GlobLog - January 2007
A direct link to each entry is obtained by using the button below the entry.

12:14 - SACHS ON SWEDEN: 

Many have asked me what I think about Jeffrey Sachs´ article in Scientific American where he praised the Nordic economies.

At the time, I actually wrote a response to the magazine. It wasn´t published, so here it follows:

Jeffrey Sachs claims that Friedrich Hayek’s thesis on “the road to serfdom” was wrong since the Nordic welfare states outperform the liberal Anglo-Saxon economies for the moment.

But Hayek didn’t say that social spending would lead to serfdom. He said that government control of the productive forces would, and one of the pillars of the Nordic model has always been private businesses in open markets. And in that environment our companies have been competitive. And that began before we had higher taxes than the US, so it is hardly an argument for high taxes.

Since then we have lagged behind, partly because social spending has pushed people onto the welfare rolls (hidden from the official unemployment statistics). For example, McKinsey estimates Sweden’s real unemployment to 15 percent. On a per capita-income basis, only the oil kingdom of Norway can compete with the US today. If Denmark moved to the US, it would be the tenth poorest state, Sweden would be the sixth and Finland the fifth poorest.

The Nordic countries have mixed economies, and they produce mixed results. Just what Hayek would have predicted.

Johan Norberg, Stockholm

19:03 - THE PROS AND CONS OF BRAIN DRAIN: 

I have always disliked the concept of "brain drain" as a criticism of migration. Somehow it signals that people´s brains belong to their society or their country, and that it has some sort of rightful claim on them.

Furthermore, the concept presupposes that a country loses someones´ abilities when he migrates. But studies show that brains that work more productively can benefit the countries they leave even better. Immigrants from poor countries working in rich countries send around $480 billion home every year ($160 officially, $320 inofficially). That is six times more than all development aid, and it doesn´t end up in Swiss bank accounts, but in the local households and markets.

Furthermore, immigrants facilitate and strengthen trade links between the countries they left and the country they went to.

But nonetheless, I have to admit that there is some truth in the complaints about brain drain. Today, FT writes about how the club scene in Poland has collapsed after one million young Poles went west in search of four to five times the wages they got back home. As Hoodoohat´s top-hatted lead singer Konrad puts it to the paper:

"It really killed the night life here, man," he says, leaning on the bar. "It used to kick ass but now it´s dead. All you have to do is go to London and you can see everyone there. It´s sad, dude."

10:10 - I WAS WRONG - JEB IS BETTER: 

In an email Tino explains that the Cato figure is not adjusted for population size. And under Jeb, Florida has grown twice as much as the average - it has been the fourth most expansionary state, in fact. Adjusted for this, Florida has had a slightly lower growth in public spending than the average.

It doesn´t turn Jeb into a credible defender of smaller government, but at least it makes me wrong. That´s something.

18:38 - JEB - A LOT LIKE GEORGE: 

Those who think that Jeb Bush would have made a better president than his brother will be encouraged by a recent speech where he was:

"...blaming Republicans’ defeat in November on the party’s abandonment of tenets including limited government and fiscal restraint….

He added, ´If the promise of pork and more programs is the way Republicans think they’ll regain the majority, then they’ve got a problem.´"

But Jeb´s speeches are better than his record, according to David Boaz:

"Indeed, in the latest [Cato] report card, only 10 governors had worse ratings on spending restraint, though — again like his brother — Jeb scored much higher on tax cutting. Federal spending is up 50 percent in six years; Florida’s spending was up 52 percent in eight years, and Jeb wasn’t fighting two foreign wars."

18:29 - DO YOU KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS?: 

Milton Friedman Day

16:07 - WHERE IS THE SWEDISH GOVERNMENT?: 

An important article from Peter Egardt in Dagens Industri today: With the C94 convention the ILO would like to make it possible for governments to stop companies without collective agreements from bidding for public contracts and the Rüffert case in the European Court of Justice might make this kind of discrimination legal. It would be an outright attack on free trade.

Egardt points out that the Swedish government has not yet opposed this development. It is bad enough that it doesn´t want to dismantle trade union privileges. If it doesn´t even dare to oppose the creation of new ones it makes you wonder why we bothered to vote the social democrats out of office.

13:14 - ONE MAN AND HIS PASSIONS: 

Is it just my imagination, or does Per Ahlin seem more interested and passionate when he writes about the winter or beer, than when he writes about foreign policy (which is often a lot like "It is not impossible that Hillary will run..." or "Let´s hope that they solve the problem with Iran´s nuclear programme...")?

12:18 - IN THE PRESS: 

In Canada´s Financial Post, Peter Foster discusses my thoughts on why the Swedish model isn´t as healthy as it looks.

