Among the many nice things about being a Federation Fellow, one of the nicest is the way it infuriates some of my opponents[1]. I mentioned the IPA a while back and now Peter Saunders of the Centre for Independent Studies has had a go in today’s Fin. He’s responding to a piece of mine developed out of this post on bracket creep, though the article switched the focus from Saunders to an earlier presentation of the same argument by Peter Costello. The same piece produced a somewhat incoherent letter from Sinclair Davidson of RMIT, who couldn’t come up with anything better than to say that my article was “drivel”.

Anyway, Saunders wants to argue that tax rates and economic incentives influence location decisions[2] and decides to use me as an example, saying that I moved to Queensland to take up the Fellowship[3] (he even quotes from this blog). In fact, as my handful of long-term readers may recall, I moved to Brisbane in late 2002 and didn’t get the Fellowship until March 2003. My reasons for moving were much the same as those of the other 50 000 people who made the same move that year, and are summed up here.

The Fin is subscription only, but I’ve added some relevant extracts over the fold

fn1. It’s not very noble of me to take pleasure in annoying my opponents, but I can’t deny that I do.

fn2. To be boringly serious, I don’t, of course, deny that incentives affect decisions, but I think there are many more significant incentives in our system than the top marginal tax rate.

fn3. Saunders is open to a tu quoque here, having recently moved to this high-tax hell from the dynamic UK.
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Among the many nice things about being a Federation Fellow, one of the nicest is the way it infuriates some of my opponents[1]. I mentioned the IPA a while back and now Peter Saunders of the Centre for Independent Studies has had a go in today’s Fin. He’s responding to a piece of mine developed out of this post on bracket creep, though the article switched the focus from Saunders to an earlier presentation of the same argument by Peter Costello. The same piece produced a somewhat incoherent letter from Sinclair Davidson of RMIT, who couldn’t come up with anything better than to say that my article was “drivel”.

Anyway, Saunders wants to argue that tax rates and economic incentives influence location decisions[2] and decides to use me as an example, saying that I moved to Queensland to take up the Fellowship[3] (he even quotes from this blog). In fact, as my handful of long-term readers may recall, I moved to Brisbane in late 2002 and didn’t get the Fellowship until March 2003. My reasons for moving were much the same as those of the other 50 000 people who made the same move that year, and are summed up here.

The Fin is subscription only, but I’ve added some relevant extracts over the fold

fn1. It’s not very noble of me to take pleasure in annoying my opponents, but I can’t deny that I do.

fn2. To be boringly serious, I don’t, of course, deny that incentives affect decisions, but I think there are many more significant incentives in our system than the top marginal tax rate.

fn3. Saunders is open to a tu quoque here, having recently moved to this high-tax hell from the dynamic UK.
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Some readers might be tempted to disbelieve the assurances of Prime Minister Howard, Defence Secretary Ric Smith, General Cosgrove and others that none of their subordinates told them about the allegations of abuse and torture in Abu Ghraib, received as early as last October.

On the contrary, these assurances are all too believable. In the light of the “children overboard” business, and the more recent humiliation of Mick Keelty, what officer would be foolish enough to pass bad news of this kind on to his or her superiors? Far better to emulate Sergeant Schultz. This setup works brilliantly for all concerned, unless, of course, it should happen that our leaders actually need to be informed about something they would rather not hear.

A PhD thesis. This is the entry ticket to the academic guild, the last survival of the medieval masterpiece.[1] The old-style thesis has largely disappeared in the United States, being replaced by a combination of coursework and a “three essays” dissertation. I think it would be a good thing if Australia went the same way. But, in the meantime, examining theses is part of the job, and often a painful one. The one I read this weekend was one of the easy ones, without any need for radical revisions or the ultimate catastrophe, a failing grade. I can write my report today and send it off with a light heart.

fn1. Not, as in today’s usage, an artist’s greatest work, but the piece done by an apprentice to qualify as a master, without any expectation that it should involve notable difficulty or efforts of a truly exceptional kind. premarin vaginal cream applicator

A PhD thesis. This is the entry ticket to the academic guild, the last survival of the medieval masterpiece.[1] The old-style thesis has largely disappeared in the United States, being replaced by a combination of coursework and a “three essays” dissertation. I think it would be a good thing if Australia went the same way. But, in the meantime, examining theses is part of the job, and often a painful one. The one I read this weekend was one of the easy ones, without any need for radical revisions or the ultimate catastrophe, a failing grade. I can write my report today and send it off with a light heart.

fn1. Not, as in today’s usage, an artist’s greatest work, but the piece done by an apprentice to qualify as a master, without any expectation that it should involve notable difficulty or efforts of a truly exceptional kind. premarin vaginal cream applicator

Tim Lambert has more details on yet another Astroturf operation, the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, recently in the news for attacking open source software and also a shill for the tobacco industry.

A point of interest for me is that I don’t think you really need detailed evidence in cases like this (though of course, its handy to have the kind of chapter and verse Tim provides). Unless it’s devoted to the life and works of de Tocqueville, an outfit with a name like the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution is bound to be bogus.
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