“We have long discovered that nothing lasts longer than a temporary government program.” (- Ronald Reagan)
In the 1970s – fifty years ago now – The Energy Crisis jolted the U.S. economy, causing shortages and long lines at gas stations. In response, various federal energy policies and programs were passed. And as the decades passed, layer-upon-layer of new federal energy programs and regulations were added, then extended and expanded.
The energy crisis is decades past, and technology advances in oil and natural gas drilling have yielded booming supplies, allowing the U.S. to become a major oil and natural gas exporter. So maybe it is time (or past time) to “push the button” to end the dense and expensive thicket of federal energy market interventions (including subsidies and mandates for wind, solar, ethanol, electric vehicles, plus fuel economy standards).…
“I began publishing Julian Simon’s upbeat analytical articles on the benefits of population growth…. [O]ur ‘Econ Update’ newsletter was mailed to every high school with a debate program. Julian Simon’s Ultimate Resource thus joined the battle of ideas against ‘Growth DAs’ in debate classes, clubs, and tournaments across the country.”
When I worked at the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) in New York in the mid-1980s, Julian Simon used to call from time to time. Sometime he would send a letter with just a leaf inside.
High school debate was my connection to Julian Simon.
Discovering Julian Simon
I learned about The Ultimate Resource (1981) from Andrea Rich’s Laissez-Faire Books catalog. A few years earlier, Economics in Argumentation had outsourced a debate resource guide to a former debater for the national high school debate topic.…
“Full-cost accounting turns out to be complicated. Ethanol from corn was a popular idea in corn-growing U.S. states like Iowa, as well as with those who wished to reduce dependence on foreign oil. Environmental groups joined farm lobbies to enact ethanol mandates and subsidies. But new research and mounting environmental costs have turned most environmental groups against ethanol.”
At tournaments around the world each year, high school and college students debate public policy resolutions and motions. One popular format, World Schools Debate, has teams of three debating announced motions after preparing to argue for and against. [1]
On December 14–16, some 90 teams from around the globe will compete in Zagreb, Croatia, in The Winter Holidays Open, where final motion will be (THW: “This House Would”):