…just made a dinner speech at #DC-X little of which I disagreed with.
Category Archives: Business
Shale Gas
…is Rearden metal:
Rand’s fictional progressives don’t want Reardon Metal to succeed any more than their modern, real-life equivalents want shale gas to succeed.
Why not? For the same rag-bag of made-up, disingenuous reasons which progressives have used to justify their war on progress since time immemorial: it’s unfair, it uses up scarce resources, it might be dangerous. Rand doesn’t actually use the phrase “the precautionary principle.” But this is exactly what she is describing in the book when various vested interests – the corporatists in bed with big government, the politicised junk-scientists at the Institute of Science (aka, in our world, the National Academy of Sciences or the Royal Society), the unions – try to close down the nascent technology using the flimsiest of excuses.
It was supposed to be a cautionary tale, not an instruction manual.
Obama’s Unconstitutional Actions
…are worse than Nixon’s.
Yes. Much worse. And what’s even worse is that, unlike Nixon, the media support him in his lawless behavior.
The Current Crop Of Computer Models
…are close to useless:
…here we see a major problem with IAM-based climate policy analysis: The modeler has a great deal of freedom in choosing functional forms, parameter values, and other inputs, and different choices can give wildly different estimates of the SCC and the optimal amount of abatement. You might think that some input choices are more reasonable or defensible than others, but no, “reasonable” is very much in the eye of the modeler. Thus these models can be used to obtain almost any result one desires.
How (politically) convenient.
As I retweeted, they’re worse than useless to the degree that people trust them for policy decisions.
Flights Of Fancy
Bob Zimmerman blasts the SLS and the porkers on the Hill, over at the WSJ.
The Latest Grasshopper Test
A little sideways action.
[Via Universe Today]
Will The Hyperloop Work?
Alan Boyle rounds up the discussion since it was formally announced on Monday.
I have to say that I do hope that it kills high-speed rail in CA, even if it never gets built.
ObamaCare And Small Business
OK, now those racists are saying that it’s forcing them to cut workers’ hours.
Hyperloop, Tesla and Musk Bashing
I have some thoughts on the latest nonsense over at PJMedia.
Climate Hypocrisy
Why don’t they give up air travel?
So why, pray tell, do we spend so much time talking about suburban sprawl and sport utilities, and so little time talking about FedEx and European vacations?
The question answers itself, doesn’t it? Giving up air travel and overnight delivery is much more personally costly for the public intellectuals who write about this stuff than giving up a big SUV. If you live in one of the five or six major cities that contain virtually everyone who writes about climate change, having a small car (or no car), is a pretty easy adjustment to imagine. On the other hand, try to imagine giving up far-flung vacations, conferences, etc. — especially since travel to interesting locales is one of the hidden perks of not-very-well remunerated positions at universities, public policy groups, nongovernmental organizations, and yes, news organizations.
Yup.