We don't know how lucky we are [updated]

Further to the famous (in New Zealand) Kiwi anthem "We don't know how lucky we are", embedded below:

• The Cal State system implements mandatory furloughs to avoid staffing cuts with state budget cuts


• U Southern Mississippi cuts its entire economics department

Yikes. Note that the Southern Mississippi results are despite that U Southern Miss is one of the most successful schools at drawing in Congressional earmarked funds.

The database, which was put together using the Center for Responsive Politics's data on lobbying and the information on earmarks compiled by Taxpayers for Common Sense, shows universities filling 9 of the 10 top slots, and 13 of the top 20 positions, in a list of organizations that both lobbied the government and benefited from pork barrel projects from their representatives. The University of Alabama led the way with $40.55 million in earmarks (it spent $360,000 on lobbying in 2009 and individuals contributed $138,494 to political candidates). Four of the next five slots were filled by Mississippi universities (U. of, Mississippi State, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and the University of Southern Mississippi), and one interesting recipient in the top 20 was Teach for America, which spent $509,000 on lobbying and got $2 million in earmarks.

Not a Kiwi anthem as yet, but some good fun from Kiwi FM on my drive in to work this morning: Kiwi band Bear Cat's song "New Zealand Adopt This Panda". Apparently, Bear Cat only writes songs about pandas. Excellent fun. If they had an album, I'd buy it.

Trademarks as Rent-seeking

The Real Beer Blog points to one of the more egregious recent rent-seeking uses of intellectual property protection in New Zealand. DB Breweries trademarked the name "Radler" for its Monteith's brand. Of course, Radler is a common international style; it's akin to trademarking "Pilsner" or "Ale".

And, this isn't the first time DB's gone this route. The ODT reports:

It also bid, unsuccessfully, to trademark its Summer Ale in 2007 to stop Lion Breweries selling Mac's Sun Dance Summer Ale and at the same time tried to stop Galbraith Brewery in Auckland from selling a summer ale it had been making for 12 years.

Lion produces a radler style under its Barefoot label in Australia but does not sell it here. It does not believe anyone should have exclusive use of the name of widespread beer styles.

Trademarks make sense as a way of preventing folks from eroding a firm's reputation. DB would rightfully get upset if another brewery tried to produce a "Monteith's" beer. But summer ales and radlers are fairly common styles. DB here seems to be trying to use IP law instead to raise its rivals' costs. It is no more likely that a drinker would confuse a Monteith's Summer Ale with Mac's Summer Ale than that they'd confuse a Monteith's Pilsner with anyone else's.

So now Green Man puts a sticker saying "Cyclist" over the "Radler" name on the label.

Strictly Ballroom: NZ Edition

As you'll recall, Strictly Ballroom was a wonderful movie about public choice: how a cartel will work to protect itself against new entrants by setting up rules that lower their own costs and prevent product innovation by newcomers. If that isn't what you got from watching the movie, read some Tullock then watch it again.

Strictly Ballroom was set in Australia. We now have a real-life Kiwi equivalent.

Dancing with the Stars' Samantha Hitchcock has been banned from competitions after she helped teach young dancers at a Christchurch studio.

The 25-year-old has been deregistered by The New Zealand Dance and Dancesport Council because she helped out at the Colleen Murray Dance Centre, which she also attends, when she does not have a teaching qualification.

Hitchcock, who with TV weatherman Tamati Coffey, won the hugely popular Dancing with the Stars TV show on Tuesday night, cannot enter amateur dance competitions for six months.

Hitchcock said the ruling was ridiculous.

NZDDC president Grant Mcown said he was unable to comment yesterday.
It is the first time the rule has been enforced in this way. Hitchcock said it was outdated.

"I've got all this knowledge but I'm not allowed to pass it on," she said.

Moves to ban Hitchcock started when members of another Christchurch dance studio lodged complaints to the dance council after a Colleen Murray duo Timur and Yulia Mullayanov won the New Zealand Ballroom and Latin Dance Championships in August last year.

The deregistration followed after teachers at Colleen Murray Dance Centre were asked to confirm that Hitchcock and other experienced dancers had helped teach, unpaid, under Murray's supervision - something they say happens everywhere.

Hitchcock's ban ends next month. Colleen Murray has now started a 'no confidence' petition against the council.

It'll be interesting to see whether the no confidence motion passes or not: the members are profiting by the existence of the rule, by and large. I do wish them luck though!

HT: Seamus Hogan