“… the very principle of constitutional government requires it to be assumed, that political power will be abused to promote the particular purposes of the holder; not because it always is so, but because such is the natural tendency of things….”
– J. S. Mill (1861) [1]
Two very wise men provide warning to us today.
Voltaire (in 1764): “In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.”
Bastiat (in 1848): “The State is the great fiction through which everyone endeavors to live at the expense of everyone else.”
And now a 21st century observation:
… Continue Reading“When government undertakes tasks for which it is ill equipped it squanders the authority necessary for carrying out its core responsibilities.
“Cutting production in 2016 is much more dangerous to OPEC ‘s market share than the Arab Embargo of 1973. …. Today, the United States has massive reserves of oil and gas that will be, not might be, produced at the right price point.”
On October 17, 1973, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to a five percent production cut from the previous month’s levels. They intended this strategy not solely for increasing their oil revenue but to punish the United States for its support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. This production cut increased the price of oil dramatically and led to oil discoveries around the world including massive plays in Alaska, Mexico, and the North Sea.
Those three regions alone added approximately 6 million bbls/day to the world oil supply in the next seven years following the embargo.…
Continue Reading“Georgia’s oil pipelines and high voltage systems were developed through market relationships. Extend the market, not the monopoly!”
Back in 2012 Georgia Solar Utilities filed a petition with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) asking to be granted all of the rights and privileges given to Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company. The PSC punted the issue to the General Assembly. Since then the same sorts of schemes popped up in other states where green developers seek rights to sell green power directly to end-users.
These “rights” included access to and use of the transmission and distribution systems within the state and access to capital at the same rates as obtained by Georgia Power. The solar developer even wanted to have existing electric distributors use their billing systems to collect from its retail customers.…
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