“Political stabilization … allowed men to relax, to hope that crises might be avoided, to enjoy the bountiful fortunes they had already made.”
– Gabriel Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism (New York: The Free Press, 1963), p. 285.
“Ironically, contrary to the consensus of historians, it was not the existence of monopoly that caused the federal government to intervene in the economy, but the lack of it.”
– Gabriel Kolko, ibid., p. 5.
Gabriel Kolko, a New Left historian who popularized the term political capitalism, and documented the role of business in initiating and furthering government intervention in the free-market economy, died this week at age 81.
I have mixed feelings about Kolko (1932–2014) as a scholar. (I never personally met him.) I grew up taking his work at face value, following my intellectual mentor Murray Rothbard.…
Continue Reading“The relevant rules are highly technical, and this often means that investors, users, and developers – as well as less-specialized professionals – typically depend on the structuring advice of experts who often assume the ‘typical’ business deal and then provide general guidance …. [Tax-break recipients] may … fail to attend to important aspects, leaving money on the table or putting their ventures at the risk of IRS attacks.”
– EUCI, “In-Depth Tax Planning for Renewable Energy Projects,” June 9–10 Conference Description.
The energy industry conference group EUCI is hosting a two-day event next month in San Diego, “In-Depth Tax Planning for Renewable Energy Projects.” The complex topic with specially designed software and technical experts is advertised as follows:
… Continue ReadingMaximizing the benefits of tax incentives is vital in any renewable energy transaction, and whether a project “pencils out” generally turns on the efficient use of these incentives.
A few years back a YouTube video of the comedian Louis CK went viral on the internet. Speaking on the Conan O’Brien show, CK called on people to reawaken their sense of wonder at the unprecedented technological marvels of the modern world:
We live in an amazing amazing world… Everybody on every plane should constantly be going “oh my God! Wow!” You’re sitting in a chair in the sky. People say there’s delays on flights. Delays, really? New York to California in five hours. It used to take 30 years.
Robert Bryce’s Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper: How Innovation Keeps Proving the Catastrophists Wrong, published this month by Public Affairs, does not feature Louis CK’s comic rant, which is too bad, as the book is in many ways an extended reflection on the same theme.…
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