‘Planet of the Humans:’ A Progressive’s Lament

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 11, 2020 1 Comment

The Grayzone is self-described as “an independent news and politics website dedicated to investigative journalism and analysis on war and empire.” While far Left, even socialistic, “The Grayzone is a totally independent journalistic initiative that does not take money from any government or government-backed group or individual.”

The article follows:

‘Green’ billionaires behind professional activist network that led suppression of ‘Planet of the Humans’ documentary

MAX BLUMENTHAL·BIG TECHNON-PROFIT INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX·SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

The Michael Moore-produced ‘Planet of the Humans’ faced a coordinated suppression campaign led by professional climate activists backed by the same ‘green’ billionaires, Wall Street investors, industry insiders and family foundations skewered in the film.

By Max Blumenthal

“We must take control of our environmental movement and our future from billionaires and their permanent war on Planet Earth.

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Sustainability: Ideology versus Reality (Part III: The Big Picture)

By -- August 28, 2019 4 Comments

Editor Note: This post completes a three-part series with Part I on Biofuels and Solar and Part II on Wind Turbines.

“The world cannot afford to let delusion, dishonesty, ideology, or deliberate deception drive public policies that will determine our future jobs, prosperity, living standards, and civilization. What Salt Lake City’s UN conference discussed has nothing to do with real sustainability, resource conservation or recycling.”

“UN-supported policies are unjust, inhumane, eco-imperialist and lethal…. [T]he climate change-sustainability agenda that is being advanced by UN and other activists and bureaucrats is eco-fascist, totalitarian and racist.”

Yet another educational exercise for UN conference attendees would be to calculate the land, energy and raw materials required to manufacture and install the batteries necessary to make renewable energy dispatchable. In the process, they would need to add in the raw material requirements for batteries required to replace all the world’s cars, trucks and buses with electric vehicles – and recharge them every few hours.…

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Milton Friedman on Crony Capitalism in the US Oil Industry

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 31, 2019 2 Comments

“Few U.S. industries sing the praises of free enterprise more loudly than the oil industry. Yet few industries rely so heavily on special governmental favors.” (Milton Friedman, 1967)

In honor of his 107th birthday, MasterResource reprints a 1967 essay by Milton Friedman, “Oil and the Middle East,” which nicely summarized the political power and cronyism of the domestic oil industry at the time. [1] Far from just historical, the animus created by pro-crony policies over a half century came home to roost in the 1970s when Northeast politicians and others imposed price controls and new taxes on the industry. That animus exists today under the hubris of climate policy.

Background

From the 1920s through the early 1970s, the political power of the domestic oil industry (primarily independent oil producers versus the integrated majors) succeeded in having the major oil states (excepting California) artificially restrict (‘prorate’) production to ‘market demand.’…

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Energy Efficiency Mandates: No Free Lunch

By Kenneth Costello -- March 26, 2019 No Comments

“Why should utility customers continue to pay for bad programs that increase their rates at the benefit of a few? We should be mindful of the words of Milton Friedman:  ‘One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.’ “

In the real world, “free lunches” that benefit society are as rare as snow in Phoenix. Even when given a free meal, one often has to listen to an often boring sales pitch or speech.

Only in fantasy land are socially-beneficial “free lunches” ubiquitous. As one example, Amory Lovins once remarked that energy efficiency is the “lunch you are paid to eat.” Using the label “no-regrets,” policymakers frequently push actions that they endorse as unequivocally good – everyone wins, no one loses.…

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Carter’s “Malaise Speech” of 1979 (remembering the crisis of interventionism)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 6, 2019 4 Comments Continue Reading

Profits and Energy (Caveman Economics 101)

By Richard W. Fulmer -- January 31, 2019 No Comments Continue Reading

Milton Friedman’s Energy Wisdom (would be 106 today)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 31, 2018 2 Comments Continue Reading

William A. Niskanen: Economist, Scholar, Foe of Political Capitalism

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 11, 2018 3 Comments Continue Reading

Political Capitalism as a Distinct Economic System

By Randall Holcombe -- March 26, 2018 1 Comment Continue Reading

T. Boone Pickens: Contra-Capitalist (a ‘man of system’ sought more fame and fortune)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 31, 2018 7 Comments Continue Reading