible.

From Adam Smith Institute

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

A year ago, a leading article in The Economist remarked, "Tax havens are an unavoidable part of globalisation and, ultimately, a healthy one". Now tax havens are back in the public eye, with the news that HM Revenue & Customs paid £100,000 for the (stolen) bank details of wealthy Britons with cash stashed in Liechtenstein. Leaving aside the questionable ethics of purchasing illegally obtained information, are HMRC right to go on the offensive against tax havens? After all, don’t tax havens cost the Treasury vast sums of money, and force the rest of us to pay more?

Well, yes and no. Certainly, HMRC has a duty to prevent the illegal non-payment of UK taxes and it’s probably true that substantial sums of money are indeed being squirreled away overseas. But I still agree with The Economist’s sentiment that tax havens and the tax competition they engender is a good thing. And the reason is that competition drives governments towards better tax policy.

The reason that wealthy individuals are able to hide money in tax havens is the British tax law has become overly complex (to put it mildly) and correspondingly full of loopholes for the well-advised individual to take advantage of. Tax competition should therefore drive governments to simplify the tax system, making it fairer, more transparent and cheaper to administer as a result.

Tax competition also helps to keep tax rates low. In a globalized world economy, where companies, capital and high-income individuals are increasingly mobile governments can only raise taxes so much before it becomes obvious that they are losing out. Tax competition helps to keep government lean and encourage them to provide more value for money.

If you believe in high taxes and ever-growing government and public spending all this is, needless to say, rather horrifying and requires urgent international efforts to co-ordinate tax regimes. If, on the other hand, you believe in small government and low taxes, then it’s time to give three cheers for tax havens!

From Adam Smith Institute

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Kit Malthouse had a fascinating article in The Times on Tuesday, urging us make greater use of the tunnels under London. A couple of the most appealing ideas in the piece were as follows:

We could, for instance, drop the dual carriageway that currently
blights the north side of the Thames into a tunnel below, replacing it
with a four-mile long riverside park from Blackfriars to Battersea
Bridge. Bypassing Parliament Square at the same time would allow it to
be pedestrianised on two sides.

Similarly a tunnel could take
traffic from the Edgware Road under Hyde Park and the gardens of
Buckingham Palace and allow it to emerge south of Victoria station,
where most of it is heading in any event.

The entire Hyde Park
Corner interchange could be dropped below ground, and the three great
parks of Central London could be united. You could walk from Parliament
Square to Queensway, about three miles, without crossing a road. Park
Lane would be freed up for redevelopment, and a grand new public square
could be created at Marble Arch.

Malthouse’s ideas sound good to me. As usual though, the ASI was there first. As we said in our 1994 publication 20-20 Vision:

There are many tunnels under London, and even Underground stations, obsolete for existing use. It should be one of our priorities to investigate how many of these tunnels could be restored and extended for use as urban tollways. They would offer motorists the opportunity to cross under London at various points, paying a toll to miss some of the surface congestion.

From Adam Smith Institute

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

I believe I mentioned this when the story about the World Trade Center steel first came out. I am sure most of our readers will appreciate the symbolism in this DOD press release: The Navy will christen the newest San Antonio class amphibious transport dock ship New York (LPD 21) at 10 a.m. CST on Saturday, March 1, 2008, during a ceremony at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding facilities in New Orleans, La. The ship is named…

From Samizdata.net

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom