The Wall Street Journal had a great editorial yesterday (subscription required; March 5 update — Here’s a free OpinionJournal.com link) lauding the Australia’s decade of accomplishment under Prime Minister John Howard:

Howard’s Record
March 1, 2006

John Howard will celebrate a decade in office as Australia’s prime minister tomorrow. Somewhere, Ronald Reagan is smiling.

Like the Gipper in the U.S., Mr. Howard has fundamentally reshaped Australian society through economic reform. When elected in March 1996, he pledged lower taxes, privatization initiatives and labor market change. His government wouldn’t “be a pale imitation” of the Labor leadership it replaced, the plain-talking Aussie vowed. What an understatement. To date, he’s followed through on every one of those promises.

As a result, the Lucky Country is, well, luckier today than it’s ever been in its history. Over Mr. Howard’s tenure, Australia experienced an enormously stable and robust economic boom. The Sydney stock market’s capitalization has swung skywards. The central bank was granted independence and promptly brought average inflation down to around 2.5% over the last 10 years. Employment picked up mightily. Australians now feel a renewed confidence in their nation that strongly echoes that of America’s vibes under Mr. Reagan.

All of this wealth creation has come from common sense observations: if you give businesses the freedom to make decisions about wages, prices and employment, they’ll respond rationally. If you encourage healthy competition among firms, only the best will prosper. If you make your citizens shareholders, they’ll have a personal stake in companies’ success, and productivity will soar. Consider: More Australians today own stock than are members of labor unions, thanks to Mr. Howard’s reforms. That’s what we’d call an ownership society, and that’s why Australia’s economic success isn’t a passing fad: It’s entrenched, and is likely to continue after Mr. Howard has left office.

….. (the previous) Labor government leaders didn’t have the long-term vision or the nimbleness of Mr. Howard, who, in his tenth year, still commands enough political influence to pass significant new reforms. Just consider the labor market laws passed last December, which established one national system of industrial relations laws and new, market-oriented arrangements for setting the minimum wage, among other things. Not even the U.K.’s Tony Blair, still steaming ahead after nine years in power and without a credible opposition candidate in sight, has the clout to push through such a radical move.

On the fiscal front, Mr. Howard has also pushed forward, balancing the national books, wiping out government debt, introducing a goods and services tax to spread the tax burden and cutting marginal income tax burdens several years running.

….. (like US President) Reagan, the Prime Minister has also forged a solid, realist internationalist foreign policy, built on the country’s long-time alliance with free nations like the U.K. and the U.S. He’s also — importantly — forged new friendships in Asia, as evidenced by free trade agreements his administration has inked, and Australia’s participation in regional political and economic forums.

That’s not a significant change from prior Australian administrations, all of whom proved solid allies of free nations. But what Australia has witnessed under Mr. Howard is an escape from its Vietnam-era hang-ups. Consider how Australia led the 1999 peacekeeping effort in East Timor, or its involvement in securing Afghanistan and Iraq. The 2002 Bali bombings, where 88 Australians perished, surely helped secure public support for Mr. Howard’s efforts, but so, too, did the Prime Minister’s resolve.

Countries can make their own luck, as the Lucky Country under John Howard’s stewardship has demonstrated.

What makes an economy grow and prosper has worked so often, and in so many places, that it’s amazing to hear people say “It won’t work” every time it is proposed elsewhere.

One was President, the other has presidential ambitions (not exactly a mystery since at least 2001, if not earlier — go to 3rd paragraph from the end).

One has demanded a security review of the Dubai deal that appears more unnecessary with each passing day, and the other has “advised Dubai’s leaders to propose a 45-day delay to allow for an intensive investigation of the acquisition, according to his spokesman.”

Also, Paul Greenberg notes in his Townhall column yesterday:

Hubby has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from the Emirates for the Clinton Library in Little Rock (thank you very much!) and, according to his presidential foundation’s Web site, the American University in Dubai welcomes William J. Clinton Scholars every year.

Assuming they ever have dinner together, the Clintons’ mealtime conversation over this would be fascinating.

Since its parent company is the target of the First Amendment-threatening subpoenas involved, OpinionJournal.com is obviously not an objective observer in the situation you’re about to see. Nevertheless, it has cut to the chase (link may require registration) — New SEC Commissioner Chris Cox has a serious problem on his hands with renegades at the SEC:

Subpoena Education
Reporters discover the joys of SEC enforcement.
Thursday, March 2, 2006 12:01 a.m.

