Mankind’s use of fossil fuels is supremely virtuous — because human life is the standard of value, and because using fossil fuels transforms our environment to make it wonderful for human life.
Energy
Energy Companies and The Nobility of the Profit Motive
The view that the profit motive is evil and the undefinable goals of “corporate social responsibility” and “environmental sustainability” are noble is the reverse of the truth.
Neil Young’s Immoral Attack on Oil Sands
It is about time the oil companies take the high moral ground and tell the world what a crucial value oil and other fossil fuels are to us.
If For-Profit Oil is Evil, What’s the Alternative?
Controversy is heating up over an Obama administration plan to drastically reduce the amount of federal lands available for oil shale development in the American West. The Bush administration had set aside 1.3 million acres for oil shale and tar sands development in...
Sierra Club “forward on climate” rally is a “blackout rally” opposition leader says
On Sunday, February 17, the Sierra Club will lead what is being billed as the world’s largest ever “climate rally.” “This is a blackout rally,” said Alex Epstein, President of the Center for Industrial Progress (CIP). “The Sierra Club doesn’t just want to outlaw the...
Interventions Beget Interventions
It has long been noted that government intervention seldom, if ever, accomplishes the stated purpose. When the failure of some regulation, subsidy, or program becomes clear, legislators respond with further interventions. As an example, consider the solar panel...
Big Oil: Please, Please Let Us Drill
The headline on CNN.com said it all: “Big Oil’s promise: Let us drill, we’ll hire 1.4 million workers.” The article goes on to say: With job creation taking center stage in American politics, the oil industry Wednesday made a pitch for drilling more widely. With...
Ethics of Energy Companies
Energy companies, particularly those producing fossil fuels—oil, natural gas, coal—are under attack by the environmentalists and their sympathizers in the media. It is one thing to criticize companies such as BP, deservedly, for lax safety procedures or lacking...
No Easy Fix for Gas Prices
This month, as unleaded gasoline prices increased for 17 consecutive days (to a national average of $3.647 per gallon - up 11% thus far this year) and West Texas Intermediate crude joined Brent crude in breaking through a $100 per barrel level, energy prices emerged...
BP Oil Spill: Private Property is the Solution
For this article, let me be brief about the following facts, which are oil and water under the bridge. BP’s off-shore oil leases, like all off-shore oil leases, are leases to use federal property. (Hat tip to this article in The Freeman.) The land and water are...
Moratorium One of Many Obama Oil Spill Mistakes
he order by a federal district court in Louisiana overturning President Obama’s six-month general moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico illustrates many of the mistakes the administration has made in handling this environmental disaster. ...
No Defense of Deficits: Beware Dr. James Galbraith's Snake Oil
As the Greek welfare state collapses, citizens there have been rioting over cutbacks in social spending necessitated by mounting government debt. The rioters apparently fail to recognize that whenever a government routinely promises to spend more money than it has,...
Obama's Inept Nuclear Strategy: Building Down Will Trigger A Rogue Build Up
On April 6, the Obama administration released its new nuclear strategy; on Thursday, the prez inked a new nuke treaty with the Russians in Prague. This week, he's hosting an all-world atomic affair in Washington. It's a veritable "no-nukes-palooza." Problem is, not...
Stop Oil Speculation Now: The Airlines Disgraceful Political Agenda
Today I received a message from United Airlines pushing a particularly misguided political agenda. It is one of the most disgraceful public displays of incompetence and evasion by American business in recent memory. According to the airlines, speculators are to blame...
In Defense of Oil and Gas Speculators
Despite Congress' periodic hauling of weak-kneed oil executives before their committees to charge them with collusion and price-gouging, subsequent federal investigations turn up no evidence to support the charges. Right now oil company executives are getting a bit of...
Dumb or Ill-informed About Energy Problems
Environmentalists come to their senses when non-drilling philosophy costs them something. It’s two-faced hypocrisy.
Investigate Bad Congress, Not Big Oil: How The American Government’s Anti-Capitalist Policies Increase Gas Prices
With gasoline prices exceeding $4 a gallon in some states, politicians are responding as usual: Blame Big Oil First. Several prominent senators have once again summoned industry leaders to Capitol Hill, subjecting them to yet another barrage of rhetorical questions,...
In Search of Villains for Rising Food and Oil Prices
In searching for villains for rising food and oil prices, some commentators have turned to speculators, namely people trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and similar exchanges around the world. A sample of the claims: "Biofuels and droughts can't fully explain...
It’s About Energy, Not Climate
“Conservation” as a source of energy is a contradiction in terms.
Running Out of Oil
"Proven" oil reserves, oil that's economically and technologically recoverable, are estimated to be more than 1.1 trillion barrels. That's enough oil, at current usage rates, to fuel the world's economy for 38 years, according to Leonardo Maugeri, vice president for...
Keep Our “Addiction” to Oil, End Our Allergy to Self-Assertion
Politicians and commentators from both parties are decrying our "addiction to oil." They exhort us to embrace costly programs to reduce our consumption of oil as quickly as possible. The primary rationale for this is national security. Our oil consumption is dangerous...
Gasoline Rationing via “Tradeable Gasoline Rights”
Gasoline Rationing Scheme but Economic Freedom Will Improve the Environment and Promote National Security
Gasoline at 10 Cents a Gallon and Falling
Does gasoline at 10 cents a gallon and falling sound impossible in today’s world?
“Price Gouging” and The Price of Oil
Since 1976, because of environmental regulations, not a single additional oil refinery has been constructed in the United States.
Subscribe for free.
Read by students, professors, and citizens, Capitalism Magazine provides over 9,000 free to read articles and essays from pro-reason, individual rights perspective.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.