Louisiana’s oyster businesses survived the BP oil spill, but can they survive “man’s decision to stop the oil”?
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Property Rights to the Sun?
by Shawn Regan Free riders beware. From The Week (sub req): A Spanish woman has filed papers staking an official legal claim to the sun. Angeles Duran, 49, states in notarized documents she is now the official “owner of the sun, a star of spectral type G2, located in the centre of the solar system,Continue reading “Property Rights to the Sun?”
Mixing Oil and Birds
by Laura Huggins Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and, as has often been the case throughout its history, it has stirred up political conflicts over its use. There are the usual loud claims about what should be done with ANWR. Drilling proponents call for enhanced energy security, environmentalists appeal for ecological integrity,Continue reading “Mixing Oil and Birds”
All the Rage on Campus
by Jane S. Shaw On campuses across the country, sustainability is hot. Writing on the National Association of Scholars site, Ashley Thorne reports on her visit to the “sustainability open house” at Princeton. Somewhat bemused, she investigates trash sculptures, trayless eating, personalized beer cups (so you don’t throw them away each time you have aContinue reading “All the Rage on Campus”
Can the Government Take a Mulligan on Ethanol?
by Shawn Regan Ethanol is back in the news, but as Politico reports, there are contradictions within the government on the fuel source’s viability: Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Monday said that the future of transportation fuels shouldn’t involve ethanol, the gasoline additive that historically has received billions of dollars in federal subsidies. “Ethanol is notContinue reading “Can the Government Take a Mulligan on Ethanol?”
A visual representation of human progress over the last two hundred years
by Pete Geddes Check this out, from the always helpful Hans Rosling. By most measures, this appears to be a very good time to be alive. What about trends in the U.S.? Is our modern, industrialized lifestyle killing both us and the environment? Here’s some data. For all races and both sexes combined, long-term trends inContinue reading “A visual representation of human progress over the last two hundred years”
Safe Food At Any Cost
Paul Schwennesen recently appeared on Fox Business to discuss food safety. Paul offers more comments on the issue below.
We all want safe food. Question is, how do we get it? “There oughta be a law,” seems to be the generally conceived approach, as evidenced by recent passage of the now-famous food safety bill. A tidy and altogether comforting solution: simply slay the beast of dangerous food with the bludgeon of enlightened bureaucracy. But for the food advocates who support this kind of top-down solution, beware. The kind of government meddling that created cheap-at-any-cost is now about to do the same for “safe” food.
But isn’t food safety a pressing concern, a public health problem we can’t afford to fool around with? The problem is, the problem isn’t. Emotional rants that “thousands die every year!” do not help us grapple with the scope or magnitude of this alleged threat. Let’s try some perspective: according to the Centers for Disease Control, the estimated number of deaths caused by food borne illness numbers around five thousand a year. Sounds pretty bad, eh? Time to call in the Salmonella SWAT team? Before you do, consider that the same number of people die by intentionally strangling themselves each year. Or that the same number of people die from Alzheimer’s in California alone each year. Or that four times that number die each year accidentally falling off of things. Moreover, 70% of food borne illnesses result from poor food handling procedures during preparation. Unless you’re also on a crusade to flatten everything or cure Alzheimer’s, I’d think twice about ceding greater authority of our food system to centralized management.
True to form, Congress has blithely offered its professional problem-solving services to rid us of the menace of deadly food. And, true to form, it’s about to embark on another unarmed expedition into the tortuous territory of unintended consequences.
Will regulation guarantee safe food?
By Paul Schwennesen We all want safe food. Question is, how do we get it? “There oughta be a law,” seems to be the generally conceived approach, as evidenced by recent passage of the now-famous food safety bill. A tidy and altogether comforting solution: simply slay the beast of dangerous food with the bludgeonContinue reading “Will regulation guarantee safe food?”
McCormick on the Offshore Drilling Moratorium
PERC senior fellow Bobby McCormick appeared on Florida’s WUSF 89.7 today to discuss the White House’s new ban on offshore drilling on the Atlantic coast and eastern Gulf of Mexico. Listen here (McCormick appears around 2:35):
Commerce by a Frozen Sea
A carefully researched and well-organized discussion of the early fur trade in the very northern reaches of North America as well as a fascinating use of basic economic theory.