In One Year and Out the Other

January 1, 2022

In Ancient Babylon, people swore oaths to return borrowed objects and pay off all their debts. The tradition of New Year’s resolutions has persisted ever since. Mark Twain called New Year’s Day “a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks… and humbug resolutions.” One comedian observed […]

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Looking for Other Alternatives

December 31, 2021

When we burn coal to generate electricity, we are said to be contributing to the long-term destruction of the Earth’s capacity to support life. So thousands of communities and utilities have switched to natural gas, only to be told that fracking might be poisoning the ground water and in perhaps setting faucets on fire. Biomass […]

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Obey It, or Defy It – It’s Still the Law

December 24, 2021

Politicians generally think in government terms, assuming there is a government solution to every problem. But despite that inherent hubris, there is one law no government can ever repeal, or even substantively amend – the law of supply and demand. It has always been, and will always be, a fact of human nature, because people […]

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What If Nature Were For Sale?

December 13, 2021

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) recently announced the launch of a new “asset class,” one whose members will be referred to as “Natural Asset Companies.” The project was developed by NYSE and Intrinsic Exchange Group, which is a partnership of the Inter-American Development Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation, and a venture capital firm called Aberdare […]

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Can’t Have It Both Ways

December 10, 2021

Coloradans may want wind and solar energy to replace all the traditional power sources, and have made it a statewide goal. But they oppose construction of power lines that are required to accomplish that objective. How can they have it both ways? That predicament has tied the New Jersey legislature in knots for months, over […]

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EPA’s New Mission: Providing Cover

December 3, 2021

For twenty-five years, the Competitive Enterprise Institute has published a document called “Ten Thousand Commandments.” It tracks the costs imposed on the economy by regulations. It is mind-boggling. When most people think about the concept of over-regulation, they immediately envision large and distant federal agencies, especially EPA, OSHA, and IRS. However, there are actually more […]

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Winning the Lottery

August 13, 2021

A Capital Research Center writer and investigative researcher named Hayden Ludwig published a column asserting that “If you’re alive today, you won the lottery.” He draws a stark contrast between the blessings of modern life, and the drastic changes in policies throughout the western world – policies that he says threaten those very blessings. Ludwig’s […]

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Trusting Science, or Scientists?

August 6, 2021

The White House is considering imposing a national mask mandate, following several local and state governments that have already acted. Some say the science requires it. Scientific information should drive policy on complex issues, say many officials. The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics reports that America spends more than $650 billion a year […]

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Theodore Roosevelt’s Monumental Gambit

July 30, 2021

The New York Times ran an uncharacteristically long editorial last week about President’s Biden’s environmental agenda, headlined, “Joe Biden’s Monumental Environmental Gambit.” It was a gushy puff piece, like we have grown to expect from that source, leading with the probably-accurate generalization, “It is hard to overstate the joy of the environmental community when Joe […]

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But This Time They Promised!

July 23, 2021

One of today’s great Native American writers is David Treuer, a Leech Lake Ojibwe historian and author of “The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America From 1890 to the Present.” It is a great read about the relationship between native tribes and the U.S. government over the past 130 years, though mostly maddening, tragic, and […]

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