“Despite the relatively small size of the … Global Warming Policy Foundation, Institute of Economic Affairs and the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), as well as the German Europäisches Institut für Klima und Energie (EIKE), the Austrian Economics Centre (AEC), Institut Économique Molinari (IEM) in France, Instituto Juan de Mariana (IJM) in Spain and the Liberales Institut (LI) in Switzerland…. [they] nevertheless have a ‘remarkable’ level of political influence.”
“The study found that groups on both sides of the Atlantic consistently use the same rhetoric, drawing heavily on libertarian, free-market ideology… and their influence is ‘still growing’.”
Desmog blog has a peculiar methodology of stating a number of facts about disliked individuals and organizations as if this record is prima facie evidence of wrongness and duplicity.
In fact, the same record can be (and is by me) used to make just the opposite point–guilty as charged and proud of it.…
Continue Reading“Jimmy Carter was right in exhorting Americans to turn down their thermostats, even if he did look nerdy in a cardigan while urging us to do so.”
“An energy crisis is again upon us. Soaring gasoline prices and oil imports are daggers aimed at the heart of our stumbling economy.”
– Joseph Wheelan, “Is it Safe Now to Admit Jimmy Carter Was Right?” (July 2008).
It’s back to Jimmy Carter with the Biden/Harris (or Harris/Biden) ticket. The Democrats might not admit as much, but the “soft energy path” of the 1970s is back in vogue with climate change replacing fears of oil and gas depletion and of oil imports.
Consider this piece by Joseph Wheelan, “Is it Safe Now to Admit Jimmy Carter Was Right?” (July 2008) that with some updating on the villains could pass for an op-ed today.…
Continue ReadingEd. Note: Back in May 2012, David Boaz of the Cato Institute reminisced about Robert Bradley’s 1996 treatise on oil and gas. His post follows:
At MasterResource, a free-market energy blog, Alex Epstein posts a glowing tribute to the 1996 Cato book Oil, Gas, and Government by Robert L. Bradley, Jr. (who happens to be a co-blogger at MasterResource). Oil, Gas, and Government is surely the longest book Cato ever published, and nobody knows better than I do—well, Rob Bradley does—how much work went into researching, writing, editing, and publishing it.
In these days of blogs and tweets, we’re used to consuming information in very small bites. But one of the fundamental roles of think tanks is to produce long-form research, not just talking points and congressional briefings. And Oil, Gas, and Government is very long form—1,997 pages in two volumes.…