11:24 - 900 CHILDREN SAVED EVERY DAY: 

In DN Karin Bojs reports that a global immunisation campaign has reduced the deaths of children due to measels by 60 percent 1999-2005 - more than half a million children. And the public-private partnership GAVI, The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gates meets WHO...), has given new vaccines to around 100 million children since its start seven years ago, and has saved the lives of 2.3 million children.

10:58 - I JUST MISSED MYSELF: 

Yesterday I put up a link to an interview where I said that no Swedish television station has aired my documentary Global is good. In an email from Hans-Christian, I soon found out that I was wrong. That very evening, it was on TV8 under the name "From poverty to wealth" - for the second time.

I had no idea, and no one had told me, but of course I am delighted.

If I don´t even know that it has been aired in my own country, I might have missed it in other places. If it has been on television in your country, and it´s not Britain, Spain or Sweden, I would love to be informed via email.

17:10 - WHO SAID GERMANS AREN´T ENTREPRENEURIAL?: 

BBC reports that you can rent German protesters for your anti-commercial protests on Erento.com: 

"Next to a black and white posed picture, Melanie lists her details from her jeans size to her shoe size and tells potential protest organisers that she is willing to be deployed up to 100km around Berlin.

Six hours of Melanie bearing your banner or shouting your slogan will set you back 145 euros...

Organisations using the service are unlikely to reveal themselves, keen to pass off their protesters as genuine supporters of the cause. But German media reported a Munich march had hired protesters because its own adherents were too old to stand for hours waving banners."

(VIa Heritage Insider) 

17:00 - INTERVIEW: 

Captus Tidning interviews me about my film Globalisation is Good (in Swedish).

13:54 - THE PERFECT PESSIMIST: 

This is historical. For the first time ever I read an article in DN Kultur (Wahllöf & Wennö: "Ägandets ångest", not online)  that admits that more people live in democracies than ever, that poverty is being reduced, infant mortality is down and life expectancy is up, all around the world.

But of course they only do it to make the point that because of all of this we all feel miserable because we start wanting even more.

The trademark of a perfect pessimist: He denies a positive development until he finds an argument that it can be presented as a negative development.

00:37 - THE MISSING SHOVEL-ARGUMENT: 

"As a non-believer, I can tell you that the only reason I don’t kill people is the difficulty in disposing the bodies. First you have to clean up the blood. Then you have to drag the victim to a carpet and roll him up. Then you have to drag it to the car late at night. Then you have to drive the body and the carpet to the mountains and bury it. Then you have to buy a new carpet. I’m exhausted just thinking about it. And that assumes you already HAVE a shovel."

- Scott Adams on the popular claim that only religion can make us moral.

19:33 - STOP IT FROM HAPPENING AGAIN, INSTEAD: 

"If European politicians want to do something about Holocaust denial, perhaps they should worry more about the government of Iran, which contains a Holocaust-denier one really needs to worry about."

- The Economist on Germany´s attempt to implement a EU-wide law against denying the Holocaust.

14:57 - WHAT THEY DON´T WANT YOU TO SEE: 

By the way, Europaportalen just published Angela Merkel´s letter about how to promote the EU constitution - which was classified by the Swedish government for some bizarre reason.

In a liberal society, the citizens get to watch and control everything the government does. Right now, it looks like the Swedish government wants it the other way around.

14:35 - ETT INTERGITETSINTRÅNG UTAN MOTSTYCKE: 

Peder undrar vad jag tycker om att regeringen vill ge FRA rätt att avlyssna all telefon- e-post- och faxtrafik som passerar landets gränser - ett epokgörande steg eftersom det alltså inte längre handlar om att avlyssna vid misstanke. Jo, jag säger som justitieminister Beatrice Ask:

"Ett integritetsintrång utan motstycke"

"Staten är inte alltid god... Fler och fler börjar känna en ganska stor oro för att det händer någonting med [den personliga integriteten]. Ju mer vi tillåter desto riskablare blir det.”

Sammanfattningsvis är det ett utmärkt tillfälle för de borgerliga riksdagsledamöter som brukade kritisera s-ledamöter för att vara oreflekterande röstboskap att tänka själva och försvara vår integritet mot regeringen.

12:49 - CARTOON OPTIMISTS: 

Some time ago I was interviewed by the Icelandic magazine Haskolabladid. Now I have received a copy, and it makes me wonder why I never learned to read Icelandic. It looks very interesting and the theme is hope, optimism and opportunity. On the cover you find two interviewed optimists, me and Björn Lomborg, as you´ve never seen us before.

12:16 - SOMETIMES I AM PUNISHED FOR MY TECHNO-OPTIMISM: 

You are right, the RSS on this site does not work right now. This blog is not built for so many visitors and has to be reconstructed. Please be patient with minor problems like that until we have found a solution.

