Environmentalism thus stands a very strong chance of ultimately reverting to the more traditional socialism of massive government construction and engineering projects.
Energy
Big Oil: A Politician’s Favorite Villain
The Supreme Court’s recent 8 to 0 decision (Justice Alito not yet participating) shot down a claim that oil companies were colluding in setting prices. That claim was upheld by the far-left 9th Circuit Court of Appeals but neither liberals nor conservatives on...
Spoiled Brat Media
The first revolt of the American colonists against their British rulers was immortalized by Ralph Waldo Emerson as “the shot heard round the world.” Vice President Dick Cheney’s hunting accident has now become the shot heard round the Beltway. The...
Dictator Mentality at The New York Times
Like a dictator who is unhappy with the outcome of an election, The Times is unhappy with the outcome of the choices of tens of millions of American citizens expressed in their purchases of motor-vehicles and fuel for those vehicles.
Oil, Big Business, and “Monopoly”
Environmentalism thus stands a very strong chance of ultimately reverting to the more traditional socialism of massive government construction and engineering projects.
“Record Profits Spark New Backlash Against Big Oil”—An Economic Analysis
If politicians were serious about wanting to reduce the burden imposed on consumers by the high price of oil, all they would need to do would be to abolish the restrictions on energy production that they have up to now been supporting.
Senate Hearings on Energy Prices: Putting the Squeeze on Big Oil
Who can resist good theater? Certainly not American lawmakers. All the pieces were in place on Nov. 9, as the Senate held hearings about the soaring price of energy. The CEOs of the five largest oil companies were the guest stars, called in to endure lectures from a...
Spoiled Brat Politics, Part 2
The idea that what I want overrides what you want has increasingly become part of our thinking, our policies and even our laws. There is literally a federal case before the Supreme Court over the fact that many colleges and universities refuse to allow military...
Spoiled Brat Politics, Part 1
An editorial in a recent issue of the National Geographic’s “Traveler” magazine complained that kayakers in Maine found “residential development” near national parks and urged its readers to use their “influence” to prevent...
Having Your Oil and Eating It’s Source Too
It’s easy to proclaim that the U.S. uses too much oil; that the U.S. is evil because it fights “wars for oil” in the Middle East. It’s still easier to shout that there’s NO way in hell our government should permit drilling for oil in...
What “Oil Crisis”, Part 2
Soaring oil prices have revived the old bogeyman that the world is running out of oil. Economics is a great field for nostalgia buffs because the same old fallacies keep coming back, like golden oldies in music. Back in 1960, a best-selling book titled “The...
What “Oil Crisis”?
With oil prices passing the record-breaking $60 a barrel level and heading even higher, the word “crisis” is now being used and all sorts of political “solutions” are being proposed. Is there really a crisis? One of the dictionary definitions...
Energy Bill is a Massive Pork-Barrel
It’s bad enough that the energy bill now working its way through Congress may cost taxpayers close to $36 billion over the next five years. Worse, it actually contains provisions that would increase the cost of energy in the years ahead. Take the ethanol...
Operation Bao Chuan: Say No to China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s Bid for Unocal
China National Offshore Oil Corporation presumably chose the codename “Operation Bao Chuan” for its Unocal offer to conjure up national pride in its bid to buy America’s ninth largest oil company. For bao chuan were the huge treasure ships that...
Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat
I beg to move, That this House welcomes the formation of a Government representing the united and inflexible resolve of the nation to prosecute the war with Germany to a victorious conclusion. On Friday evening last I received His Majesty’s commission to form a...
Russia: Kremlin Takeover of the Russian Oil Industry?
In Russia these days, a lot of old is new again. In fact, the Russian oil and gas sector’s new paradigm can be summarized in two words: “state domination.” The free market has been abandoned. For example, last December the tax authorities bankrupted...
The Volcker Oil-for-Food Interim Reports: No Exoneration for U.N. Corruption
In order to begin restoring the credibility of the United Nations, Mr. Annan should step down.
Environmental Regulations Reduce Safety and Productivity in the Energy Industry
An explosion last week at a British Petroleum (BP) oil and gas refinery in Texas killed fifteen workers and injured seventy others, five critically. As usual, myopic media accounts blamed BP and its allegedly unsafe work conditions – and called for more intense govern…
Conflict of Interests In The Volcker Oil-for-Food Investigation
The Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program (IIC), headed by Paul Volcker, is due to release its interim report at the end of January. The Volcker report undoubtedly has the potential to bring about the downfall of U.N....
Dispelling Some Crude Myths About Oil’s Real Impact
Economists are beginning to panic about the recent run-up in the oil price (+36%, year to-date, to $44.4/barrel) and its likely future impact on stock prices, profits and output in the U.S. But there’s no reason to panic. A fast-rising oil price is no necessary...
The East Coast Blackout
The East Coast blackout seemed to be straight out Atlas Shrugged : 60 million people without electricity and the official reaction was that things worked like they were supposed to! I just had to verify that the New York Times editorial on the subject was a call for...
Market Wonders and Oil Prices
We’ve all seen gasoline prices rising; is that good news or bad news? Congress could enact price controls and “odd and even” days for gasoline purchases like they did in the 1970s. Sure we’d be paying lower prices, but the selling price of a...
“Price Gouging” and Oil Prices
Politicians are talking of “price gouging” and oil. They say Americans are being charged too much for oil (as evidenced by the price for a gallon of gas hitting $2 in parts of the country). What exactly is “price gouging?” No objective...
The Real Threat to our Energy Supplies
What threatens us is not any physical scarcity, but a politically created one.
Department of Everything
At worst, DOE energy policies are wasteful, even harmful to the best interests of American consumers.
California Energy Enters The Dark Ages
In no case were the power companies and their profit motive responsible for brownouts or blackouts.
The Great Power-Shortage Myth
An electric-power blackout is a special case of the wider economic phenomenon of a shortage, that is, of a situation in which the quantity of a good that buyers are seeking to buy at the prevailing price exceeds the quantity of the good that the sellers possess and are …
Blood for Oil
Someone, finally, has stated the truth to the administration and to the world: Saudi Arabia is our enemy. According to the Washington Post, that was the message of a recent briefing to the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board. The presentation, by Rand Corporation...
OPEC, Oil, and Energy Economics 101
We are all familiar with pundits from all corners decrying our dependence on foreign oil. Before the oil embargo in the 70’s and subsequent attempts to wean ourselves from OPEC, we were importing about 25% of our oil and now we are importing over 50%. This is...
Of Halloween Spoilsports and Spiders
This will be my 16-month-old daughter’s first Halloween on foot. Last year, she was a baby bunny who toured the neighborhood in Daddy’s arms. This year, she’ll be a kitten — clambering up porch steps, clutching her goody bag, and marveling at...
Free Markets Can End The OPEC Cartel
Had the United States pursued a policy of economic freedom with respect to energy production over the last thirty years, the conditions for OPEC’s success as a cartel would never have been present in the first place.
The Enemies of Nuclear Power
As Congress ponders how the country can avoid an energy crisis like the one that has affected California, many people believe that only science-fiction can offer a long-term solution–a solution in which discoveries in theoretical physics would lead to a new...
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