Posted tagged ‘Alex Epstein’

Must Reads For The Week 4/23/16

April 23, 2016

EARTH DAY THOUGHTS

18 Spectacularly Wrong Predictions Made Around The Time Of The First Earth Day In 1970, Expect More This Year, by Mark J. Perry, at carpediemblog.  How about this prediction; “Scientists have solid experimental and theoretical evidence to support…the following predictions: In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution…by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half….” The rest are also amusing.

On Earth Day, We Can Celebrate Being The Only Country To Significantly Reduce CO2 Emissions -Thanks To Fracking, by Mark J. Perry, at carpediemblog. Natural gas from fracking is being used in power plants instead of coal. Natural gas burns cleaner than coal. This is a free market solution to pollution.

On Earth Day, Let’s Celebrate Fossil Fuels, at austrianaddict.com.

THE REST OF THE ARTICLES

Bernie Sanders Meets Pope Francis, at economicpolicyjournal,com. Bernie took some time off the campaign trail to travel to Italy and meet the Pope. These two Marxist central planners have a lot in common. If they could have had their meeting coincide with the Obama Castro meeting, they could have had one heck of a foursome.

More Than 3 Dozen Cuban Migrants Caught At Sea, at nbcmiami.com. The Coast Guard caught and turned back  39 Cuban defectors (lets say what they really are) in a boat on their way to the US. These defectors think there is the possibility of normal diplomatic relations between our countries, since Obama’s recent visit, which could mean  their status of automatic residency if they get to US soil might be a thing of the past. This has incentivized more Cubans to take the risk of crossing the ocean to get here.  I guess our government has to keep anyone who despises government central planning from entering the country. These people might be able to enlighten US citizens about what lies ahead as we travel down the current central planning road aka. the road to serfdom.

The Terrorist iPhone Snow Job, by Adam Dick, at targetliberth.com. This is another example of why we should be pushing back against government at every turn. Once they get their foot in the door, you’re freedom disappears.

Obama To Butt In To Britain’s Business, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Great Britain will decide in a couple of months if it will stay in The European Union. Obama is trying to persuade them to stay in the EU. Critics of Obama say Americans would never agree to an EU type of arrangement. What they don’t understand is that Obama would just make an executive order and bypass the American people.

Horror At A Maryland Barber Shop, by Thomas J. Dilorenzo, at targetliberty.com. I think this article shows the subjectivity of value. Different people place different levels of value on the same or different thing.

Emails Reveals AG’s Colluding With Al Gore And Greens To Investigate Climate Skeptics, at eelegal.org. This is what happens when scientific battles are fought in the political arena. Politics trumps facts.

The 50 Year Disaster Of Government Trains, Buses, And Street Cars, by Daniel Beir, at fee.org. This is a great article. Here is an excerpt from the article: “Ronald Reagan quipped that “government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. and if it stops moving, subsidize it.There in a nutshell you have a short history of mass transit in America.

Why Don’t Bernie And Progressives Live Communally Here And Now, by Jeff Deist, at mises.org. Bernie and his socialist supporters actually have a choice. They can build and move into their own socialist commune. No one is stopping them. They don’t have to win an election to start their socialist utopia. But you can bet the house that if Bernie was the President he wouldn’t allow us to opt out of social security, medicare, Obamacare etc.

Here is an excerpt from the article:  “So while pro-Bernie progressives are free to create their own communities in a libertarian world, libertarians are compelled by force to participate in Bernie’s world. That is the fundamental difference between liberty and socialism, between voluntarism and collectivism, between statism and private property. Nothing prevents progressives from living as they wish now, except the very things they viciously oppose: decentralization, secession, and local control.  Progressives hate hearing that taxation is theft, that government is force, and that every rule and regulation implies violence for noncompliance. It offends them on a visceral level, because their entire worldview hangs on the myth of social contract. But their currency is violence, and real contracts — in the form of voluntary, private communities — are not allowed.”

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Earth Day 2016

April 22, 2016

On Earth Day 2016, let’s look at environmentalism, climate change and fossil fuels.

FOSSIL FUELS: THE GREENEST ENERGY, by Alex Epstein, from Prager University.

Some excerpts from the article:

“What if I told you someone had developed an energy source that could help us solve our biggest environmental challenges, purify our water and air, make our cities and homes more sanitary and keep us safe from potential catastrophic climate change? What if I also told you that this energy source was cheap, plentiful, and reliable? Well there is such a source. You probably know it as fossil fuel; oil, natural gas,and coal.”