17:28 - WAYS YOU WOULDN´T SPEND YOUR OWN MONEY: 

The American Congress spends money on bridges to nowhere. The EU spends them on roads to nowhere. Via Open Europe I learn that 1.5 billion euro in EU funds has been spent on the S8 motorway in Poland, built in two sections. A great road, apart from the small detail that mismanagement, disagreements and protests mean that the two sections don´t meet. When it´s finished, the two halves end in the middle of nowhere, 5 miles apart.

15:47 - MESSAGE FROM MEXICO CITY: 

In DN today Niklas Ekdal writes well about how absence of reform and rule of law stops Mexico from benefiting more from globalisation. But it´s also worth pointing out that globalisation can benefit even the ill-governed. Alejandro wrote me about Mexico´s development before, now he´s back with additional information:

"Late last year, Mexico´s National Public Health Institute released a National Health and Nutrition Survey. Here are some interesting results:

- Between 1988 and 2006, the prevalence of acute malnutrition (i.e., life-threatening undernourishment) among children under 5 years of age went down from 6 to 1.6%. Quoting the report authors, ´acute malnutrition has ceased to be a public health issue in the country, even though some cases still exist, particularly in regions afflicted by extreme poverty´ (p.90).

-The prevalence of low height in the same age group declined over the same period from 23.8% to 12.7%. In this case, the annual rate of decline accelerated by 60% between 1999 and 2006, compared to the 1988-1999 period.

- The prevalence of low weight in the same age group went down from 13.2 to 5% between 1988 and 2006.

Considering the huge impact that nutrition patterns in early childhood can have on health, education, and economic development, I would have thought that this would be big news. However, no Mexican or foreign media outlet covered this story, basically because it goes against the commonly held (and wildly incorrect) assumption that life has become worse in Mexico over the past twenty years."

14:10 - TRUST ME, I´M A BUSINESSMAN: 

Many politicians exploited the public disentchantment with businesses after Enron to offer advise on how businsses could regain respectability (by acting more according to the politicians´ wishes). Perhaps it´s time to return the favour?

In FT I read that an Edelman survey of 3 100 opinion leaders in 18 countries show that corporations gain in popularity and that businesses are now more trusted than governments in every continent.

10:35 - THERE ARE NO BILATERAL CHICKENS: 

"… bilateral agreements cannot solve systemic issues such as rules of origin, antidumping, agricultural and fisheries subsidies. These issues simply cannot be handled at the bilateral level. Take for instance, negotiations to eliminate or reduce trade distorting agricultural subsidies, or fisheries subsidies. There is no such thing as a ´bilateral´ farmer or fisherman, or a ´bilateral´ chicken and a ´multilateral´ farmer or chicken or fish. Subsidies are given to farmers for all their poultry production."

- Pascal Lamy on why bilateral trade agreements can only be the pepper in the multilateral curry sauce. Via Fredrik Erixon.

16:48 - EPOST: ATTAC SVERIGE - KICKING TIMBRO?: 

Hej!

På Attac Sveriges bloggsida mäter Attac sin styrka (antal besökare) mot Timbro med GoogleFight.com.

Det lustiga är hur stolt dom visar upp resultatet på sin sida...3,160,000 träffar mot 5,580,000. Dom vinner med 43%...

Då har Attac 90.000 medlemmar utspridda på 39 länder i fem olika världsdelar men Timbro endast verksamhet i Sverige. Söker man på orden med endast svenska som språk, ja då har attac endast 95,800 träffar men Timbro 334,000.

- Christopher

15:06 - EPOST: ATTAC SVERIGE - ALIVE AND KICKING?: 

Hej Johan,

Jag läste din blogg-post om Attacs kampanj för att bli norska medborgare. Det väckte mitt intresse och jag tänkte förvånat "finns Attac fortfarande i Sverige?". Så jag surfade in på www.attac.se. Där nämns på huvudsidan i vänsterspalten en imponerande rad lokalavdelningar för denna förening, inte mindre än 14 stycken.

Nå, så jag testade länkarna och följande visar sig i tur och ordning:

* Alingsås - ingen uppdatering sedan april 2004, alltså snart tre år sedan.

* Falköping/Skaraborg - en mängd aktiviteter för februari och mars annonseras, men det visar sig vara förra årets februari och mars. Alltså ingen uppdatering på ett år.

* Göteborg - ingen information utom en länk till Göteborgsavdelningen redan stängda hemsida, i övrigt hänvisas till riksorganisationen.

* Helsingborg - en enda post om ett inställt möte och ett kommande möte om att - som det verkar - låta verksamheten uppgå i ett annat nätverk av vänsterorganisationer i Helsingborg.

* Linköping - senaste uppdatering juni förra året, handlar om ett inställt möte.

* Malmö - har viss aktivitet, senaste mötet i november förra året och man annonserar om ett par kommande möten där Attacs namn är med men det tycks vara ABF som arrangerar.

* Norrköping - inget publicerat sedan september.

