September 4, 2012 – 5:21 am
We have a trend here in Australia of family stickers on the rear of cars. I don’t know if our English readers have a similar phenomenon? I see from this Salon article that they have a similar trend in the US. If you don’t know what the heck I’m talking about, here’s an illustration: I […]
August 14, 2012 – 7:47 am
Well, the Olympics are over. One of the primary news items here for the last two weeks has been Australia’s comparatively lacklustre performance in the gold medal stakes in the Olympics. Australia won 16 gold medals at the 2000 Olympics, 17 gold at the 2004 Olympics and 14 gold at the 2008 Olympics. In the […]
By Legal Eagle
|
Posted in Australia, England, Society, Sport, Taxation
|
Also tagged gold medals, IOCC, london 2012 olympics, Olympics, sense of entitlement, Sport, swimming
|
One of the more irritating historical memes is the preposterous notion that the American Civil War was not “really” about slavery, it was about tariffs and states rights. Fortunately, it is easy to demolish this claim for the historical canard it is. All one has to do is to read the Constitution of the Confederate […]
By Lorenzo
|
Posted in Economics, History, Law, Public Policy
|
Also tagged Abraham Lincoln, American Civil War, American Revolution, Amerindians, Australian politics, Belgium, British Crown, Canada, Civil Rights Acts, Confederate States of America, CSA Constitution, Federalist papers, Federation, Founding Fathers, free trade, Habsburgs, indigenous issues, land hunger, Low Countries, nativism, Patrick Henry, Robert Fogel, Samuel Johnson, secession, slavery, Somersett's Case, states rights, tariffs, Thomas Paine, Thomas Sowell, trade policy, US Constitution, US Declaration of Independence, US politics
|
What money is We use money to transact and the money we use is fiat money, money backed only by government decree. In economic terms, money is a transaction good and all that fiat money is, is a transaction good; the only point in holding such money is to be able to engage in transactions—its expected swap […]
By Lorenzo
|
Posted in Australia, Blogging, Britain, Economics, Events, History, Internet, Law, Media, Politics, Public Policy
|
Also tagged BoE, BoJ, central banking, ECB, Economics, Euro, Eurozone, Inflation, margaret thatcher, monetary economics, money, Politics, RBA, the Fed, unemployment
|
My nomination for the most misleading metaphor in modern philosophy is John Locke’s notion that, in a state of nature, one mixes one’s labour with something to rreate property. In John Locke’s words: The labour of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out […]
By Lorenzo
|
Posted in Australia, Economics, History, Law, Middle east
|
Also tagged comparative advantage, corruption, Economics, Elinor Ostrom, India, insurance, John Locke, John R Commons, Karl Marx, Law, permit raj, property rights, slavery, warranties
|
The Eurozone, the US, Japan and the UK are all suffering prolonged economic stagnation. [You can see how serious it is in the US here.] It is sensible to suggest that they are doing something (or perhaps many things) wrong and need to change policy. What is not sensible is ignoring a developed world economy […]
By Lorenzo
|
Posted in Australia, Britain, Economics, Public Policy
|
Also tagged central banking, Debt, GFC, Great Moderation, Great Recession, money, national debt, public debt, RBA
|
January 27, 2012 – 10:01 am
I have to say that I am pretty unimpressed with the actions of the activists who forced Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to flee the Lobby Restaurant yesterday, where she was attending an Australia Day function to celebrate emergency services. For non-Australian readers, yesterday was Australia Day, a public holiday which falls on the anniversary […]
By Legal Eagle
|
Posted in Australia, Free Speech, History, Politics, Racism, Society, The Left, The Right
|
Also tagged Aboriginal Tent Embassy, aborigines, activism, Australia Day, Australian politics, indigenous issues, Julia Gillard, Michael Anderson, persuasion, protest, protesters, riots, social justice, tent embassy, Tony Abbott, violence
|
December 3, 2011 – 1:14 pm
The High Court has recently overturned the right to refuse to give evidence against one’s spouse at common law in Australian Crime Commission v Stoddart [2011] HCA 47. It’s a fascinating decision, as it represents a further very large crack in the crumbling notion that husband and wife are one person. As I’ve mentioned here, […]
By Legal Eagle
|
Posted in Feminism, History, Human/Civil rights, Law, Marriage, Personal liberty, Taxation
|
Also tagged australian crime commission, common law, coverture, coverture marriage, criminal law, England, evidence, evidence law, High Court of Australia, History, husbands, Marriage, society, spousal privilege, stoddart, taxation law, wives
|
November 3, 2011 – 11:25 am
Retrospective legislation and the rule of law F A Hayek neatly summarises the rule of law as follows: Stripped of all technicalities [the rule of law] means the government in all its actions is bound by rules fixed and announced beforehand — rules which make it possible to foresee with fair certainty how the authority […]
By Legal Eagle
|
Posted in Australia, Immigration, Law, Politics, Public Policy, Society, Taxation, The Left, The Right, Welfare
|
Also tagged Australian Federal government, Australian politics, FA Hayek, Heydon J, High Court of Australia, House of Representatives, Immigration, joseph raz, legal rights, Migration Act, payara, poniatowska, retrospective legislation, rule of law, Senate, Social Security Administration Act
|
October 8, 2011 – 9:34 am
In the Liskula Cohen “NYC skank” case, Cohen successfully sued Blogger to get them to disclose the identity of an anonymous blogger who had defamed her by calling her (inter alia) “skankiest in NYC”. Now we’ve apparently had a similar case in Australia. Self-help guru Jamie McIntyre launched the action in September this year after […]
By Legal Eagle
|
Posted in Blogging, Free Speech, Human/Civil rights, Internet, Law, Media, Society, Technology, Tort
|
Also tagged anonymous bloggers, anonymous blogging, Blogging, blogs, defamation, Google, Internet, Jamie McIntyre, liskula cohen, Queensland Supreme Court, tort
|