Why Did Ronald Reagan Call “I’m from the Government, and I’m Here to Help” the Nine Most Terrifying Words in the English Language? “The whole aim of practical politics,” wrote H.L. Mencken, “is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, […]
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What Do “Green Jobs” Produce?
Cornwall Alliance advisory board member H. Sterling Burnett published a good piece in the Washington Times recently that rebuts claims about “Green jobs” in two ways. Burnett points out that in response to President Donald Trump’s saying one reason to withdraw from the Paris climate accord was that staying in would drive energy prices higher, causing the loss […]
Is It a Wonderful Life?
Chances are you’ve seen the classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life, starring Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey. Bailey has spent decades helping the people of Bedford Falls through the small bank his father founded, struggling to prevent stingy and corrupt Henry Potter from taking over the town. In one scene, George excoriates Potter for thinking […]
Back to Basics: What the Greens Get Wrong, and How to Set Them Straight
Guest essay by Calvin Beisner The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency justifies its new climate regulations on the claim that the “social cost of carbon” is $40 per ton—i.e., that every ton of carbon dioxide does about $40 worth of harm to the world through the next 286 years. That’s right, 286 years—to A.D. 2300. Imagine […]