* Örebro - ingen aktivitet redovisas utöver en allmän uppmaning att ansluta sig och att man håller internt möte ”varannan torsdag”. Framgår inte när detta publicerats.

* Sjuhärad - en enda aktivitet under förra året var arrangerad av en paraplyorganisation för 24 NGO:er, Attac hängde på. Den egna "styrelsen" är inte uppdaterad sedan 2004.

* Skellefteå - ingen verksamhet, "vi är en ganska liten grupp som gärna vill bli fler" står det.

* Stenungsund - Tjörn - Orust - länk till en imponerande egen hemsida för "Attac-STO" med senaste aktivitet i februari 2003.

* Stockholm - jämte Malmö (och möjligen Umeå) den enda del av Attac som tycks ha någon verksamhet över huvud taget; en rätt livaktig förening som bl.a. genomfört "Norge-kampanjen".

* Sundsvall - "just nu inga aktiviteter, men hör av dig om du tänker hitta på något"! En länk till genomförda aktiviteter upptar en enda post, från 28 september 2002.

* Umeå - en förhållandevis levande förening som höll ett par aktiviteter i maj förra året och en studiecirkel hösten 2006. En enda kommande aktivitet annonseras, vårens höjdpunkt: årsmöte!

* Riktigt roligt blir det slutligen när man utöver detta har en punkt som heter "Vilande grupper", som handlar om grupper som "tidigare haft aktiviteter, men inte är aktiva just nu". Man undrar var gränsen går??

Hälsningar Håkan

16:52 - DON´T FORGET THE POPCORN: 

When Studio Ett has a discussion about the critics of capitalism and globalisation at the World Social Forum (in Nairobi this year), it systematically talks about them with their own euphemism "the international movement for justice". The only guests are one Attac activist and one scholar who shares their ideas, and the only critical question is whether the movement is really effective in its fight against capitalism.

If you want more diversity of beliefs than public service radio presents in this discussion you would have to turn to...the World Social Forum. They have actually asked for permission (and received it) to show my film Globalisation is good at the Forum this weekend. Of course it might just be their Two minute hate-film, but it at least suggests some openness.

12:56 - VIOLENCE IN A SCHOOL THAT CELEBRATES VIOLENCE: 

An entire school in Landskrona was closed down yesterday and 28 students were suspended after a long period of threats and violence. How can a school fail to teach the values of peace, tolerance and respect for others? Why don´t the kids pay attention to the role models the school present them with?

As Johan suggests to me in an email, perhaps the students ignore those values because they embrace the school´s role models. Take a look at DN´s picture from the school, and you´ll understand.

11:47 - FREEDOM UNDER PRESSURE: 

Freedom House´s annual survey has been published, and it shows that 47 percent of the world´s population lived in free countries in 2006, up from 26 percent in 1976. This graph from Financial Times documents the amazing period we have just lived through.

But Freedom House warns that freedom´s momentum is lost and that there is now a negative trend in 33 countries and positive ones in just 18. We also see the emergence of authoritarian countries like Russia, Venezuela and Iran that use their resources to export anti-democratic ideas. And of course, the collapse of the democratic experiment in Iraq has discredited democracy and encouraged dictatorships everywhere.

15:45 - MODIFYING AND IMPROVING OUR WORLD: 

A good aspect of the recent debate on global warming is that more environmentalists have come around to the view that we need technology to solve environmental problems. Here is an innovation that they should embrace:

- It has reduced greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture by at least 9 billion kg, which is the equivalent to removing 4 million cars from the road.

- It has reduced pesticide use by 224 million kg and the environmental impact associated with pesticide use by more than 15 percent.

The innovation? GMOs.

And as a bonus, it has created $27 billion in economic benefits at the farm level, most of it in developing countries.

(Via Forskarbloggen)

09:26 - DAGENS CITAT: 

”Mona Sahlin blir för socialdemokraterna vad sjunde AP-fonden är för pensionsspararna: Man får det man får om man inte gör något aktivt val.”

- PJ Anders Linder i P1-morgon.

08:34 - ON MONA: 

Now that it seems certain that Mona Sahlin will lead the social democrats it´s worth noting that:

1) Stig-Björn Ljunggren said it from day one, when everybody else fantasized about Wallström, Jämtin and Messing.

2) It was not a Toblerone that brought Sahlin down the last time, it was her systematic use of the taxpayers´ money for private purposes.

08:24 - THE WORKSHOP OF THE WORLD (NO, IT´S NOT CHINA): 

The fear that all production moves to China seems to be the biggest in North America. Therefore it´s interesting to read in The Economist that United States and Canada were the only G8 countries that increased their share of global production in the decade to 2003 (with just over a quarter between them).

