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| Last Updated: Aug 15th, 2008 - 11:26:43 |
Newsletters
:
2007 Newsletters
:
30 November 2007
Thought for the Day
The Labour government is concerned to place communications advisers in departments so that they can have every chance of persuading the population of the benefits bestowed by Nanny State. This last controversy placed Ms Curran, a regional representative on Labour's national council, directly into the Environment Ministry on the "advice" of David Parker. Ms Curren wrote a paper on how the Labour party should change its language to win the next election.
Orwell himself said: "Political language...is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one's own habits, and from time to time one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn out and useless phrase into the dustbin, where it belongs."
How about "sustainability" for starters? How "sustainable" is our living standard after dropping two places down the OECD in 2006?
Notice how Global Cooling (1970s) and Global Warming (1990s) have now morphed into Climate Change. The politicians now have it both ways. The climate will always be either warming or cooling. What a scam.
Nov 30, 2007, 12:18
Newsletters
:
2007 Newsletters
:
30 November 2007
Good Institutions and Policies, Not Mining, Account for Australia's Prosperity
Helen promised to raise us up to the "top half of the OECD" but so far she has dragged us down to the bottom quarter. Labour's policy settings have been the problem. We thought this when we started the Foundation for Economic Growth and everything we have seen reinforces our convictions.
We are on the downward slope. The question is how long will the people of New Zealand cope with this. 40,000 per year are opting out by emigrating to Australia.
In this article, Roger Kerr, asks why Dr. Cullen seems to have a lack of understanding about what makes for economic growth.
Nov 30, 2007, 11:51
Newsletters
:
2007 Newsletters
:
30 November 2007
Human Development Index
Definition from Wikipaedia:
The Human Development Index (HDI) is the measure of life expectancy, literacy, education, and standard of living for countries worldwide. It is a standard means of measuring well-being, especially child welfare. It is used to determine and indicate whether a country is a developed, developing, or underdeveloped country and also to measure the impact of economic policies on quality of life.
The index was developed in 1990 by Indian Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen, Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq, with help from Gustav Ranis of Yale University and Lord Meghnad Desai of the London School of Economics and has been used since then by the United Nations Development Programme in its annual Human Development Report. Described by Sen as a "vulgar measure", because of its limitations, it nonetheless focuses attention on wider aspects of development than the per capita income measure it supplanted, and is a pathway for researchers into the wide variety of more detailed measures contained in the Human Development Reports.
The HDI measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development:
A long and healthy life, as measured by life expectancy at birth.
Knowledge, as measured by the adult literacy rate (with two-thirds weighting) and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrollment ratio (with one-third weighting).
A decent standard of living, as measured by the log of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) in USD.
Each year, UN member states are listed and ranked according to these measures. Those high on the list often advertise it, as a means of attracting talented immigrants (economically, individual capital) or discouraging emigration.
See the latest results on the web site. The Aussies are way out in front:
[ Visit Website ]
Nov 29, 2007, 13:46
Newsletters
:
2007 Newsletters
:
30 November 2007
Sub Prime Problems Hit Japanese Market Hard Today.
In the last seven days the Origami Bank has folded.
Sumo Bank has gone belly up.
Bonsai Banking Corporation plans to cut back some of its branches.
On Friday it was announced that Karaoke Bank is also up for sale. Commentators indicate it will go for a song.
Shares in Kamikaze Bank were suspended after they nose dived
Karate Bank informed the market that 5,000 of their head office staff are in for the chop.
Union delegates at Sushi Bank indicate that something fishy is going on and that many could be in for a raw deal.
Nov 23, 2007, 10:22
Newsletters
:
2007 Newsletters
:
30 November 2007
All Kindergartens Now Offering 20 Hours Free, Courtesy Of The Tax-payer.
Give me four years to teach the children, and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.
Vladimir Lenin
**** **** ****
All kindergartens now offering 20 hours free.
Every kindergarten in the country is now offering the Labour-led government's 20 hours free early childhood education, saving families up to $4500 a year per child, says Education Minister Chris Carter.
"Overall, more than 83 per cent of eligible three and four year olds enrolled at teacher-led early education providers are now benefiting from this visionary policy just four months after it was launched", Chris Carter said.
More than 2000 early childhood services are now offering 20 hours free, lowering the cost and boosting access to early childhood education for the families of 76,924 children. 72 per cent of eligible teacher-led services are now offering 20 hours free, an increase of 10 per cent since the policy was launched on 1 July.
Major provider Kindercare, with 56 services, has indicated it will offer 20 hours free from later this month. That's more than 1200 extra three and four year olds whose families can now benefit from the policy.
Forty-four Kohanga Reo have also decided to opt in, and more are getting ready to come on board.
Chris Carter says Kohanga Reo with qualified teachers leading day to day learning are eligible to offer the policy, boosting participation for Maori children.
"We know that a child who attends early childhood education has a much better chance at succeeding in school and later in life," Chris Carter said.
"This government recognises the importance of funding public education from the age of three. Only the Labour-led government is committed to delivering 20 hours free early childhood education a week to three and four year olds."
Press Release from;
The Hon Chris Carter.
**** **** ****
Next step - The Curriculum!
Nov 8, 2007, 15:54
Newsletters
:
2007 Newsletters
:
30 November 2007
The Problem of Accuracy of Economic Data
One of my concerns over the past few years is the relevance of mathematics to economics. Economists who use mathematics for modelling economic situations or for predictive purposes seem to me to be too accepting of the idea that economic data relates to reality in the same way that physical data relates to reality.
Economic data derive from discrete actions of individuals yet the sum of actions over time are regarded as a smooth flow rather than discrete actions. Again, since the data are not reproducable in the same way as scientific data the hypotheses developed cannot be tested as true by experiment. Thirdly, there seems to be no regard taken for the errors normally associated with scientific measurement.
The granularity of discrete economic actions will invalidate conclusions made by assuming economic activity is a smooth continuum. The maths that is used to describe economic relationships is the same maths that assumes a "continuous" function. What works for Physics and the "Real" world does not apply to Economics. This is one reason why economists have such a bad record in predicting future events. Their mathematical assumptions produce models of a very unreal simplistic world.
Can Economics be regarded as a science? Not until economists can perform reproducable experiments showing how their theories work. Not an easy task!
This article examines the problem of errors in measuring economic data and the unscientific nature of the results. Food for thought indeed.
Oct 2, 2006, 16:26
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