A Free-Market Energy Blog

“There Are No Natural Resources” (Boudreaux on Simon’s ‘ultimate resource’)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 10, 2020

“Simon’s idea is simultaneously simple and startling. Once grasped, its truth is undeniable. Yet its implications are profound — none more so than the realization that the amount of resources on earth is not fixed.” (Donald Boudreaux, below)

Some articles are worth revisiting to keep the fundamental ideas fresh in our minds. I recently ran into one of them by the noted economist and educator Donald J. Boudreaux.

It was Professor Boudreaux, in fact, that switched his major to economics and pursued teaching when a professor explained the cause of the then-experienced natural gas shortages.

A few years back, the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) published a piece by Boudreaux, simply titled “There Are No Natural Resources.” I reprint the article in full:

Recently I had a very enjoyable conversation over dinner with some impressive undergraduates at Bowling Green State University.

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Carbon Protectionism: ‘The Mother of All Trade Issues’

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 9, 2020

“It’s pointless to reduce carbon emissions inside Europe, to then import them from outside.” (Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy and Finance, France)

“When I was our ambassador to the EU, I spent a lot of time on some very difficult trade issues. This could become the mother of all trade issues if not handled right.” (Richard Morningstar, Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center)

– Quoted in “How Europe’s Border Carbon Tax Plan Could Force the U.S. to Act on Climate Change,” Time, March 4, 2020.

Tariffs and quotas in the name of CO2 reduction, euphemistically called “border adjustments,” is the wolf at the international door. From the U.S. side, Joe Biden and other Democratic candidates have threatened such protectionism if elected. Part III of Biden’s Climate Plan states:

As the U.S.

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The Green New Deal: The ‘Farting Cow’ Fiasco Turns One

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 5, 2020

“The Green New Deal is a massive investment program, not an expenditure. The question isn’t how will we pay for it, but what is the cost of inaction, and what will we do with our new shared prosperity created by the investments in the Green New Deal.”

“The Green New Deal sets a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero emissions, at the end of this 10-year plan because we aren’t sure that we will be able to fully get rid of, for example, emissions from farting cows or air travel before then.”

It was an embarrassment–and, to my knowledge, the most ill-conceived energy proposal in the history of the United States by a wing of a major political party since the oil-industry nationalization proposals of the shortage 1970s (yes, Bernie was part of that).…

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Clarence Ayres on Human Ingenuity (1944 insights for today)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 4, 2020
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Scaring and Programming Kids on Climate (calling anti-Greta Naomi Seibt)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 3, 2020
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Energy & Environmental Newsletter: March 2, 2020

By -- March 2, 2020
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Energy Statism at CPAC: Conservatives Beware! (two panels pushing carbon tax)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 27, 2020
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“Execs’ Open Letter to 2020 Candidates Promotes Oil & Natural Gas”

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 26, 2020
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Climate Alarmism and Malthusianism (rebuttal to Taylor)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 25, 2020
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‘The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels’ Alarms the Alarmists

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 24, 2020
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