14:04 - EAT FOR FREEDOM: 

An investigation initiated by Centrum för rättvisa just showed that the conditions for the non-unionised employees at the small salad bar Wild´n Fresh in Göteborg are the same as or better than the ones in the collective agreement in 9 out of 10 aspects, and the last one is now taken care of. But still, the trade unions try to destroy it because it doesn´t surrender to them.

You don´t forget to eat there, do you? And while you are at it, clean away your own garbage, since the unions now withhold their garbage collection service.

Wild´n Fresh Salladsbar & Delikatesser
Saluhallen Briggen
Nordhemsgatan 28

13:41 - ECONOMIC FREEDOM AND MITTERAND: 

The new Heritage/WSJ Index of Economic Freedom is out now and it confirms Sweden´s split personality. When it comes to "Freedom from government" (Public expenses) only Libya and Cuba are worse of the countries in the index, but when it comes to "business freedom" Sweden is the fourth freest country, freer than champions like US, UK, Hong Kong and Singapore.

It´s what Mitterand once said, that France socialised the businesses but liberated the individuals - and Sweden did the opposite.

(Thanks Martin)

13:26 - NORWAY EMAIL OF THE DAY: 

"Talking of Norwegian protectionism, here´s an amusing anecdote for you...

In the early 1990s, when I was a scientist working in space research, I spent a lot of time in northern Norway, Sweden and Finland working with the EISCAT radar systems. This organisation is governed by an international treaty to which Norway is a signatory.

In those days of old, we were still storing data on magnetic tapes, and taking them away from the three radar sites for analysis in our own institutes. Exporting the tapes from Norway ran into problems on a few occasions, as Norwegian Customs wanted to charge export duty on them! This tax they worked out as a percentage of the total value of the EISCAT organisation as a whole, and we are talking tens of millions of kroner.

When we objected, the tapes were impounded, only to be returned later by sheepish-looking officials when lawyers´ letters began to circulate. No apology was ever forthcoming from the Norwegian authorities, if I recall correctly."

- Francis

00:44 - ATTAC FINDS ITS WAY HOME: 

Interesting. The remains of Attac Sweden - the Swedish version of the French leftist-protectionist movement - will symbolically ask for Norwegian citizenship at 10 o´clock today at Norway´s embassy in Stockholm, because they think that Norway leads the way to global justice.

That´s an interesting definition of global justice. Norway is actually the most protectionist developed country after Japan, according to Foreign Policy´s "Ranking the rich"-index, scoring only 1.2 of 10 on pro-poor trade policies (compared to Sweden´s 6.1) because of high tariffs in general and on milk and wheat in particular.

13:39 - WHY I WON´T WRITE A BOOK ON IMMIGRATION: 

I always have several ideas for new books. For some time I was thinking of writing a defence of open immigration. That won´t happen, because of the British globalisation advocate Philippe Legrain. He just wrote it.

I had the privilege of reading the draft of his Immigrants - your country needs them and I warmly recommend it as the best book on immigration and open borders - both to those who agree and to those who don´t. It´s an important book in this era when countries close their borders. Or as I explain in a blurb, prominently displayed on the book´s cover:

"This fact-filled and extremely convincing book shows that migration can benefit the migrants, the country they leave and the country they move to."

17:56 - THINGS I DIDN’T SEE AT THE TIME : 

– Financial Times’ gossip column has heard why Tony Blair clings to power for another few months: He wants to go to at least one international summit without meeting Chirac. That’s a good reason.

– A new edition of Neo has been published. I write about pessimism and doomsdays in science fiction.

– Håkan Jacobson, one of my favourite bloggers, takes a break. I hope it doesn’t last too long.

– The result of a beauty study, advertised here before, has been published. Apparently, looks are more important in politics than evaluations of competence, intelligence, likeability, or trustworthiness. Here is a chance to participate in a similar study. 

– Sweden’s former minister of justice, Thomas Bodström, admits that he dreamed up legislative proposals – literally.

– A new Cato study by Alan Reynolds find that contrary to what everybody and his kid sister believes, “there is no clear evidence of a significant and sustained increase in the inequality of U.S. incomes, wages, consumption, or wealth over the past 20 years.”

– Homosexuality is a “social pollutant” and a "by-product of capitalism", according to Nepal’s Maoist guerrilla.

– Unfortunately, the French statist conservative, pro-CAP candidate (who doesn’t speak English) was elected chairman of the EPP group in the European parliament, and at the same time it was revealed that he is under investigation for having diverted beef subsidies to his protectionist  staffers and campaigns.

– And not just MEP’s do it. Ethicists aren’t more moral than the rest of us. Turns out that ethics books are more likely to be stolen from libraries than other books…

12:59 - FÖR BRA FÖR ATT VARA SANT: 

"Många av mina svenska studenter blir väldigt provocerade när jag säger att det är en myt att öknen breder ut sig i norra Afrika. De tror att jag skojar med dem."