Fossil fuels don’t take a naturally safe environment and make it dangerous. They empower us to take a naturally dangerous environment and make it cleaner and safer.”

CLIMATE CHANGE: WHAT DO SCIENTISTS SAY, from Prager University. MIT atmospheric physicist, Richard Lindzen, summarizes the science behind climate change.

Excerpt from the article:

Global warming alarmism provides politicians, environmentalists and media, more than any other issue, with the things they most want. For politicians its money and power. For environmentalists its money for their organizations and confirmation fo their near religious devotion to the idea that man is a destructive force acting upon nature. For the media its ideology, money and headlines, doomsday scenarios sell.”

RATIONAL DISCUSSION ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE? NO CHANCE

Alex Epstein spoke in front of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee which was holding a hearing examining the Role of Environmental Policies on Access to Energy and Economic Opportunity. If you want to watch his 5 minute speech click here It is definitely worth watching. What I want you to see is how Barbara Boxer acts when she gets to ask questions of the panel. Watch the video and compare her antics to the logical calm arguments made by the two gentleman in the first two videos in this post. Her actions are exactly what Richard Lindzen was talking about in the video above.

 

SAVING THE PLANET – GEORGE CARLIN

Senator Boxer, I know he is not a scientist, but he makes a lot of sense when talking about the possibility that man can destroy the planet. Not only is this really funny, but it will make you think.

 

Recycling: Uneconomic Is Wasteful, by Robert Bradley Jr, at masterresource.org. Excerpt from the article;

“…if costs are greater than the revenues of a produce, then economic value is lost: if revenues are greater than the cost, economic value is created. Enter Recycling, which has turned (even more so) into an economic loser in the current era of low commodity prices. What this means is that the cost of sorting and transforming trash into useful products is less than the revenue-and recycling should not be done.

Naive Environmentalism Is Like Religious Fundamentalism, by Mark J. Perry, at carpediemblog. Economist Steve Landsburg tells how he dealt with his daughter being indoctrinated into environmentalism. Here is an excerpt from the article;

…my daughter’s teachers are honestly oblivious that there is a diversity in politics. Let me then make that diversity clear. We are not environmentalists. We ardently oppose environmentalists. We consider environmentalism a form of mass hysteria akin to Islamic fundamentalism or the War on Drugs. we do not recycle. We teach our daughter not to recycle. We teach her that people who try to convince her to recycle, or who try to force her to recycle, are intruding on her rights. The entire program of environmentalism is as foreign to us as the doctrine of Christianity ( Note: Landsburg is Jewish). We face no current threat of having Christianity imposed on us by petty tyrants; the same can not be said of environmentalism. My county government never tried to send me a New Testament, but it did send me a recycling bin.

Central Station Solar: Ivanpah Fail ($2.2 Billion Bust), by Stanislav Jakuba, at masterresource.org. It makes no sense to use a more expensive power source when there is less expensive power sources. Solar is not competitive even with government subsidies. Central station solar power is a scam. Solar will not be a viable alternative, until the real cost, without subsidies, is lower than the cost of power produced by fossil fuels or nuclear.

Natural Gas Use Slashes Air Emissions, by Joe Massaro, at energyindepth.org. The fracking boom has created a natural gas boom. Natural gas burns cleaner than coal. As power plants switch from coal to cleaner burning natural gas, CO2 emissions will start to decrease. But this isn’t why natural gas is being used. Natural gas is being used because it is simply cheaper. Lowering CO2 emissions is a serendipity phenomenon of using the cheaper alternative. Markets work.

RICO For Government Climate Deniers, by Paul Driessen, at cfact.org. When the left can’t convince people of its position on global warming, it will use RICO statutes to make you comply with their vision. This is what tyrants do.

Wind And Solar Energy Is Diluted And Intermittent. Which Means Higher Cost

October 26, 2015

Politicians and bureaucrats mask the real cost of producing energy from wind and solar when they;  1) “invest” your tax dollars in wind and solar companies. 2) give tax payer guaranteed loans to these companies. 3) use your tax dollars to subsidize the purchase of this energy.

On the flip side of the coin, they artificially drive up the costs of producing energy from coal, oil, and nuclear through regulations and taxes.

CAN WE RELY ON WIND AND SOLAR ENERGY? by Prager University.

Excerpt from video, “In the entire world there is not one real or proposed independent free standing solar of wind power plant. All of them require backup. And guess what that backup is? Fossil Fuels.”

LOW COST RELIABLE ENERGY FUELS ECONOMIC PROSPERITY.

