In my latest Epoch Times column I revert to a proposal I first made 31 years ago in Fraser Forum to reform the budging process by getting back to basics, because the past three decades and particularly the last five years have underlined the dangerous feebleness of the standard approach.
In my latest Epoch Times column I say surprising allies in the fight against bloated government could be the large number of people who find working in it miserable despite the pay and perks.
“‘Those who can, do,’ but the converse, ‘those who do, can,’ is no less true, for we learn by doing.”
Anthony De Jasay The State (expressly regarding the possibility that we couldn’t spontaneously cooperate any more because we’ve lived under governments for so long).
In my latest National Post column I say the Friday-afternoon dump of the supposed and long-awaited Sustainable Jobs Plan could not hide that its authors have no idea what a plan even is, or what practicality is, which is why they have no interest in why central planning has always failed and always will.
“But my time and labour was little worth, and so it was as well employed one way as another.”
Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe
“The only reason we don’t adopt an open-ended utility function is because of the law St. Paul says is written on the human heart. But it’s a good reason; otherwise there’d only be varying degrees of risk-aversion rather than deplorable timidity and rashness and between them praiseworthy courage. Note also that peaceniks whose recommendations lead to the tyrant’s victory cannot be declared to be mistaken if we adopt an open-ended utility function; they merely reveal themselves to be masochists. But it is surely no coincidence that abandoning sincere church attendance leads to Anthony de Jasay’s consent-driven Leviathan; it’s only if he takes God seriously that homo economicus doesn’t rent seek. Aristotle wanted the state to be concerned with the good life because he didn’t conceive of separating Caesar from God; homo economicus now wants the same, except his good life is explicitly hedonist so he wants boodle.”
Another of mine, from April 21, 2003 [and very possibly of interest only to economists, or not even to them].
In my latest Epoch Times column I say it’s actually good news that about two-thirds of Canadians in a poll said they think “everything is broken in this country right now” because we still expect better and have not spiraled into rage, paranoia or, worst of all, resignation.
In my latest Epoch Times column I contrast the Canadian federal government’s sluggish incapacity even to agree to hand out cash to get other people to build houses with the endless vaulting promises of our politicians to deliver social justice, world peace and better weather.