- Ulf Helldén, professor i naturgeografi, i SvD (ej online än) om studenter som inte vill tro på satellitbilder som visar att Sahara blir grönare. (Han påpekar samtidigt att det verkliga problemen finns i norra Kina.)

21:08 - AFTER HIS COMING-OUT POST : 

Having a blog really extends your relationship with the world. Since I blogged about our newborn little boy, congratulations have poured into the mail box. Thank you so very much. It warms our hearts, all three of them.

Here are some words of wisdom I’d like to pass along:

Erik on the most important things in life:

“I guess that your exemplary blog post frequency will suffer in the time to come. But there are actually more important things in life than the outcome of the latest trade round.”

Magnus with parenting advice:

“It’s fascinating how quickly my son falls asleep when I read The Economist aloud to him. I recommend it!”

Igor puts an optimistic blog in context:

“Birth of a child is the happiest news yet on your blog :)”

Christopher on e-friends:

“Perhaps it’s a bit silly to congratulate someone I don’t know, but reading blogs regularly sometimes makes me think that I am a friend of strangers. Anyway, congratulations. To become a father for the first time is the greatest thing you will ever experience.”

19:24 - BREAKING NEWS: 

I rarely write about my personal life on this blog, but once in a while, something happens that’s so overwhelming and exciting that it’s impossible not to tell. My wife Sofia and I just became parents. A small boy with long hair and the cutest little nose you ever saw is now part of our life.

No, he’s not called Milton or Adam or Frédéric. We thought that he should have a life of his own.

He is Alexander, because he is great.

18:55 - FOR THOSE WHO DON´T WATCH TELEMADRID: 

"Globalisation is good" is now for sale on DVD at SEK 129 from Timbro. Information for foreign customers will follow on that site soon.

15:58 - ON SPANISH TELEVISION: 

I just heard from my friend Gabriel, that tonight TeleMadrid - a Spanish public service company - will show my documentary Globalisation is good. And it seems like they admit that the reason for doing so is a one year and seven months long campaign from Spanish libertarians, who think that Spanish television should devote at least one hour to present the arguments for globalisation, when it is generally under attack.

Thanks to all my Spanish friends and supporters. Good work!

15:28 - WHY DOES EU HATE SHEEP-STOMACH WRAPPED CHEESE?: 

"I thought when we joined the EU we´d get lots of benefits and freedom. But what does freedom mean if I can´t slaughter my own pig in my back yard?"

- Romanian citizen who is unhappy that Brussels outlaws home slaughter, sheep-stomach wrapped cheeses, tax-free home made plum brandy, leaving corpses at home for three days after death and other expressions of human freedom. Via Open Europe

12:36 - GREELAND IS NOT GREENING: 

Dagens Nyheter´s cover story today is an interesting and troubling report on the problems facing Greenland in the era  of global warming. But a bit problematic is the article´s summary of scientific facts. It says that there are two types of ice on Greenland, sea ice and glaciers (land sheets). Quite correctly they claim that the sea ice is melting, but they don´t say what is happening to the land sheets, it only says what would happen if they melt and it mentions a scientist who has looked at north-eastern land sheets that are decreasing long-term. The impression is that land ice is generally melting right now.

Really? According to the biggest collection of data from the European Space Agency´s satellites (published in Science) during the last 11 years with data the land sheets have on average increased by 5.4 cm per year. According to ESA´s map below (blue is an increase, yellow, red a decrease), north-eastern Greenland is an exception to an overwhelming trend. Why doesn´t Dagens Nyheter want to tell their readers about that? Why do they want to give us the opposite impression? Looks like they never check a good horror story.

However, this is not an argument against the existence of global warming. First of all, the data covers only a short period, but more importantly, as I understand it this is something we could expect. Warmer temperatures result in more snow on high altitutudes, and that binds precipitation and ice sheets grow. So (again, as I understand it, I am not an expert) these facts could have been used by environmentalists and journalists as another example of the existence of global warming, but apparently, when those facts don´t point to imminent disaster, they are not that interesting any more.

13:32 - SVENSKA TRADITIONER: 

"Det är svensk tradition."

- Arbetsmarknadsminister Sven-Otto Littorin i Ekots lördagsintervju om varför facket ska få tvinga anställda och företag till avtal de inte vill ha.

"Kunde orätt genom häfd försvaras, så hade slafveriet den äldsta för sig; ty det är urgammalt."

- Erik Gustaf Geijer i Post- och Inrikes Tidningar 1845.

12:11 - HE WOULD HAVE PREFERRED ANOTHER COUP: 

When Augusto Pinochet died some tried to portray him as a benevolent dictator of Chile because he left power voluntarily after having lost a referendum. I also thought that this is what happened. But that´s not the case. Carlos Fortin, a former UN assistant secretary-general sets the record straight in a letter to The Economist:

"The truth—now well established—is that a few days before the referendum, when it became clear he was going to lose, Pinochet tried to stage a coup to prevent it from taking place. America´s State Department learnt about this, all but denounced it publicly and summoned the Chilean ambassador in Washington, DC, to express its concern. Apparently this strong intervention was instrumental in frustrating Pinochet´s designs to perpetuate himself in power." 

