UN Secretary General demands free trade in food

According to the NZ Herald UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon has come out at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation conference on the right side of the argument about world trade in food.

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He has argued forcefully for:

- An end to export restrictions (so that producers can sell freely to willing buyers, incentivising them to produce more);

- An end to import tariffs and restrictions on food imports (so that consumers in importing countries do not have their prices inflated by protectionism);

- An end to subsidies for biofuels, so that agricultural production for food isn't disadvantaged relative to biofuels;

- Eliminations of taxes that discriminate against farming.

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It's not everything (subsidies for agriculture should go too), but it would go a long way towards easing the problems in world food trade. Even solidly leftwing Brazilian President Lula da Silva has called for the end to agricultural subsidies he said the world would not be facing the food crisis "if developing countries had been stimulated in a free-market context". "The solution - Lula went on - is not protectionism which would slow down demand. The solution is to increase food supply, open up markets and wipe out subsidies in order to meet increasing demand. And for this a radical change in ways of thinking and acting is required".

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He's quite right.

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Far better than the ravings of Sue Kedgley who has gone to argue the opposite at the same conference. Will the mainstream NZ media question her as to why she went to an international conference to argue for policies that hurt the NZ economy and which developing country governments oppose? What credibility does this raving lunatic have?

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Meanwhile Mugabe has gone to spread lies, and has been snubbed by the Italian government and the US (but will NZ do it?). Iranian President and homophobic Islamist nutcase Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has used the FAO meeting to say Israel will disappear and claimed some conspiracy on food and oil prices. I continue to wonder if Jim Anderton, leading the NZ delegation and Sue Kedgley will speak out against these two tyrants.

Maori Party wants more welfare

It's supporting taxpayers funding both sides in the Child Poverty Inaction Group case.

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Pita Sharples has the audacity to say "Of course, I believe every taxpayer in this land would prefer that this case hadn’t needed to come to court, to involve the international experts and the expenses that no doubt the Crown will incur in presenting their defence". Indeed, had the taxpayer not funded the socialist CPAG, it wouldn't. Furthermore if Working for Families is abolished (as Lindsay Mitchell rightfully advocates) and the proceeds used to cut taxes, then there wouldn't be any case, and then there would be no discrimination - except of course the tax system.

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You see for some reason (if I was in NZ, but it applies also in the UK), when I earn an extra dollar I lose 39c of it, but when most people do, they lose only 15c or 19.5c, some lose 33c. It's quite discriminatory, and I don't impose any greater cost on taxpayers, I don't live an unhealthy lifestyle, I don't have children, I don't interact with the criminal justice system, I don't own share in any businesses that receive subsidies. Yet I would pay a lot more than those who DO have a lot of children, who are beneficiaries, who interact with the criminal justice system (or whose kids do), and who live unhealthy lifestyles, and depend on others to pay for their housing.

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That's discriminatory.

Subsidised music swapping, youtube, gaming

Don't have high speed internet access? You fool - you are being made to pay grants to help subsidise the business of those supplying it.

You could just like books, but tough because the government wont make other people pay for those. You might like foreign films, but again, tough. You might like painting, but no, the state wont pay for that. This is a special bribe.

It's just another part of the advance auction of stolen goods. Your taxes being taken to pay for something Labour thinks you'll like. Well many of you will. Grants to broadband providers will make it a bit cheaper for you to download music for your ipod, watch youtube, listen to internet radio, download porn videos, engage in internet gaming. Yes of course it also will enable some businesses, but cheaper broadband benefits all such users - except it's only cheaper to the user. The taxpayer is screwed, and David Cuntliffe gets the credit, for his great plan to spend your money.

See he produces nothing. He didn't invent the internet, use his own money to set up a business to supply it, he just advocated to take more of your money and spend it on this little bribe. He says "his model provides better value for taxpayers, encourages more service providers into the market and drives competition.” Of course taxpayers never had a say did they David? You couldn't convince them to fund it voluntarily could you? Wasn't your money to spend was it?

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Oh and of course, National promises even more.

