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More on Environmental Policies and Protectionism
Marlo made three interesting arguments yesterday contending that cap-and-trade would generate protectionist outcomes. I want to add another, pervasive, yet oft-neglected reason.
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Carney Takes on Stimulus on Liddy, Osorio Takes on Card Check
Today, I was on the G. Gordon Liddy Show, to discuss the current prospects of the misleadingly named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which, as…
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Next Internet Phenomena=lolprez
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Is cap-and-trade inherently protectionist?
Yes, for three reasons. (1) Companies in carbon-constrained countries will demand carbon tariffs to “level the playing field” vis-a-vis firms in non-carbon constrained countries. (2)…
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Will carbon market woes tilt U.S. pols towards carbon taxes, CAA regulation?
In today's Guardian, Juliana Glover reports that carbon permit prices in Europe's Emission Trading System (ETS) have crashed from €31 last summer to €8…
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LibertyWeek 31: What in Dodd’s Name?
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A Gamer Win For Parenting
If you’ve followed my posts here at OpenMarket.org or at my personal site, you’re well aware of the fact that I…
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End Run to a Regulatory Morass
In today's DC Examiner, former CEI Warren Brooks Fellow Jeremy Lott and Energy Policy Analyst William Yeatman explain a round-about route to a regulatory nightmare—the…
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Top Ten Federal Rules to Jettison — According to Small Businesses
The Small Business Administration’s Regulatory Review and Reform initiative (r3) has a new compilation of rules that need reform, according to small businesses across…
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Nationalizing the cars and bikes of rock collectors — Pending Omnibus land bill’s forfeiture provision has broad reach
At the same time there has been so much talk of government nationalization of troubled big banks, a bill quickly snaking through Congress would allow…
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Gold is King Among Investors
Gold prices are skyrocketing—recently closing at over $1,000 an ounce, the highest in almost a year—while inflation fears continue rising and the dollar weakens. This…
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TARP in Pictures
We've talked a lot about the TARP or Troubled Assets Relief Program over the past several months here on OpenMarket.org. But perhaps the entire…
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More Grand Theft Common Sense
I used to think that the groups and individuals that sat around eagerly anticipating the launch of a new Grand Theft Auto (GTA) game were…
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John Berlau on Obama’s Mortgage Rescue Plan
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So What Does He Think of Cap & Trade?
Good news and bad news for drivers from federal Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The good news is: LaHood said he firmly opposes raising the…
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Some Interests Are More Special Than Others
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More protectionism on the horizon?
Good article today by Bloomberg columnist Michael Sesit, who lays out the protectionist actions many countries are taking in the midst of…
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The Auto Bailout We Need
The automakers have come back for more taxpayer money, which is exactly what we warned would happen when the first bailout was granted…
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UBS agrees to deal with the devil
I revoke my previous apology to the Swiss, and reiterate my previous disapproval. As evidenced by the…
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CNBC’s Rick Santelli on Obama’s Mortgage Plan
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To Know Card Check is to Hate it
A recent survey of 1,000 likely voters, conducted in January by the consultancy McLaughlin & Associates, finds an overwhelling majority opposed to the so-called…
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Obama in Canada — where U.S. protectionism is an issue
President Obama is in Canada today to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on a range of issues – chief among…
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Fraud in More Ways Than One
The news of the federal fraud charges against billionaire Texan financier Sir Allen Stanford (he got the knighthood from his dual citizenship from Antigua)…
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Will Lisa Jackson turn the Clean Air Act into a gigantic de-stimulus package?
Earlier this week, in a letter to Sierra Club climate council David Bookbinder, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the Agency would reconsider, via…
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The Greens Can Take Away My Steak the Moment They Pry It from My Cold, Dead Hands
I have been a steak snob ever since I apprenticed under a master butcher in Ojai Valley, California a few years back. Indeed, I'm the…
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Michigan Steps Aside for Stimulus
Oregonian brewers looking for a new home may want to consider moving to Michigan where a state authority may just understand the principle…
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Inflation Fears Propel Gold Prices
As the Dow Jones Industrial Average approached record lows, gold prices shined on a seven-month peak, on Tuesday. Details of President Obama’s new stimulus package…
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Chapter 13 could be your lucky number
Today President Obama announced his homeowner bailout plan. While that plan will spend huge sums of money helping “renters” stay in homes…
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Obama, Waxman to Square Off on Free Speech
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Why Is HuffPo Pimping Ethanol?
Yesterday's edition of the internet news juggernaut ran an ethanol love song written by Bob Dinneen, who is identified in his Huff Po biography as…
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Obama’s Futile Attempts at Foreclosure Avoidance
If the government wants to spend $75 billion to help troubled homeowners, it would be better off giving a tax holiday to families subject to…
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Can prediction markets help value toxic assets?
Can prediction markets – virtual markets – play a role in valuing toxic assets? A critical obstacle in evaluating the health of financial institutions…
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Marlo Lewis on the Costs of Ethanol
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Flawed Plan Relies on Consumer Spending
After President Obama signs the controversial stimulus plan, which will add on average $8 per week to most paychecks, his administration will have to cross…
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Bad McCarty! Bad!
Will regulators never learn? You can’t force businesses to actively pursue a business model that is unprofitable. Florida’s Governor Charlie Crist and Insurance regulator Kevin…
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Craft Brewers leeched by Oregon Regulators
Why legislators think it is a good idea to put their heels on the neck of the most productive industries is beyond me. Perhaps following…
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Null Government
Well, the Spendulus/Stimulus will be signed into law within minutes. We’ll soon learn that even this Leviathan-In-A-Box is only the beginning of the Age…
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Drill, Baby, Drill! (To Save the Environment)
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LibertyWeek 30: Whole Lott-a Love
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What would it mean to have no “environmental footprint”?
Maybe to have no life. As this article over at the Ayn Rand Institute points out, the more “eco-friendly” you try to live, the…
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More Libertarian Lolcats!
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NADA report proves California waiver would create regulatory patchwork
A front-burner issue facing Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson is whether to grant a waiver under the Clean Air Act allowing the California…
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Chairman Tom Price with 1,073-page Non-Stimulus Text
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“Spendulus” conference report has passed the House
But thought you might be interested in one congressman’s last-minute appeal to sanity. You, dear reader, are a person things are done to.
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The Juche Weather Idea
North Korea’s official propaganda organ, the Korea Central News Agency, reveals the real cause of global warming: The snow in the area of Jong…
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Who Cares About the Consumer?
Electricity consumers beware! The so-called-stimulus bill includes provision for something called “decoupling.” E&E Daily reports: Also included in the final version is a requirement that…
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Wyeth v. Levine: Policy Arguments Regarding Preemption
The Wyeth v. Levine case presents a narrow set of facts in which the Food and Drug Administration had, for many years, known about the…
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Has anybody read the text?
There ain’t no way any of the lawmakers voting for the $790 billion stimulus package today could have read, comprehended, and analyzed the…
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Preemption in Wyeth v. Levine: Broader Implications
The legal arguments of the parties, and the incremental approach typical of the Supreme Court, strongly suggest that the Court will issue a narrow legal…
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Uber-Attorney Bert Rein to Guest Blog on Federal Preemption Case
Back in November, I wrote about the pending Supreme Court case Wyeth v. Levine, the decision in which will have a huge impact on the…