The recent flap over Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenas to financial journalists hasn’t been welcome in our precincts, but the silver lining is that it has been educational. The press corps is learning what it’s like to be an American businessman in the post-Enron age.

The story is that the SEC’s San Francisco office subpoenaed email and other documents from several journalists, including one who works at Dow Jones Newswires and another at MarketWatch.com, both owned by the publisher of this newspaper. Also served were TheStreet.com and its co-founder, the effervescent James Cramer, who tossed the subpoena to the floor during his CNBC TV program. Suddenly, First Amendment claims were flying hard and fast, and not without cause.

The subpoenas came after an online retailer, Overstock.com, accused a hedge fund and a stock-research firm of using the media to drive down the price of its stock. To put it another way, the journalists are suspected of having sources who tell them things that they then share with their readers or listeners. Where we come from this is called reporting, or providing facts to investors who can then make more informed decisions.

….. The SEC’s subpoena flurry betrays an all too eager desire to manage and control financial information. It’s part of the mentality that a few years ago produced Regulation FD, which bars publicly traded companies from sharing certain information with research analysts before it is broadcast to the public. This has led to harassing enforcement actions against corporate officers who innocently drop a fact or two of positive or negative news about their company. Now the SEC scolds are harassing journalists who report market-moving facts based on their daily digging.

The subpoenas also reflect the bully-boy tactics that have infected the SEC enforcement staff in recent years. They’ve acquired the Eliot Spitzer afflatus, which is to fire off subpoenas before asking questions and assume that they have a right to see any and all emails and any other communications.

The irony here is that many financial reporters and columnists have benefited by receiving the leaks of those emails from the SEC and Mr. Spitzer’s office, spun of course to make a target company look bad. These journalists are learning how it feels to be on the receiving end of such blunderbuss discovery. At least they have the First Amendment to protect them, not to mention the airwaves or barrels of ink to defend themselves publicly. The average Wall Street trader has no such recourse.

This episode also appears to have been educational for SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, who along with other Commissioners wasn’t told about the subpoenas before they were issued. At least one of the subpoenas was approved by no less than the head of SEC enforcement, Linda Thomsen. That even she failed to inform her superiors is another illustration of the arrogance that has infected the SEC staff since former Chairman Bill Donaldson failed to provide any adult supervision. This disregard for the agency’s appointed leaders reached an apex last year when legal staffers inserted a clause into a mutual fund rule that made it difficult for Commissioners to have a say in future litigation over the new rule.

….. Mr. Cox has now put the journalist subpoenas on hold, while delivering a much-need rebuke to the staff about proper procedure and overzealous enforcement. He says the Commissioners will soon consider the subpoena matter themselves, which means putting the grownups back in charge.

Perhaps it’s too much to ask of our brethren in the financial press that they show greater skepticism toward the leaks and accusations of the SEC staff that are their daily bread. But it’s not too much to expect that Mr. Cox and his fellow Commissioners rein in their staff and return due process, rather than headlines, to the center of SEC enforcement.

The idea that the SEC can prevent reporters from reporting, and punish them when they do, is patently absurd. Whoever in the SEC enforcement sector who thought they could embark on their punitive mission without even informing the Commissioner should be fired immediately.

Free Links:

