Supporters of socialism have taken to suggesting that the human tragedy unfolding in Venezuela has nothing to do with socialism, rather it’s the result of the dictatorships of former President Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro. In their view, dictatorships lead to the deprivation we’re witnessing, not socialism. They’re confusing types of government and […]
New Zealand’s reforms and lessons for Washington
<This is the text of a speech delivered to the Washington Policy Center monthly breakfast on July 27, 2017> Many of you may be familiar with New Zealand’s reforms from an economic perspective, so I’m going to spend more of my talk focused on two other areas: How policies before and after the reforms impacted […]
US healthcare problems—universal healthcare is not the solution
Shortly after Bernie Sanders’s recent and weakly argued Twitter pic in support of universal healthcare, I photoshopped it into a similarly weak counter-argument and Tweeted back. However, it’s a serious topic and deserves a more thorough response. It goes without saying that the U.S. healthcare system is far from perfect. But the focus should be […]
The other passion of Sir Douglas Myers – public policy
Sir Douglas Myers was one of a kind and he leaves New Zealand business and public policy markedly better for his having been here. The tributes that have been written in recent days rightly note the beer baron’s business successes. But other than noting that he was involved in the New Zealand Business Roundtable, few, […]
Bernie Sanders, Sweden and New Zealand
I survived socialism. So it’s always surprised me that Bernie Sanders is fond of saying America should look more like Scandinavian countries such as Sweden. Because what’s made Sweden the success it is on many of the metrics Sanders loves to point to aren’t the policies Sanders espouses. On the contrary, the reforms he wants […]