Rick Perry's $7 Billion Problem (Texas wind transmission project 38% over budget–$270+ for every citizen in the state)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 26, 2011 16 Comments

“He has been a stalwart in defense of wind energy in this state — no question about it.”

– Paul Sadler, executive director of the Wind Coalition, quoted in Kate Galbraith, “As Governor, Perry Backed Wind, Gas and Coal,” New York Times, August 21, 2011, p. 21A.

Texas curtailed electricity customers this Wednesday in the face of abnormally high temperatures and insufficient capacity. And as is to be expected this time of year, windpower is producing at its yearly lows–on Wednesday, about 9 percent of capacity (880 MW out of nearly 10,000 MW capacity), down from 18 percent earlier in the week.

As Texas revs up mothballed plants, one can only imagine how much state-of-the-art, high-utilization capacity the state could have ‘bought’ instead of wind power, which produces most of its juice when it is not needed.…

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American Wind Industry Association: Circling the Wagons

By Thomas Stacy II -- August 8, 2011 2 Comments

Until the end of 2010, the American Wind Energy Association’s annual reports were in the public domain. The details of their business now go to members only.

What has changed? What information has the lobby organization decided to share only with insiders? And why?

A look at some of AWEA’s slanted and aggressive one liners, such as August 4th’s Continued Growth Depends on Consistent Tax Policy, is revealing. Make no mistake–the fate of the industry is not in the hands of consumers as it is with virtually all other goods and services in our economy. It is wholly government dependent. And in terms of the paramount budget debate, wind power is not viable without exemption from its American duty to help reduce our national debt.

AWEA’s predicament has lead them to simultaneously threaten and beg Congress.…

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Oil Exceptionalism … Houston Exceptionalism … Texas Exceptionalism … U.S. Exceptionalism: Private Oil and Gas for the Social Good (Joe Pratt's soulful message to the world)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 1, 2011 7 Comments

“The social usefulness of well-defined property rights, free exchange, and the system of relative money prices . . . has perhaps been demonstrated most convincingly by the catastrophic failure in the twentieth century of those societies that tried to function without them.”

– Paul Heyne, “Efficiency,” in David Henderson, ed., The Fortune Encyclopedia of Economics (New York: Warner Books, Inc., 1993), p. 11.

“The wildcatters showed their gratitude to their city through their philanthropy. They were not the only ones who supported good causes in our region, but many of the foundations in Houston had their beginning in the oil and gas industries.”

Joe Pratt, Cullen/NEH Professor in History and Business, University of Houston

George Will invoked the theme of Texas exceptionalism in a recent column pitching  the state’s governor Rick Perry for the Republican presidential nomination.…

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Wisdom from T. Boone against Rent-Seeking Pickens (remember when you said ….?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 27, 2011 9 Comments

“The two greatest enemies of free enterprise in the United States … have been, on the one hand, my fellow intellectuals and, on the other hand, the business corporations of this country.”

– Milton Friedman. “Which Way for Capitalism?” Reason, May 1977, p. 21.

Special government favor. A little something for nothing at the other’s expense…. Sure, a particular business or industry can gain in the short run. But when everyone is getting the booty, almost all lose.

Just look where government is today. The chronic, gargantuan federal budget deficit is testament to the Enrons then, GEs now  receiving government subsidies from either the U.S. Treasury or the tax code. The rest of us pay (or will pay) what the rent-seekers are getting and not paying for (outside of their lobbying costs).…

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A Free Market Energy Vision (Part I: Worldview)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 6, 2011 1 Comment Continue Reading

Remembering the Birth of Conservationism (Part II: Amory Lovins's "Soft Energy Path")

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 3, 2011 7 Comments Continue Reading

Atlas Shrugged: Its Philosophy and Energy Implications (Part II: The Book)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 19, 2011 8 Comments Continue Reading

Atlas Shrugged: Its Philosophy and Energy Implications (Part I: Overview)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 18, 2011 34 Comments Continue Reading

'Losing the Future' via Government Jobs: FDR's New Deal; Obama's New New Deal

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 18, 2011 4 Comments Continue Reading

Green Enron (Part IV Interview with Robert L. Bradley Jr.)

By -- January 28, 2011 4 Comments Continue Reading