Ed Note: This (re)post from early 2015 by economist Michael Giberson, formerly at Texas Tech University, is reprinted below. While generic to pricing of any good or service in any emergency, it applies to Joe Biden’s recent concern about oil-price ‘gouging’ and calls from the Democrat leadership for FTC investigations into the same.
“Higher prices would discourage over-buying and help ensure that useful consumer goods get distributed to more households, not just the households best able to rush to the store. Consumer sentiment against higher prices during emergencies, by discouraging a price response and encouraging shortages, tends to put the burden of the shortages on those consumers least able to run to the stores in emergencies.”
When consumer demand shoots up and supplies are limited, either prices must increase or shortages will result.…
Continue ReadingEd. note: This post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, a fortnightly published by physicist John Droz Jr., founder of the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions. The complete MBN for this post can be found here.
Greed Energy Economics:
*** Wind Power’s ‘Colossal Market Failure’ Threatens Climate Fight
*** Putin ‘colluded’ with green movements
Short video: Renewable Energy — The Biggest Scam We All Fell For
Green Nightmares
Delaying tactics by wind industry will cost consumers hundreds of millions
Video: The Great Renewable Energy Con
Low-cost power pledge is blown away by the wily wind developers
Renewable Energy Health and Ecosystem Consequences:
Analyzing bird population declines due to renewable power sources in California
Offshore wind: The leading birdwatching group doesn’t object to wind farms that will kill birds
Wind Energy — Offshore:
*** Latest Offshore Wind Project Paid to Switch Off 25% of the Time
Conservation groups call for federal review of offshore wind impact on ecosystems
Right whale defenders question energy industry donations
Jacobs Launches Effort to Prevent Wind Turbines in Great Lakes
Wind Energy — Onshore:
*** Numbers Game: Smashing The Wind & Solar Power Storage Myth With Arithmetic
*** Wind Projects Rejections Across U.S.…
“By issuing a ‘death sentence’ for natural gas and its required infrastructure investments, John Kerry is hobbling the industry’s growth. In turn, it will hurt those who have limited or no access to power. It will make the efforts of European countries to get out from under the dominance of Russian fossil fuels, a goal of the Biden administration, even more difficult.”
John Kerry, President Joe Biden’s climate envoy, is the latest government official to deliver conflicting messages about energy.
As the Wall Street Journal pointed out, in January, Kerry told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that he could fathom keeping natural gas in a cleaner energy mix as a “bridge fuel” from traditional fossil fuels to a renewables-heavy future. He made some other points that have come back to bite him.…
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