The Environment

Paul Krugman is at it again, this time calling for price caps in California as a way of solving the energy problem. How can an economist think such things?

The teachings of Carl Menger and Ludwig von Mises offer the answer to those who say we should dismantle civilization to meet the supposed needs of nature. A very powerful speech by George Reisman.

The state of California has experienced a meltdown in its electric power system. For months, the system has repeatedly run at or near the overload point, necessitating brownouts and even rolling blackouts. Incredibly, the fiasco has been blamed on deregulation and the free market.

The Governor's supposed solution to the energy fiasco promotes the fiction that government solves problems that private businesses create.

So the regulations have begun. Two towns, so far, have passed laws banning the use of cellular phones while driving. In Illinois, the giant cellular telephone provider Verizon said it would lobby for a state law prohibiting anything but "hands-free" cellular phone use by drivers.

You've heard that government policies can cause unanticipated bad effects? This view is confirmed many times over when you consider the current forest-fire fiasco. Government is the cause of the fires that raged out of control across the West this summer, just as surely as if the Forest Service had spread the fuel and lit the match.

Some recent court decisions strengthen private property rights. But they do not go far enough.  

Peter Huber's critique of environmentalism has all the right people very upset. 

When one thinks of "death by government," either those killed by armed members of the state or the millions who have perished in the vast gulags and prisons run by governmental agents usually come to mind. However, government has demonstrated far more creativity in eliminating people than just by shooting or starving them to death. It also has successfully drowned them while destroying property to the tune of billions of dollars. Here are a couple of horror stories.

Contrary to the propaganda, the EPA has done little or nothing to improve the quality of life and much to diminish it.