13:27 - THEY ARE ANXIOUS ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK: 

A new popular argument against globalisation and a flexible economy is that it creates bigger risks and "middle-class anxiety". Yale political scientist Jacob Hacker says that the average American family faced a 7 percent risk of seeing its income dropped by half or more in the early 1970s, and by 2002 it has increased to almost 17 percent.

But as The Economist points out, one reason is that American women have entered the workforce en masse, and every time they take time off to take care of the children, the family income falls dramatically. Generally the proportion who work is bigger today, and when you have an income it´s easier to lose it...

Futhermore, if people are really so anxious about this, they would save money to prepare. Instead, US savings rates have plunged. A more sophisticated credit market has made it easier to deal with variable incomes, safer to take bigger risks, and more profitable to take a temporary well-paid job.

In Washington Times, Alan Reynolds mentions another problem with Hacker´s theory. According to this, the years between 1974 and 1982 were the safest. This was, however, the worst economic period in post-war US. This was the years of rapid inflation, high unemployment, 14 percent mortgage rates and a decreasing median income.

It was predictable, safe and stable - and awful.

11:24 - WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY: 

Public service-television is politicised and sometimes face direct political pressure from the prime minister´s office to stop certain shows. So says one of the most respected public service-journalists, Lars Adaktusson, in Dagens Nyheter. His conclusion is that "free television" is not more "free" from outside influences than the commercial stations.

11:15 - RESISTANCE IS FUTILE: 

"Partiets uppfattning är alltid större och viktigare än den egna åsikten."

- (s)-veteranen Arne Kjörnsberg förklarar för SvD varför ingen socialdemokrat får svara nej när valberedningen kallar.

00:02 - WHEN POLITICIANS TELL THE TRUTH: 

“I must say to you that the State of the Union is not good."

- President Gerald Ford, who was just buried, in his State of the Union address in 1975.

21:30 - BHAGWATI´S MISSING LINK: 

The pressure on wages for the unskilled does not come from trade, but from new labour-saving technologies, writes Jagdish Bhagwati in FT: "this technical change ... has nothing to do with globalisation".

Well, that´s not really true. International competition forces local companies to adapt to the latest solutions and technologies if they want to stay in the game, so they are definitely linked. But Bhagwati still has a point. Even if we stop goods at the border, technologies will travel (try to stop the Internet with a tariff) so there would still be a pressure. The big difference is that our companies would then be a bit slower to adapt to changes and would therefore be less competetive and find it more difficult to replace the old jobs with new ones.

17:40 - SELF-HELP: 

At last a solution to mesy desks from an expert (via Marginal Revolution):

"When Nobel Laureate and University of Chicago economics professor Robert Fogel found his desk becoming massively piled he simply installed a second desk behind him that now competes in towering clutter with the first."

12:14 - MAIL OF THE DAY: 

"What makes Ignacio Ramonet´s defence of Castro even more amusing is that a) he is a protectionist and b) probably blame all Cuba´s problems on the US´ unwillingness to trade with the country."

- Anders

11:50 - HOW TORY MEP´S MAKE THE EU WORSE: 

EPP, the conservative/christian democrat group in the European parliament, has two main candidates when they elect a new president next Tuesday, a French friend of the CAP, Joseph Daul, or a reliable Swedish market-liberal, Gunnar Hökmark, who would be a force against EU regulation and protectionism.

But according to Henrik Alexandersson, Daul might win because some British Tory MEPs want the worst choice to win so that they force their party to leave an increasingly statist EPP and create a new group with bizarre members and no influence. If this is not just a conspiracy theory it sounds like the German post-war terrorists who wanted to force the government to become more oppressive so that it lost the people´s legitimacy. In the end they failed of course and made everybody worse while doing so.

23:26 - SNÄLLA REGERINGEN: LÄGG NED DEM FORT: 

"Sådana här studier är omöjliga att dra slutsatser ifrån eftersom man inte kan bevisa att det är alkoholens effekter och inte sunt leverne i övrigt som bidragit till de positiva effekterna. Vetenskapligt är inte det här intressant."

- Folkhälsoinstitutets Sven Andreasson drar i SvD till med en kritik mot en studie om vinets goda hälsoeffekt som de aldrig någonsin använder mot studier som försöker påvisa faror med allehanda godsaker.

18:06 - DN: PROGRESS IS DEPENDENT ON OPPRESSION: 

For some reason, Göran Leijonhufvud´s interesting essay on China in Dagens Nyheter today is introduced this way: "It is the poor peasants who pay the price for China´s incredible progress and growing middle class".

