Who can resist good theater? Certainly not American lawmakers. All the pieces were in place on Nov. 9, as the Senate held hearings about the soaring price of energy. The CEOs of the five largest oil companies were the guest stars, called in to endure lectures from a...
Energy
Spoiled Brat Politics, Part 2
The idea that what I want overrides what you want has increasingly become part of our thinking, our policies and even our laws. There is literally a federal case before the Supreme Court over the fact that many colleges and universities refuse to allow military...
Spoiled Brat Politics, Part 1
An editorial in a recent issue of the National Geographic's "Traveler" magazine complained that kayakers in Maine found "residential development" near national parks and urged its readers to use their "influence" to prevent such things. "You are the stakeholders in...
Having Your Oil and Eating It’s Source Too
It's easy to proclaim that the U.S. uses too much oil; that the U.S. is evil because it fights "wars for oil" in the Middle East. It's still easier to shout that there's NO way in hell our government should permit drilling for oil in Alaska, off shore, or really...
What “Oil Crisis”, Part 2
Soaring oil prices have revived the old bogeyman that the world is running out of oil. Economics is a great field for nostalgia buffs because the same old fallacies keep coming back, like golden oldies in music. Back in 1960, a best-selling book titled "The Waste...
What “Oil Crisis”?
With oil prices passing the record-breaking $60 a barrel level and heading even higher, the word "crisis" is now being used and all sorts of political "solutions" are being proposed. Is there really a crisis? One of the dictionary definitions of a crisis is "the point...
Energy Bill is a Massive Pork-Barrel
It's bad enough that the energy bill now working its way through Congress may cost taxpayers close to $36 billion over the next five years. Worse, it actually contains provisions that would increase the cost of energy in the years ahead.Take the ethanol mandate. This...
Operation Bao Chuan: Say No to China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s Bid for Unocal
China National Offshore Oil Corporation presumably chose the codename "Operation Bao Chuan" for its Unocal offer to conjure up national pride in its bid to buy America's ninth largest oil company. For bao chuan were the huge treasure ships that traveled across the...
Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat
I beg to move, That this House welcomes the formation of a Government representing the united and inflexible resolve of the nation to prosecute the war with Germany to a victorious conclusion. On Friday evening last I received His Majesty's commission to form a new...
Russia: Kremlin Takeover of the Russian Oil Industry?
In Russia these days, a lot of old is new again. In fact, the Russian oil and gas sector's new paradigm can be summarized in two words: "state domination." The free market has been abandoned. For example, last December the tax authorities bankrupted YUKOS, a major oil...
The Volcker Oil-for-Food Interim Reports: No Exoneration for U.N. Corruption
In order to begin restoring the credibility of the United Nations, Mr. Annan should step down.
Environmental Regulations Reduce Safety and Productivity in the Energy Industry
An explosion last week at a British Petroleum (BP) oil and gas refinery in Texas killed fifteen workers and injured seventy others, five critically. As usual, myopic media accounts blamed BP and its allegedly unsafe work conditions – and called for more intense government regulation and fines.
Conflict of Interests In The Volcker Oil-for-Food Investigation
The Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program (IIC), headed by Paul Volcker, is due to release its interim report at the end of January. The Volcker report undoubtedly has the potential to bring about the downfall of U.N....
Dispelling Some Crude Myths About Oil’s Real Impact
Economists are beginning to panic about the recent run-up in the oil price (+36%, year to-date, to $44.4/barrel) and its likely future impact on stock prices, profits and output in the U.S. But there's no reason to panic. A fast-rising oil price is no necessary...
The East Coast Blackout
The East Coast blackout seemed to be straight out Atlas Shrugged: 60 million people without electricity and the official reaction was that things worked like they were supposed to! I just had to verify that the New York Times editorial on the subject was a call for...
Market Wonders and Oil Prices
We've all seen gasoline prices rising; is that good news or bad news? Congress could enact price controls and "odd and even" days for gasoline purchases like they did in the 1970s. Sure we'd be paying lower prices, but the selling price of a good is just one element...
“Price Gouging” and Oil Prices
Politicians are talking of "price gouging" and oil. They say Americans are being charged too much for oil (as evidenced by the price for a gallon of gas hitting $2 in parts of the country). What exactly is "price gouging?" No objective definition is ever given. From...
The Real Threat to our Energy Supplies
What threatens us is not any physical scarcity, but a politically created one.
Department of Everything
At worst, DOE energy policies are wasteful, even harmful to the best interests of American consumers.
California Energy Enters The Dark Ages
In no case were the power companies and their profit motive responsible for brownouts or blackouts.
The Great Power-Shortage Myth
An electric-power blackout is a special case of the wider economic phenomenon of a shortage, that is, of a situation in which the quantity of a good that buyers are seeking to buy at the prevailing price exceeds the quantity of the good that the sellers possess and are willing to sell.
Blood for Oil
Someone, finally, has stated the truth to the administration and to the world: Saudi Arabia is our enemy. According to the Washington Post, that was the message of a recent briefing to the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board. The presentation, by Rand Corporation analyst...
OPEC, Oil, and Energy Economics 101
We are all familiar with pundits from all corners decrying our dependence on foreign oil. Before the oil embargo in the 70's and subsequent attempts to wean ourselves from OPEC, we were importing about 25% of our oil and now we are importing over 50%. This is always...
Of Halloween Spoilsports and Spiders
This will be my 16-month-old daughter's first Halloween on foot. Last year, she was a baby bunny who toured the neighborhood in Daddy's arms. This year, she'll be a kitten -- clambering up porch steps, clutching her goody bag, and marveling at all the treats within...
Like this content? Subscribe to support our work — it's free.
Read by students, professors, and citizens, Capitalism Magazine provides over 9,000 free to read articles and essays from pro-reason, individual rights perspective. 100% independent.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.