Archive for July, 2008
More Climate Change
Daniel Hall makes an excellent point: These guys are overlooking one very big fact: the Supreme Court has already ordered the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The current administration has chosen not to do so. I would not bet on the next administration making the same choice, at least certainly not an Obama administration. [...]
Double-Take
I’ve been staring at this for ten minutes now, trying to understand the dark magic underlying the twisted, impenetrable logic: Gasoline tax revenue is falling so fast that the federal government may not be able to meet its commitments to states for road projects already under way, the secretary of transportation said Monday. The secretary, [...]
Change Climate Change
Kevin Drum writes: “Will McCain Abandon Cap and Trade?” asks Matt Yglesias. The short answer, of course, is yes. The slightly longer answer is that I think the question is ill formed. Cap-and-trade is one those enormous, mega-complex, special-interest magnets that’s almost impossible to pass no matter how committed you are to it. Getting it [...]
Libertarians
An enjoyable passage, by the Mises Institute’s Jeffrey Tucker: Here is a huge piece in City Journal by Guy Sorman, the ostensible purpose of which is to herald the triumph of markets over socialism. He tells us that economics teaches this. Fair enough. But once you get into the article, you will find support for [...]
Dr. No?
I’m simply livid at the hero treatment the press is giving Tom Coburn, a crazed, ego-maniacal, anti-democratic grandstanding buffoon. You’d think that one self-important man placing himself above the will of the overwhelming majority of Americans would be cause for full-throated criticism, if not outright rage. Instead, we get these “even-handed” pieces that allow Coburn [...]
NIMBYism
Also read Goodspeed on NIMBYism. For my money, the biggest problem with public involvement and development is that some of the biggest beneficiaries of new development have no seat at the table–those who’ll be living at to-be-constructed residences. Even if you bring all neighborhood stakeholders in, educate them, and get their opinion (eliminating squeaky wheel [...]
Mount Up?
Rob Goodspeed has a long post today on how we might want to alter regulatory policies in the wake of the sub-prime crisis. It’s an interesting read, but I have some fundamental disagreements with the post. One is generally economic in nature. Most good economists recognize that there are market failures requiring regulatory solutions, making [...]
Glaeser, Again
The Overhead Wire directs us to a Wall Street Journal interview with Ed Glaeser. I don’t really disagree with most of what he says, but I found the last bit kind of interesting: There’s been a segment of urban developers who have been enthusiastic about the model in Europe for quite some time [because] it’s [...]
Oh, But
I will post these two links. One: driving continues to decline: U.S. motorists, paying record prices for gasoline, drove less in May for a seventh consecutive month, the Federal Highway Administration said. Vehicle-miles traveled fell 3.7 percent from a year earlier, the Washington-based agency said in a report today. The 9.6 billion-mile decline came in [...]
Founded in 1903 by the Germans
So I’m in San Diego, wondering at the EST-centrism of my view of the blogosphere. Note to Bellows readers: I’ll be plugging away at the paying gig trying to squeeze Monday posts into Monday (hell, it’s near quitting time in London), and posts here will maybe appear before Washington heads to happy hour. Happily, that [...]