“Understanding government failure in the quest to address market failure could result in an optimal government policy of doing nothing in the face of a postulated negative externality from business-as-usual. But an activist policy expanding economic freedom in order to improve adaptation to climate change, natural or anthropogenic, qualifies as climate policy change too.”
Richard Mueller of the University of California at Berkeley is an important voice in the polarized climate-change debate. At the Huffington Post in mid-April, the physicist and philosopher posted “The Classifications of Climate Change Thinkers” with six categories (schools?) of thought.
His useful categories shortchange the political economy side where the scientist or citizen or politician must assess government failure along side market failure before deciding that the government should “do something,” as in pricing carbon dioxide or enacting a slew of surrogate regulation.…
“And if Crooked Hillary can shut down the mines, she can shut down your business too.”
“These actions have denied millions of Americans access to the energy wealth sitting under our feet. This is your treasure, and you – the American People – are entitled to share in the riches.”
“We’re going to rescind all the job-destroying Obama executive actions including the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule.”
On May 26, Donald Trump gave his first major energy speech. It advocates a rollback of the energy statism of President Obama, which would continue under Hillary Clinton (but not Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee for President).
There is much to like in Trump’s agenda, and nothing better than calling the bluff of the climate alarmists who profess to want to save the climate but have a variety of other agendas at work.…
“Beginning with the Memorial Day weekend and throughout the summer, Americans will spend their hard-earned dollars traveling to visit family, friends, and the great outdoors. Meanwhile, Big Oil will be making huge profits off of these travel expenditures on fuel, while at the same time fighting for decreased public health and climate-change protections.”
– Center for American Progress (and Climate Progress), three years ago.
The American Automobile Association predicts that 38 million Americans will hit the open road this Memorial Day weekend, the second highest in history. Affordable, reliable, widely available gasoline and diesel is a big reason. And maybe Americans are fleeing their economic woes under the current Administration.
While we wait for the anti-energy, glass-emptying Center for American Progress (not Prosperity) to psychologically retool, the rest of us can be optimistic.