Libertarianz principled on NOT spending your money

The law prevents political parties from spending their own money on broadcasting advertising, and forces you to pay for them to do so, that's whether or not you agree with any of them. The Electoral Commission has released how it will be spending your money to advertise political parties most of you probably wouldn't have given a cent to. The results are here.

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Libertarianz is refusing this year to take the money, on principle. It believes that you shouldn't be forced to pay for it to advertise to you, at all. However, clearly every other political party is content with its hand in your bank account taking your money to make ads for you to hear or watch, without your consent.

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Of course that leaves it at a disadvantage compared with all other political parties, but then again it was at a disadvantage anyway. You see Labour and National both get just over $3.2 million to spend on advertising to you. How democratic is that? How fair is that? Why should the two dominant parties both get substantial amounts of money to advertise to you?

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While I fundamentally oppose taxpayer funding of political party advertising, I happen to agree with Idiot Savant at No Right Turn that if the parties are not going to get equal funding, those that get less funding should at least be legally allowed to spend their own money up to the amount Labour and National have got. Why not? Why shouldn't at the very least, ACT, the Greens, Libertarianz, Maori Party or Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party spend as much of their own money as they like, up to the $3.1 million?

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Why are Labour and National so special? Where are the MMP advocates pushing for breaking this duopoly? Perhaps they fear ACT could raise the money more readily than parties on the left, though I'm not so sure - the Greens are good at fundraising. National says it is fair, well they would wouldn't they? Happily protecting the state enforced duopoly on broadcasting.

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So if you object to being forced to pay for political parties campaigning for your vote, only one party qualified for funding and refused to spend your money - Libertarianz.

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You should be able to choose whether you fund a political party - forcing you to do so is undemocratic and nothing to do with political freedom.

The blood spilt at Tiananmen

19 years ago it was, and I was 19 years old when it happened. I wrote much about it a couple of years ago, and that is all still valid.

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I visited the very place myself, and paused for a moment to remember. I was, after all, a university student at the time, and it could have been me gunned down, or arrested, for arguing for free speech. China has moved on in many ways since then, but it still keeps a tight rein on free speech. It has incorporated Hong Kong, a beautiful vibrant world city of trade, freedom, commerce and culture - look there China, spread what Hong Kong has to all of China. Look at Taiwan, it has much the same and thrives.

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So today spare a moment to remember the last moment some Chinese people stood up for the simple right of freedom of expression, when China looked like it might make the step of separating party and state - an essential prerequisite to fight corruption and establish rule of law. It's not anti-China, it's as pro-China as one can be - it believes the Chinese people can make choices to rule their own lives and express themselves, without fear of saying as they wish, and without fear of what they may say. Go on China, the USA and Japan can do it, South Korea can do it, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan can do it. The only people who should be afraid are those who fear criticism and cannot respond creditably. Even people in Hong Kong can march against what happened in Tiananmen Square.

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Meanwhile, China Radio International (the successor to Radio Beijing) wont be repeating this broadcast today. This was what was said, before freedom was snuffed out in the Chinese state media:

"Please remember June the Third, 1989. The most tragic event happened in the Chinese Capital, Beijing. Thousands of people, most of them innocent civilians, were killed by fully-armed soldiers when they forced their way into city. Among the killed are our colleagues at Radio Beijing. The soldiers were riding on armored vehicles and used machine guns against thousands of local residents and students who tried to block their way. When the army conveys made the breakthrough, soldiers continued to spray their bullets indiscriminately at crowds in the street. Eyewitnesses saysome armored vehicles even crushed foot soldiers who hesitated in front ofthe resisting civilians. [The] Radio Beijing English Department deeply mourns those who died in the tragic incident and appeals to all its listeners to join our protest for the gross violation of human rights and the most barbarous suppression of the people.”

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China seems more open to debate nowadays, so I call you to go here, to China Radio International's website and ask why it doesn't discuss the events of 3 June 1989. Do so politely, there is a form in the bottom right hand corner. Sadly I expect it will go into this sort of denial, but go on - someone will be reading it.