AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS ADDICT

 The pen is mightier than the sword… (Photo credit: mbshane)

THE HIGH COST OF GREEN

NYC Mayor De Blasio Just Banned Another Common Product, by Phil Hall, at thefederalistpapers.org. He is banning Styrofoam, which is used in such things as Styrofoam containers for food by restaurants and packing peanuts used in shipping and storage. De Blasio said, “…We have better options, better alternatives,……and those alternatives will soon become more plentiful and will cost less.” The Mayor apparently understands the concept that a greater supply reduces the price. But does he understand that if there is a lower cost better product it will be supplied by the market. If you ban something, obviously the next best lower cost alternative will take the banned products place. Oh the cost of being green.

Unrealistic Offshore Wind Project Gets Plug Pulled, by Phil Hall, at thefederalistpapers.org. National Grid and NStar ended contracts with Cape Wind because it missed the Dec. 31 deadline to obtain financing for the project. Even with the Federal Government willing to provide a $150 million loan, backed by your tax dollars, they couldn’t scam the private sector into financing the rest of the project. At least the Government didn’t mandate the wind farm be built. Voluntary exchange in the market just saved the tax payer $150 million. (Read more here, Cape Wind Is Dead at masterresource.com.)

EPA New Methane Regulations Aimed At The Fracking Industry, by Michael Casey, at cbsnews.com. Since shutting down Federal lands to the fracking industry didn’t stop shale oil production, the administration is going to use EPA regulations to try to put the fracking genie back in the bottle. This is just like the administration’s ‘war on coal’. The administration’s war on carbon based energy is really a war on American citizens. Even though economic reality will eventually win against Government central planners, the cost of the interventions will be paid.

THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY?

Yes Some Companies Are Cutting Hours In Response To Obamacare Mandates, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Employers are capping workers hours in response to the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate. Another example of Government regulations hurting the people it’s trying to help.

Business Closures Now Out Number Business Start Ups, by Jim Clifton, at gallop.com. For the first time in 35 years the number of companies going out of business was higher than the number of business start-ups. This is due to economic forces correcting for the interventions into the market by Federal Government regulations, and the Feds artificially low-interest rates and electronically printing counterfeit money.

Labor Participation Rate Drops To 38 Year Low; Record 92.8 Million Americans Not In Labor Force, at zerohedge.com. Production creates wealth and consumption destroys what has been produced (wealth). Is an economy growing when the number of people who are producing is shrinking even though they are still consuming.

THE DYNAMISM OF THE MARKET

3D Printed Model Heart Helps Doctors Save A Little Girls Life, by Anthony Domanico, at cnet.com. This 3D scaled replica of this 4-year-old girl’s heart helped doctors plan for surgical options that may not have been possible without 3D printing technology.

Man Saves Wife’s Sight By 3D Printing Her Tumor, by Sara Breselor, at makezine.com. This husband, with no medical background, used his knowledge of 3D graphics and printing to save his wife after she was misdiagnosed by doctors. He 3D printed a model of his wife’s skull and shopped it around to neurosurgeons until one agreed to try a different kind minimally invasive procedure rather than actually cutting open her skull, lifting the brain, and removing the tumor. He has unknowingly pioneered a new way of medical diagnosis.

The Left’s War On Uber, Sharing, And The Poor, by Andrew Syrios, at mises.org. This article shows some of the new businesses models like Uber, Lyft, RelayRides, FlightCar, Airbnb, Kickstarter, and Prosper, that are competing with status quo business models. The status quo businesses are lobbying Government to get rid of their new competators instead of spending their time trying to provide a better product or service for their customers. Economic forces, not Government, will decide who wins.

LET’S LIGHTEN IT UP A LITTLE BIT

Venus Williams And The Best Ball Boys In The World, at youtube.com.

Top 10 Things That ‘Will” Happen In 2015, at zerohedge.com. I don’t think so.

This entry was posted on January 17, 2015 at 12:56 am and is filed under Must Reads For The Week. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: 3D Printed Model Heart, 3D Printing Pioneering New Medical Procedures, Administration Targeting Fracking, Business Closures Growing, Business Start Ups Declining, Cape Wind Dead, De Blasio Bans Styrofoam, EPA Methane Regulations, EPA Targeting Fracking, Fewer People Working, High Cost Of Green Energy, Labor Participation Rate Drops, Left's War On Uber, Obamacare 30 Hour Threshold, Obamacare Employer Mandate, Sharing Economy, Venus Williams and Best Ball Boys