A Free-Market Energy Blog

Professor Hicks's Business Ethics Course (Loyola Chicago's MBA class in for a real treat)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 24, 2012

MasterResource is about energy (the master resource). But our ‘free market energy blog‘ is also about the economic system of market capitalism versus political capitalism. In fact, under the category Corporate Governance, entries can be found for

And so it was with great interest that I found out that Stephen Hicks, a Ph.D. philosopher in the Objectivist tradition, is teaching a course on business ethics to MBA students at Loyola University Chicago. Loyola’s business ethics program is considered one of the finest in the country, and, in fact, was ranked first in the country last year by BusinessWeek.

Professor Hicks is not your average philosophy professor.…

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Politics and the Nation's Next Nuclear Plant (Georgia Power's boondoggle under construction)

By Jim Clarkson -- May 23, 2012

“Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle is seen as the first example in the country’s ‘Nuclear Renaissance’. The technology indeed employs new simpler, safer, and more efficient designs than the last round of nuclear plants. However, there is nothing new about the crony politics and financial shenanigans surrounding the project.”

Georgia Power, a subsidiary of the mighty Southern Company, is pressing ahead with development of a two-unit, 2,240 Megawatt (MW) nuclear plant, Plant Vogtle. With a pending $8.6 billion federal loan guarantee, a cap on liability, production tax credits and pre-collection of profits this makes Georgia Power the nation’s biggest welfare queen.

And the predictable bad news is already coming in. Recent news reports state that Vogtle may be nearly $1 billion above budget. Bad for electricity users and taxpayers; good for utility stockholders given that the extra rate base receives a guaranteed rate of return.…

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American Products. American Power. (new website on petroleum's consumer bounty)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 22, 2012

The American Energy Alliance (AEA) and the Institute for Energy Research (IER) have created a new platform, American Products. American Power. to educate the nation about the critical role that energy plays for our economy and in our daily lives.

IER is an educational non-profit under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; AEA is an advocacy non-profit under Section 501(c)(4) of the code.  I am founder and CEO of IER.

Here is the website’s introduction to the new initiative:

Welcome to American Products. American Power. If you shaved today, brushed your teeth, or are reading this on a computer, you already know us.

You also probably know that energy makes it possible to heat our homes, cook our food, and fill our gas tanks, but it does much more. Energy protects our troops and keeps our firefighters and police officers safe.

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'Offshore Oil Guide': Are You Ready for Some Real Free-market Jobs, Anyone Anywhere?

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 21, 2012
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Real World Economics (key to understanding real-world energy)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 18, 2012
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Greens to Michelle Obama: Ignore Science, Please (anti-shale movement getting desperate)

By Steve Everley -- May 17, 2012
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James Hansen's War Against Canada

By Kenneth P. Green -- May 16, 2012
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Star States on the Road to U.S. Hydrocarbon Plenty

By Julia Bell -- May 15, 2012
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The Rebranding of Global Warming (Demoting an exaggerated issue)

By Ken Maize -- May 14, 2012
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Understanding the Green Menace: Robert Zubrin’s Merchants of Despair

By -- May 11, 2012
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