A Free-Market Energy Blog

Houston Chronicle: $15/hour Minimum Wage for Rebuilding Houston (economics 101, anyone?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 5, 2017

“If it were only so simple to pass a law and increase income and wealth. ‘One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than by their results,’ as the late free -market economist/educator Milton Friedman once said.”

The Houston Chronicle, as yesterday’s post documented, has gone from bad to worse in the hydrocarbon capital of the United States and world. The New York Times of Houston (the proper name for our supposedly hometown paper) seems to be at war with not only Donald Trump but also skeptics of climate alarmism and the free market more generally.

Along with climate-alarmist unsigned editorials, guest editorials, (selected) letters-to-the-editor, and cartoons, the Chronicle is all-in with Progressive notions. Consider the lead editorial on Labor Day, September 4, 2017.…

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Houston Chronicle: Preaching Climate Alarmism Post Harvey

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 4, 2017

“Hometown hurricane expert and Ph.D. scientist Neil Frank, whose insight would normally be sought out (not just welcomed) by the Houston Chronicle, finds himself unable to even get a letter-to-the-editor published there (he tried twice several months ago, he communicated to me).”

A very unique, freak weather event poured 50 inches of rain on Houston over a several day period. Climatologist Roy Spencer likened it to the time when an ambulance carrying a man struck by lightning got struck by lightning, finishing the guy off.

What is physically possible can beat the odds, from time to time. It does not have to be God’s hand, the Devil’s paw, or fossil-fueled climate change.

Chronicle All-in

In the days and weeks after, the Houston Chronicle inundated Houstonians with biased–even angry–news reports, unsigned editorials, guest editorials, (chosen) letters-to-the-editor, and cartoons blaming man-made climate change for the severity of this event.…

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Draining the PC Flood-Policy Swamp

By -- October 3, 2017

“Many academics and journalists apparently don’t know the difference between a 100-year flood and an unpredictable inundation from a super storm–and the different impacts in the Plains and the Basin states.”

“A political and/or market policy solution for damages from super-storm inundations has a greater likelihood of success by substituting realism for ideology: Inundations are not the same as 100-year floods and are not the result of man-made climate change.”

Ambrose Bierce’s fable of Philosophers Three tells the story of a Bear, a Fox and an Opossum that were attacked by a flood inundation. The Bear went forward to fight the flood. The Fox thought the Bear was a fool and climbed into a hollow tree stump. However, the Opossum recognized there were evil forces at work that could not easily be confronted but also could not be avoided, so he decided to play dead.…

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Cabotage Cronyism: Some History of the Jones Act

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 2, 2017
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R Street: Faking Freedom on Climate Change

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 28, 2017
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ANWR Drilling: Why Property Rights Matter

By Shawn Regan -- September 26, 2017
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Energy & Environmental Newsletter: September 25, 2017

By -- September 25, 2017
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ExxonMobil’s Tillerson on Wind and Solar Subsidies (an argument to remember)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 21, 2017
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Tom Stacy On Wind Power: At the (Ohio) Grassroots

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 20, 2017
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“The Utter Complete Total Fraud of Wind Power’ (Matt Ridley presents the facts)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 19, 2017
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