An economy becomes wealthier when it can produce more while using fewer scarce resources, time, labor and capital. Economies are fueled by energy. If Government continues to force us to use higher cost energy (read here) to power our economy, we are going to be less wealthy and prosperous. The green jobs that are being brought into existence by Government force, aren’t as productive as the jobs that will be lost when the fossil fuel energy sector is forced to shrink. Put another way, these green jobs wouldn’t exist in a free market because the free market always chooses the most productive activities. Less productive activities go away. The cost of these non productive activities will fall on the entrepreneur who made the miscalculation. He will be incentivized to cut his losses sooner rather then later. The incentives in our crony capitalist green energy industry are different. Since the tax payer pays the cost of the failure (read here), the losses will be allowed to go on longer. Resources, time, labor and capital will be wasted as well as tax payer dollars.

When will we quit putting our faith in politicians and bureaucrats when their policies constantly fail to produce their hoped for results. Our current crony capitalist system that weds Government and business isn’t free market capitalism. Our politicians want you to think it’s free market capitalism because they need a straw man to demonize. Once demonized, the only “solution” is more Government intervention. And the outcome of government intervention is the destruction of wealth; because scarce resources are not being allocated to their most productive uses according to consumer demand.

We have to rediscover the truth that moving toward free market capitalism and away from government intervention is the only cure for our economic problems. Free market capitalism has lifted billions of people out of poverty and is the only process that can keep us from stagnating and/or sliding backwards.

Related ArticleUnelected EPA Driving Up The Cost Of Food And Energy, at austrianaddict.com.

Related ArticleFree Market Fracking Trumps Government Solutions When It Comes To Producing Energy, at austrianaddict.com.

Related VideoThe Story of Electricity, 2 minute video by, instituteforenergyresearch.org.

On Earth Day, Let’s Celebrate The Benefits Of Fossil Fuels!

April 22, 2015

Alex Epstein gives us a different perspective on fossil fuels in this video from Prager University.

 

The video below is Alex Epstein wading through the People’s Climate March in NYC last September.

When you watch the video you literally see how you are swimming against the current of public opinion when you don’t agree with their environmental ignorance.

 

In this article by Alex Epstein titled, Making The World A Better Place By Using More Fossil Fuels, he says, “Without exception, anyone who lives a modern life is directly or indirectly is using large amounts of fossil fuel energy – it is that ubiquitous.

Most people don’t understand that 87% of the energy they use comes from fossil fuels. They also don’t understand that plastics, ink, dyes, resins, tires, tar, lubricants, cloths, lipstick, and much more (see list here), are made from oil.

People who don’t like the use of fossil fuels probably haven’t really thought about a world without fossil fuels, because they Were Born In The Middle Of The Story.

 

Related ArticleThe Hidden High Cost Of Green Energy, at austrianaddict.com.

Related ArticleClimate Change Religion? Economics? Science?, at austrianaddict.com.

The Hidden High Cost Of Green Energy

January 27, 2015

Government politicians and bureaucrats have been pushing Green Energy for years. The reason these central planners are pushing this is because as Robert Bradley Jr. has stated, “When Government tries to pick winners and losers, it typically picks losers. Why? Because the free market consumers pick winners to leave the losers for Government.

Even with all the Government regulations on the fossil fuel industry, and with all the subsidies and breaks the green energy sector has received, what’s left of the free market has chosen fossil fuels. Fossil fuels produce the most efficient energy at the lowest cost, which is why the market has chosen them to power our world. At some point in the future there may be a more efficient and lower cost source of energy, but not even Government power can bring this into the future before it’s time. When Government tries to bring the future into the present, which is also what they try to do when they electronically print counterfeit money, they create a misallocation of resources. In other words, they waste scarce resources because economic reality trumps the utopian vision of the world they are trying to impose on us.

No central planner or board of central planners, can produce a better order than the spontaneous order produced by millions of people cooperating and competing in the free market.

Here are some articles that explain why fossil fuels are better than green energy, and will be for the forseeable future.

150 Years Ago, Scholars Knew The Need Of Dense, Not Intermittent Energy, by Robert Bradley Jr. at instituteforenergyresearch.org.

Making The World A Better Place – By Using More Fossil Fuels, by Alex Epstein, at news.nationalpost.com.

Climate Alarmist Turn Back The Clock, by Viv Forbes, at masterresource.org.

Government Mandates Keep Electric Auto Manufacturers In Business, at instituteforenergyresearch.org.

Power Plant Closures, at instituteforenergyresearch.org.

 

THE STORY OF ELECTRICITY