And more from our friends...

Interesting thing from Samizdata on becomming a Libertarian.

The money/amusing quote for me comes about halfway through...

"I've lived in a society in which there is no capital gains tax, no tax on dividends, an extremely low income rate (16%) and a streamlined civil service under the full protection of British Jurisprudence. Guess what? It was a great society! Crime was low, the streets were well kept and the tasks, which Government is necessary to perform were carried out perfectly adequately. The Government did not need to pick up Inland Revenue like a dust-buster and hoover up half my money each year to achieve it! It had followed a Laissez-Faire industrial policy for generations and had been a free-market economy since its creation. "

Anybody care to guess what this wonderful happy bastion of a perfect life was?

Hong Kong.  Now...  I might be slightly wrong here, but my understanding of Hong Kong, then, as now, was one of pretty wild differences in standards of living between the haves and the rest of the population.  

There's an assuming comment about Afganistan as well.