• Stephen Bainbridge at TCS Daily (HT Instapundit) thinks that CBS may have a pretty good case in its suit against Howard Stern. Of course, Stern’s pushing back.
• Hong Kong — Another budget surplus, another tax reduction (HT Stefan Karlsson’s Blog). Actually, it’s the first cut in 8 years, but taxes have traditionally been very low in Hong Kong, and fortunately for the rest of the world, the mainland has mostly left Hong Kong’s economy alone since Great Britain handed it over almost 9 years ago. Hong Kong’s government is worried that the island’s 2005 growth rate was “only 7.3%,” compared to 2004’s 8.6%. If this tiny island nation can routinely grow this fast, why do we break out in inflation-fearing hives any time growth gets above 4%?
• I would think that if the “movement” to impeach President Bush is ever to gain any kind of traction, it might be a good idea to have someone other than the guy discussed here out front leading the charge (4th paragraph at link).
• Bankrupt Northwest Airlines lost $1.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005 and $2.6 billion for the year — The company say if it can’t cut concesssion deals with pilots and flight attendants, it may have to liquidate. That does not appear to be an idle threat. The flight attendants have a tentative deal, but ratification appears far from certain.
• At the other major bankrupt airline, Delta’s situation with its pilots, though a little less immediately threatening, isn’t that much better.
• Mostly the same story, different month in vehicle sales — Ford and GM were both down (2.5% and 3%, respectively), and Daimler Chrysler was up a bit (3%). The surprise is that Toyota only had a 2.4% increase, when 10% was expected. Honda had the best month of the biggies, with an 8.7% jump.
• 100 Days of Merkel — In Germany, Angela Merkel is riding high (as high as 80%) in the polls, thanks largely to her performance on the international stage, but precious little has been done to deal with deep-seated economic problems.
• Are state and municipal tax incentives unconstitutional? I’d like to think so. They give special favors to certain businesses, effectively penalizing other businesses that have to take up the rest of the tax burden, and in my opinion violating equal protection. If a state or city wants to be competitive, it needs to have a low tax structure for all individuals and businesses that would make a company want to locate or grow there. The Supreme Court heard arguments today regarding the giveaways to Daimler Chrysler for building the new Jeep plant in Toledo. The ruling, when it comes, will be important. Looking at a complete list of the different types of incentives offered by each state, you can’t help but notice, for the most part, that the ones with the smallest selections of incentives are the ones that are growing the fastest.

From DefenseLINK News (HT Fix 4 RSO via S.O.B. Alliance Member MilTracker):

America Supports You: Project Sews Relief for Deployed Troops
By Paul X. Rutz
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2006 – Karen Stark never liked to sew. But thanks to her efforts, deployed servicemembers throughout the world are getting handmade “cool ties.”

The Oklahoma woman has found her mission organizing groups through “The Hugs Project,” a nonprofit organization manufacturing reusable neck scarves and helmet liners with polymer gel inserts that keep cold for hours at a time.

For years Stark wrote to deployed troops and sent occasional care packages overseas to show her support, but she was looking for a way to help more, she said. One day she opened an e-mail illustrating how to make cooling ties for golfers, hikers and vacationers.

“I knew this was something that could help our military, that they were fighting really hot conditions,” she said. “I got goose bumps, and I knew this was what my mission was, that I was supposed to make cool ties.”

Stark said she hadn’t sewn in 40 years and asked friends with sewing experience to teach her. But instead of teaching her, they took the patterns and started making and sending cooling ties on their own.

That, Stark said, is when her husband gave her some helpful advice. “My husband said, ‘Maybe your job isn’t sewing; maybe your job is telling other people what they can do.’”

After she learned how to make the cool ties, Stark went on the Internet, telling people about her project. She met hundreds of people willing to help make cooling ties, or “hugs” as Stark began to call them.

“People would say, ‘I pray for the military every day, but I’m a hands-on person. I want to do something to help,’” Stark said. “This is what they can do.”

The project works in a decentralized way, sharing information on the Internet and encouraging most members to manufacture, pack and send goods on their own. With 1,500 formal members and thousands working independently, The Hugs Project works with individuals in nearly every state and 10 foreign countries.

Stark said her particular group meets about twice a week in and around Oklahoma City, where she lives. They also travel to outlying towns and sometimes go on longer trips to spread the word, setting up formal groups (called “group hugs”) in Colorado, Texas, Missouri, California and Arizona.

The project also gets help coordinating through America Supports You, a Defense Department program facilitating grassroots and corporate support for the nation’s servicemembers.

The project’s members continue perfecting their designs thanks to feedback from deployed troops, Stark said.

“We make a helmet cooler that cushions their helmet,” she said, referring to the helmet coolers as “kisses.” “It’s got the same polymer gel in it — we don’t put very much in there because if you put too much, their helmet gets bouncy, which is a bad thing the way I hear it.”

The project doesn’t just keep troops cool, Stark said. In the winter, the polymer gel inserts can retain heat just as well as they keep cold, and they can be reused many times over. Each “hug” or “kiss” comes with instructions on how to make it a cooler or a heater.

When cold weather comes on, the project switches to winter mode, adding other cold weather items– such as hats, neck warmers, fingerless mittens, blankets and colorful hats to pass out to Iraqi and Afghan children — to their care packages.

In all, the group has sent an estimated 150,000 polymer gel items to troops serving abroad.

Stark said she is happy to hear from new members on the project’s Web site, but she suggests that people she hasn’t met personally go to their local VFW to find addresses for troops overseas.