But the article isn´t about problems related to the creation of private farms and companies, markets and exports in China (the cause of progress), it is about how local communist party officials expand the bureaucracy, expose the poor to illegal taxes, steal their land, deny them equal freedom and kill them if they demand their rights.

So bizarrely, the common denominator between DN´s editors and China´s local party officials is that both groups think that economic progress in China is created by bureaucracy, oppression, taxes, confiscation and murder.

13:43 - PROGRESS IN ARABIC: 

If you read Arabic, you can now find a translation of my lecture on capitalism and belief in the future from Misbah Al Hurriyya.

(Here it is in Spanish and English.)

12:38 - PROGRESS EVEN IN TONGA: 

"Having touched the late king´s body [Tupou IV of Tonga] during the funeral preparations, the royal undertakers are strictly forbidden from using their hands for any other purpose until the period of mourning is over.

The current generation of nima tapu are more fortunate than their predecessors.

Until 300 years ago they would have been strangled or had their hands cut off following the king´s funeral."

- BBC News presents more proof that the world is becoming a better place (via Tom Palmer).

12:24 - BURNING OF THE DAY: 

I wrote:

“in 16th century France cat-burning was popular entertainment for the whole family”

Jon responds:

"Nowadays the French prefer car-burning instead =)"

12:10 - OH, IT WASN´T THE DICTATORSHIP WE WERE OPPOSED TO, JUST THE MARKET: 

Do you remember ATTAC? The French leftist-protectionist movement that opposes "the dictatorship of the market", launched by Ignacio Ramonet. In a debate in Foreign Policy he explains which kind of dictatorship he prefers in a long defence of Cuba´s dictator Fidel Castro, "a preeminent pioneer in the history of his country", closing with the words "Viva comrade Fidel Castro!"

15:54 - 160 REASONS FOR OPTIMISM: 

Before you are exposed to 363 days of doom and gloom news in 2007, get yourself an inoculation from the Edge´s Annual Question, and the responses from 160 scientists and thinkers:

"As an activity, as a state of mind, science is fundamentally optimistic. Science figures out how things work and thus can make them work better. Much of the news is either good news or news that can be made good, thanks to ever deepening knowledge and ever more efficient and powerful tools and techniques. Science, on its frontiers, poses more and ever better questions, ever better put.

What are you optimistic about? Why? Surprise us!"

And of course, there is a lot to be optimistic about, for example many mention that technology will improve our health and solve our environmental problems, including global warming.

Chris Anderson is optimistic that better communications and connections improve our collective intelligence, and that it will never end. Kevin Kelley is optimistic because we might make the world one percent better every year, and that accumulates to incredible progress over the years. Geoffrey Carr is happy because Malthus has been proven wrong and Steven Pinker is optimistic about the decrease in violence (in 16th century France cat-burning was popular entertainment for the whole family).

Richard Dawkins is optimistic that mankind will discover the final theory of everything (and that it will mean the end of religion) before superior creatures from another world make contact and tell us the answer and Michael Shermer think that in the long run, science beats superstitiion (not even in the US a majority think that life was designed by God, which everybody, everywhere used to believe).

And of course, Ray Kurzweil is the most optimistic. Here is the summary of his answer:

"I´m Confident About Energy, the Environment, Longevity, and Wealth; I´m Optimistic (But Not Necessarily Confident) Of the Avoidance Of Existential Downsides; And I´m Hopeful (But Not Necessarily Optimistic) About a Repeat Of 9-11 (Or Worse)"

(Thanks Thomas)

13:06 - TWO BOTSWANA IN ONE YEAR: 

We often hear the complaint that a handful of billionaires are richer than the 49 poorest countries. That´s a good thing, because it means that a handful of companies have been able to create more wealth, technology and opportunities than a lot of war-torn and ill-governed countries, often dictatorships. It would be worse for everybody - including those countries - if they couldn´t. The problem is the poverty of those economies, not the wealth of the creators.

But as we compare apples and oranges, why not look into another comparison. According to the FT the 15 biggest donations and pledges from American philantropists in 2006 totalled $35 billion.

It means that 15 American billionaires gave away two Botswana last year.

23:31 - ANTISEMITISKA TEXTREMSOR: 

Det nya året började som vanligt bra framför Ivanhoe - den storslagna filmatiseringen av Walter Scotts roman som bl a skrevs som ett inlägg i kampen för judars rättigheter i Scotts samtid. Den frihetskampen tycks emellertid ha gått den svenske översättaren förbi, för varje nyår översätts nämligen Broder Tucks uttalande "when down in the cellar I found this infidel" (om den judiske hedersmannen Isaac of York) med textremsan "och nere i källaren fann jag denna judehund".

Om Ivanhoe hade hört det hade han förmodligen stött sin lans med den spetsiga änden mot översättarens sköld.