tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46434474767887818192010-03-08T00:35:26.666+11:00Not quite the real thingGRPnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4643447476788781819.post-61552209171444882522009-11-30T21:56:00.001+11:002009-11-30T21:56:48.864+11:00

Off the back of a truck, as they say: ... There's only a few people who are life's winners; the vast majority will die losers. Whilst workers and capitalists are both losers, socialists are the greatest losers of all, because they actually believe capitalists are the cause of the misdistribution of wealth. Let them think that, because setting labour against capital is our tactic. We call it

GRPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4643447476788781819.post-5462926775266664832007-10-03T13:13:00.001+10:002009-06-28T22:29:01.229+10:00

Nobody's making any more land, and the demand for the existing supply keeps increasing, so land prices and rents keep rising for the benefit of established owners without any effort from them. How can a non-land-owner get a slice of the action? He can buy into the land market, but that's already been made hard for him (as first home buyers know). An easier way is to lobby the government to make

GRPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4643447476788781819.post-91827832509855405432007-07-16T15:52:00.003+10:002010-02-26T17:33:54.479+11:00

In Australia's long-running debate about housing affordability, the contribution by former Prime Minister John Howard to the progress of economic thought — in particular, the understanding of incentives — has been truly Nobel-worthy. For centuries, economists have assumed that if an economic reward, such as a subsidy or tax break, is to serve as an incentive to do something, it must be

GRPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4643447476788781819.post-57879906621188507472007-06-21T18:34:00.001+10:002010-02-26T17:34:10.309+11:00

Not quite real satire [Original version released Dec.10, 2003. This version drawn Jun.21, 2007. Featured in Carnival of Australia, Carnival of the Liberals and Carnival of the Decline of Democracy. Relocated Jun.29, 2009.]

GRPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4643447476788781819.post-10898132058083805922007-06-03T22:56:00.003+10:002010-02-26T17:34:25.156+11:00

A global alliance of corporate think-tanks has come up with an ingenious market-based system for limiting the incidence of rape. It's called “rape-rights trading” or, more informally, “cap and trade”. Here's how it works. First, the government puts a limit on the total number of rapes permitted per year. The limit may be constant, or may slowly increase or decrease over time, depending on

GRPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4643447476788781819.post-34823956976997319302005-06-03T19:09:00.004+10:002010-02-26T17:34:40.926+11:00

A Comedy in One Scene, by Gavin R. Putland Characters: The NARRATOR The KING The ENGINEER The ECONOMIST Other wise men (non-speaking). [There is no action. On radio, the other wise men are not needed. On stage, the actors playing the other wise men need not know the script.] Scene: A throne room The king, the engineer, the economist, other wise men. [Enter

GRPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4643447476788781819.post-81088811537081195862002-05-31T15:18:00.001+10:002009-06-29T15:26:23.845+10:00

Genesis 11:1-9 EV (Economists' Version) Now all the economists of the world were of one language and of few words. And it came to pass, as men journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Vespuccia and dwelt there. And the economists said one to another, “Go to, let us write books, and prove them thoroughly.” And they knew what was capital and what was labour and what was

GRPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4643447476788781819.post-41023909430863928012002-04-21T15:17:00.000+10:002009-06-29T15:18:16.345+10:00

Thou shalt have no other gods before Me, save thy landlord, thine employer, and thine employer's landlord. Thou shalt not make for thyself any graven image; for thine employer shall provide graven images for thee, and to them only shalt thou bow down. Thou shalt not invoke the name of the LORD thy God against unearned privileges; for the process of time doth convert wrongs into perpetual

GRPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4643447476788781819.post-10542836494941680142002-04-17T15:16:00.002+10:002010-02-26T17:36:02.003+11:00

Mark 12:13-17 EV (Economists' Version) And there came unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. And they said unto him, “Master, is it lawful to pay taxes unto Caesar, or not?” And he said, “A certain man bought for himself a dwelling-place. And immediately, within a bow shot thereof, Caesar decreed that there should be schools, and streets, and

GRPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4643447476788781819.post-24456807136756531922002-04-14T15:14:00.001+10:002010-02-26T17:35:27.982+11:00

For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his servants and delivered unto them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to every man according to his ability; and straightway he took his journey. After a long time the lord of those servants returned, and did reckon with them. And so he that had received five

GRPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4643447476788781819.post-77442227353253501542002-03-30T01:14:00.001+11:002009-06-29T13:36:28.644+10:00

Genesis 4:1-15 EV (Economists' Version) And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, “I have gotten a man from the LORD.” And she again bare his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And though the land yielded more unto Cain than unto Abel, yet did Abel hire fewer labourers, wherefore he was able to pay more rent, which

GRPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4643447476788781819.post-22700347160958518252002-03-30T01:12:00.001+11:002010-02-26T17:35:47.773+11:00

Genesis 3:1-19 EV (Economists' Version) Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, “Yea, hath thy husband said, ‘Thou shalt pay rent’?” And the woman said, “If I will toil in the garden, I must pay rent to my husband; for the garden is his.” And the serpent said, “The garden is not thy husband's, but mine; for I was in

GRPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4643447476788781819.post-31551574022072686322002-03-16T13:30:00.000+11:002009-06-29T13:31:18.254+10:00

Genesis 2:21-25 EV (Economists' Version) And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said unto the woman, “This is my garden. If thou wilt toil therein, thou shalt pay rent; and whosoever will pay more rent than

GRPnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4643447476788781819.post-7779350564519772702002-02-24T13:28:00.001+11:002009-06-29T13:29:49.699+10:00

Genesis 2:2-3 EV (Economists' Version) And on the seventh day God rested from all his work which he had made. Therefore God said, “The seventh part of men shall be idle: though they desire to work, yet shall they be paupers; for none shall hire them. And every one that is hired shall work without ceasing, lest he be cast out among the paupers, and a pauper take his place.”

GRPnoreply@blogger.com