Liberal Vision

Photo of the Day

Petition to save man condemned to death for “sorcery”

“Re-Tweet”, or whatever the kids are saying these days, from the blog of Tom Palmer:

Click here for Tom’s explanation of the case.

Click here to sign the petition.

GUEST POST: The Era of Laissez-Faire?

One of the established memes about the financial crisis is that it demonstrates the failure of unfettered capitalism, the dog-eat-dog, laissez-faire environment that prevailed in the West over the last few decades, all driven by the ideology of “free-market fundamentalism.” This seems to be a truism among most of the Commentariat. Of course, as pointed out repeatedly on this blog, the truth is virtually the opposite: there was never any “deregulation,” the Bush Administration spent public money like a drunken sailor, and government continued to expand as it always does. But a picture is worth a thousand words, so try these on for size. (US data; click charts for sources.)

One response I sometimes hear is “Sure, there are more regulations and more government spending, but the set of things that should be regulated and the amount of government spending the economy needs are growing even faster!” This is essentially the Krugman-DeLong view about the stimulus: it just wasn’t big enough. Or they say that financial markets were “deregulated,” de facto, because the number of regulations and regulators increased more slowly than the number of new financial instruments and new markets. I wonder, though: are these falsifiable propositions? No matter how big the government is, if there are any problems, it’s always because the government isn’t big enough!

This post is authored by Peter G. Klein, an Associate Professor at the University of Missouri and Adjunct Professor at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. He usually blogs at Organizations and Markets, where this post first appeared.

Chavez: all that fun stuff is “hell”

Fresh from his latest efforts to ruin everything, Hugo Rafael Chavez has launched a scathing tirade on lots of fun stuff.

The Venezuelan despotic nut-job said in his Weekly Address to the Proletariat:

“[Capitalist countries] promote the need for cigarettes, drugs and alcohol so they can sell them.”

Having displayed this unparalleled ability to unravel the evils of ‘the West’, the Dear Leader concluded:

“That’s capitalism, the road to hell.”

Which is funny, because usually when I peer lovingly at a seemingly-perspiring chilled glass of gin & tonic I think: “Bejesus, this is the road from hell. Deliver me to happiness, my sparkling transparent friend!”

It turns out, strangely enough, that the real source of Mr Chavez’s ire is a piss-take of himself–in the form of a video game. So he explained, to gasps (or giggles) of his people:

“Those games they call ‘PlayStation’ are poison. Some games teach you to kill. They once put my face on a game; ‘you’ve got to find Chávez to kill him.’”

Find Chavez? Kill him?

It’s poison, readers, poison.  Vive la revolution.

Civil servants imprison Permanent Sec. over unpaid Christmas bonuses

In Nigeria, that is.

AllAfrica.com has the whole story.

My favourite parts:

“The demonstrating staff locked all entrances leading into the Ministry … and switched off all the lights, thereby preventing the use of the lift”

“The Permanent Secretary was sighted moving about in his office, fanning himself with old copies of newspapers and making frantic phone calls.”

“Some of the demonstrating workers … said they were demanding Sallah, Christmas and New Year gifts from the management.”

This, Mr President, is how your government will “build a nation”

The story, in short:

A consultancy in London provided this nation-building plan to the Pentagon. Wonderfully it ended up online (still available, here).

A quick visual of the plan to build a new nation of Afghanistan…

STEP 1: Look for support! Yes, this is your “Popular Support”

Step 2: Ah, but these strange A-rab folk are a bit different to us, yes? What about their “Conditions, Beliefs & Structures”? Better shove them in.

Step 3: But ugh, the insurgents! And all those poppy fields. Better shove them in ‘n’ all…

Step 4: Right, there might economists in the room. Mention infrastructure and the economy and stuff…

Step 5: Not to mention the ‘public sector workers’. Fit them in somewhere…

Step 6: And the Brits, don’t forget them. You know, the ‘Coalition’, the other governments. Include the ‘Coalition’. Still following?

Step 7: Dammit, there’s still a gap left. Make something up…

Step 8: Add some colour. That’s better. But actually, what happens when all these things link together? Don’t we need to…

Step 9: …ah yes, that’s better. Everyone reading from the same hymn sheet now? Ladies and Gentlemen, the Development of Afghanistan Stability!

YES.

This will definitely work.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Hat-tip: Chris Coyne.

Should We Execute Kate Moss?!

I thought the day would never come.. but here we are. The Daily Mail is commending a socialist regime:

Yet for all this orchestrated wailing, is it not possible that China is right to put Shaikh to death?

No, no it isn’t…

Indeed, I would argue that Britain’s enfeebled, self-destructive approach to narcotics has been graphically highlighted by China’s ruthlessness in tackling drug pushers.

In contrast to New Labour’s policy of appeasement and surrender, the Chinese Government acts vigorously to defend its people from the misery caused by the drugs trade.

My regret is not over tough action by Beijing, but the fact that we in this country do not possess the moral clarity or strength of purpose to deal ruthlessly with drug peddlers and other enemies of our society.

I beg your pardon? A policy of appeasement and surrender is exactly what we don’t have. We have prohibition. A factor that augments the misery caused by drugs by not acknowledging the fact that people take drugs because they want too. Britain’s current policies on drugs create and empower “the enemies of society” in the same way Al Capone was created and empowered by prohibition in the 1920s.

Vacuous supermodel Kate Moss was caught using cocaine by undercover reporters, most of the fashion world rallied behind her with a sense of moral indignation, protecting her lucrative contracts and behaving as though she were a victim.

British officialdom now adopts a simpering indulgence towards drug abuse. Politicians line up to boast how much cannabis they smoked in their youth and downgrade the criminal classification of substances.